Why Care about Faith?

The report outlines how faith-based communities can be leveraged to tackle global issues such as climate change, food insecurity, and conflict. It emphasizes that faith actors provide unique social capital, reach, and moral leadership that can enhance the effectiveness of international development and peace-building efforts.

• Faith-based organizations are critical partners for global challenges because they provide a shared moral framework, extensive global reach, and the ability to transform conflicts through forgiveness and reconciliation.
• There is a strong correlation between religious freedom and societal stability; restrictions on freedom of conscience are linked to lower women's empowerment, reduced economic development, and increased political instability and terrorism.
• Faith actors can significantly advance climate action by leveraging stewardship values to change consumer mindsets and implementing community-level environmental projects.
• Faith communities serve as vital sources of "social capital," particularly for marginalized populations, and can act as a motor for civil society and the promotion of human rights.
• In the context of food security, faith actors are uniquely positioned to help because they often have direct access to smallholder farmers in the global South and may be significant landholders themselves.
• Social media has become a powerful tool for faith actors to mobilize responses to natural disasters, publicize the persecution of minority religious groups, and extend the cultural influence of religious leaders beyond traditional boundaries.

APA

World Economic Forum (2014). Why Care about Faith? http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_RoleFaith_WhyCareAboutFaith_Report_2014.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Why Care about Faith? 2014. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_RoleFaith_WhyCareAboutFaith_Report_2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Why Care about Faith? |date=September 2014 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_RoleFaith_WhyCareAboutFaith_Report_2014.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2014why, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Why Care about Faith?}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2014}, month = sep, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2014/WEF_GAC_RoleFaith_WhyCareAboutFaith_Report_2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }