The protection of religious freedom contributes to the establishment of a more secure, stable, and economically prosperous society. According to the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, In countries in which religious freedom is valued and preserved through legal governance and implementation, governments and society see a marked decrease in documented acts of violence related to religiously motivated extremism.
By fostering conditions of covenantal pluralism—a robust, relational, and non-relativistic paradigm for living together, peacefully and productively, in the context of deep difference—LYNC adopts a listener-first, educator-second principle helping leaders connect the dots from questions to solutions. LYNC then partners with governments, religious communities, and civil society to co-create a successful strategy and trains local leaders to lead their communities in their context.
After recognizing the limitations of an activist approach to advocating for religious freedom in Central Asia, LYNC’s founder and CEO, Wade Kusack, discovered a relational model pioneered by the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE).
In an essay, Kusack recounts how LYNC applied what he learned to develop a new model in Kazakhstan, developing progress through multi-faith, multi-sectoral discussions on “covenantal pluralism” and “cross-cultural religious literacy.”
The approach developed by LYNC presents a chance to address numerous problems, as exemplified by our implementation in Kazakhstan, and promote religious freedom while fostering social cohesion and combating violent extremism.
We utilize principles of covenantal pluralism—a robust, relational, and non-relativistic paradigm for living together, peacefully and productively, in the context of deep difference.
Bishop Ivan Kryukov: “I strongly believe that LYNC is changing our worldview paradigm. I can admit that we were focused only on ourselves and saw only ourselves, but we live on this Earth and the world around us is big, and what you are doing is changing the paradigm and helping us build new relationships at a higher level that are already bearing great fruits.”
As the world navigates away from years of poor economic performance, religious freedom may be an unrecognized asset to economic recovery and growth, according to this new study. A study published by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation examines and finds a positive relationship between religious freedom and ten of the twelve pillars of global competitiveness, as measured by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (see example in chart).
The study, however, goes beyond simple correlations by empirically testing and finding the tandem effects of government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion (as measured by the Pew Research Center) to be detrimental to economic growth while controlling for 23 other theoretical, economic, political, social, and demographic factors.
Keeping with LYNC’s mission to assist the marginalized, LYNC has mobilized resources and its network to provide critical aid to those most in need. Since the first military invasion in 2014, our organization could not ignore cries for help from the Ukrainian people. In early 2022, LYNC assisted in evacuating over 4,000 Ukrainians and is now working in-country to care for refugees, women, children, and the elderly affected by war. Our latest partnerships in Ukraine focus on providing humanitarian aid, housing, and trauma-healing therapy to internally displaced Ukrainians affected by the ongoing attacks.