Should You Mix Your Religion And Your Small Business?

                                       

Finally, someone had the courage to bring up a very controversial topic. Discussions having to do with the mixing of business and religion bring out some pretty intense emotions, and opinions. Kristin King, from BizChicksRule, started this little discussion. Thanx, Kristin!

Keep reading...

I am not sure if it because of the upcoming Presidential elections, or what, but the subject of religion is a very popular topic, lately.

Let's discuss mixing business and religion. I am totally against it. I think it has the potential to cause problems that just don't need to be problems. In my career, I have had my share of very uncomfortable situations that were caused by folks that were trying to "spread their message." Some could argue that if I am the one who is uncomfortable when someone tries to shove their religious views down my throat, then I have the problem. Not. The problem would not have existed in the first place, if the party in question didn't try to inject their religious views into a non-religious conversation in the first place.

In my franchise consulting business, I meet with a lot of couples. One party has usually lost their job, and are in my office to learn about some non-traditional career opportunities...in this case, franchise ownership. During these face to face consultations, I am asking a lot of questions. The questions I ask are designed to help me learn all that I can about these folks...what makes them tick, what their interests and passions are, etc.

On more than one occasion, some of my franchise candidates have said, "Joel, I want to make sure whatever franchise concept I decide to invest in has the same values and principles that we have." Fine no problem, so far. Their statement really helps me. But, the game-changer for me would be if they added this:

Those values that I am talking about are "_____________" values.{Insert the religion of your choice} "Now my spouse and I need to pray on it for a couple of minutes." {Right in front of me!}

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with prayer. Maybe I pray. Maybe I don't. It shouldn't matter to you. {Which is my point!}   

Let me share another example of a wonderful way that religion and business mixes:

A certain coffee franchise has been having some real serious legal and ethical issues regarding it's refusal {on the most part} to refund franchise fee deposits to disgruntled franchisees who can't seem to be able to build out their coffee houses. It seems that the contractors are actually a "shell" company or something. {They don't like sell shells, they are a fake company, supposedly}

The person that just bought this company is someone who is a frequent commenter in the franchise blogosphere. Before this person bought this company, he had thrown his religious views into some franchise related comments. Turned off a lot of people. When I read them, my first thought was, "Well this person is full of S _ _ _." I will not apologize for pre-judging this person. That is because my past experiences with folks that quote the Bible in business related posts turn out be pond scum. I am not kidding. I don't have the exact data in front of me, but in my experience, 9 out of 10 times someone starts blabbering Bible quotes off in rapid succession, {in business posts and comments} the person doing the quoting turns out to be less than ethical. {Folks this is my experience. Yours may be different. Please let me know in your comments...}

I have plenty of experiences in my business life in which someone tried to impose their religion on me. I disliked it, and was made to be really uncomfortable each and every time. I am not slamming religion. {Organized or not} What I am trying to say is that business dealings can be complicated enough, nowadays. Must someone put the "value add" of their religious views into the business relationship?

Have you experienced anything similiar?
If so, has it made you uncomfortable?
Did you say anything to the person imposing their views onto you?
Am I wrong?
Am I right?

{By the way, in my real life experiences with folks who I have worked with who did say that they were going to pray about their decision on a franchise that I matched them up to, in both cases, neither franchise candidate ended up purchasing the franchise. I have no idea what that means, I just wanted to put it out there...}

Comments

[Mariann Watling]

I think religion is best kept in the place that it belongs, in your own place of worship. One can always conduct themselves in an integris manner without jamming their religion down my throat. And for the record, when someone starts spouting quotes from religious text, or telling me how religious they are I know to pick up and leave because they for sure will not act with integrity. Joel, maybe someone needs to come up with a religious franchise for you to match these people up with.

[Eve Lopez]

Just like there's a separation of church and state, there should be a separation of church and business.

[The Franchise King]

Eve,
I totally agree. Thanx for commenting on this article!
Joel Libava

[Brandon Morris]

Interesting discussion...My opinion varies on this subject.

Let be begin by saying, I am a Christian, Pentecostal, Assembly of God denomination (yes, just like Gov. Sarah Palin)....wait wait wait...don't quit reading yet :) Not only a Christian, but an Associate Pastor/Youth Pastor.

So...that being said...I am also co-founder and VP of a business that is now over 5 years old.

Those two facts combined is what spurred my interest in this particular blog post. I will say that my God comes before anything, notice I said my God, not my religion. My company is also very high on my priority list in that it pays my bills.

To separate them? I have to answer yes and no. First of all, business is business, it'll always be that way...I've been put in that awkward position before by other denominations for lack of a better term. In a business deal is not the time for it unless it's brought up by the other person. Most business associates know about my beliefs, BUT, I DO NOT or WOULD NOT attempt to shove it down someones throat in or out of a business environment, it's just not cool.

In the case where people wanted to pray about it, cool. I pray about most every venture I go on...and big business ventures that require a lot of money should be thought about and prayed about BUT, I dare say that most people that say, "I'll pray about it" or something along those lines are trying to, non-confrontationally (is that a word?) back out...they are not ready to commit and are feeling uncomfortable about whatever they are "praying" about.

Just my 2 cents...

Brandon Morris

[Joel Libava]

Brandon,
Thank you so much for your very well thought out and easy to navigate comment. I totally respect you for not trying to shove your religion down my throat. I hope lots of people find the article and your really important comment.
Joel Libava