Building Faith in a Better Community

Faith penetrates our environment, providing a moral and ethical compass for most people. Evidence suggests that –beyond individual religious practice – faith is rapidly spreading into the public realm and may affect different facets of economic and social life. More and more often, people of religion are becoming significant participants in organizations aiming at tackling a broad range of global concerns – a sign of the important role of faith leaders and communities in bringing about social change.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Role of Faith has studied, in its report Does Faith Matter? Some of how faith and hardwork have a positive impact on society. Findings shine a light on the place religious belief holds in public life and revitalize our collective understanding of religion in today’s society. Moreover, it reveals how faith or a belief in a higher power is widespread, yet this belief is not necessarily linked with a devotion to an organized form of religion.

The survey was taken by members of the Network of the Global Agenda Councils over ten months and concerned their views on the role of faith. This poll of global leaders and executives indicates areas where faith may make a difference by molding mindsets, influencing stakeholders, and organizing communities.

Here are five places where faith can make a difference:

Human rights

Important principles, such as the “golden rule” of reciprocity (treat others as you would expect to be treated) and respect, are shared between major belief systems and offer the essential basis for the modern concept of human rights. At times both supporting and harming human rights, people of faith have long been active actors in this sector and have shown how faith can be part of the solution and the problem.

In 19th-century America, for example, religious leaders were influential in promoting the rights of black people and women. Several notable Muslim scholars have stated that Islamic heritage supports fundamental human rights.

Peacemaking and conflict prevention

With religion generally viewed as being at the center of global disputes, data demonstrates that religion and faith can be essential in promoting tolerance, respect, understanding, and reconciliation. They constitute a tremendous beneficial influence in the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.

To achieve permanent peace and political stability, we need to foster a heightened understanding of religion’s peace-building and the reconciliatory role and enhance the capacity of governments, faith communities, and corporations to work together. In 1992, for example, the Community of Sant’Egidio of Mozambique brought about an African peace pact.

Values

Research reveals that religion and faith can play a vital role in legitimizing societal ideals. World faiths represent global identities and the shared values that impact the way people live and act. Comprehensive knowledge of the living connectivity between religious and cultural values can help shine a light on the dynamic ways in which religion both shapes and is changed by society. According to our poll, most of the respondents feel faith may improve people’s values.

Anti-corruption

Church Construction Update

“In all my paintings, light is a crucial governing aspect. I create enclosed areas mostly by use of strong concrete walls. The major reason is to create a place for the individual, a zone for oneself inside society. When the external conditions of a city’s surroundings demand the wall to be without apertures, the interior must be complete and satisfying.” –Tadao Ando.

In the small hamlet of Ibaraki, 25km outside of Osaka, Japan, stands one of Tadao Ando’s iconic architectural achievements, the Church of the Light. The Church of the Light embodies Ando’s philosophical framework between nature and architecture through how light may define and generate new spatial perceptions equally, if not more so, than his concrete buildings. Completed in 1989, the Church of the Light was a refurbishment to an existing Christian property in Ibaraki. The new church was the initial phase of a total makeover of the site – eventually completed in 1999 – under Ando’s design philosophy.

Concept

For Ando, the Church of Light is an architecture of duality – the dual nature of [co]existence – solid/void, light/dark, stark/serene. The coexisting variances leave the church bare of any decoration creating a pure, unadorned place. The junction of sunshine and solid elevates the inhabitant’s consciousness of the spiritual and secular inside themselves.

The usage of explicit materials underlines the duality of the room; the concrete construction removes any differentiation between traditional Christian symbols and aesthetics. Besides an extruded cross from the east-facing façade, the church is built of a concrete shell and a driveway entrance which was poured by a residential driveway replacement company; the concrete adds to the gloom of the church by providing a more humble, meditative place of worship. As a tribute to minimalism construction, the crosses void in the east-facing wall is the only obvious religious symbol present in the church.

Design

Formally, Ando’s Church of the Light is minimalist and reductive of religious accouterments to a single cruciform extrusion, which is often condemned as uncomfortably empty, vacant, and undefined. Although it has been reported to be nothing more than six walls and a roof, there is a whole level of design aesthetic done by Ando and his contractors that is misunderstood and unappreciated by the tenants. As a modern, minimalist tower, the Church of the Light emits an architectural purity found in the details. The reinforced concrete volume is barren of any adornment, not part of the construction process. The seams and joints of the concrete are made with precision and care by skilled Japanese carpenters, working with Ando, that have worked to create an impeccably smooth surface and properly aligned joints. So much so that the seams of the concrete formwork match perfectly with the crosses extruded on the east side of the church.

The concrete construction reinforces Ando’s fundamental focus on simplicity and minimalist aesthetic; yet, the technique in which the concrete is poured and molded provides the concrete a radiant character when exposed to natural light. Ando’s decision to …

Blue Collar Construction Workers Blessing The Community

Blue-collar workers are more likely than not to work in an environment other than an office (construction site, production line, driving, etc.). They rely on their hands and physical ability to carry out their responsibilities. Worker classifications that fall under the blue-collar category include construction workers, machine operators, millwrights, assemblers, and truck drivers.

The blue-collar job description does not specify the amount of expertise required or the type of compensation workers receive: they can be skilled or unskilled, waged or salaried, depending on the situation. It does imply that employees are more likely to work in environments where their garments can become dirty, such as soil or grease. Workers wore darker clothing than “white collar” workers during this period or dressed more resistant to the increased wear and tear of physical labor, such as blue denim. This is the origin of the term “blue-collar,” which dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century when these workers wore darker clothing than “white collar” workers or dressed more resistant to the increased wear and tear of physical labor, such as blue denim. Home health aides and cashiers are examples of people who could be classified as a blue-collar in some service-related occupations.

Under federal law in the United States, blue-collar workers are generally not excluded from overtime or minimum wage requirements under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act); however, some states may exempt specific types of blue-collar workers, such as truck drivers, from these requirements. We also recommend you to check Church Construction Update.

How many blue-collar workers do you think there are in the United States?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the United States provides data on the number of people employed in every profession, including blue-collar employment. Construction laborers, for example, totaled approximately 1,405,000 in 2018, while workers in maintenance and repair numbered approximately 1,488,000.

Additionally, according to a 2018 Washington Post article, approximately 13.9 percent of workers are employed in blue-collar occupations.

Blue-collar job growth is depicted on a map on the Center for Economic and Policy Research website, which is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. According to several studies, employers have difficulty finding individuals for blue-collar positions.

What is the origin of the term “blue-collar”?

The term “blue-collar” was first used in a newspaper in 1924 to refer to workers in the trades. There are many different types of industrial and manual employees who wear blue denim or chambray shirts or jeans, overalls, and boilersuits. Some of these employees include welders, boilermakers, bricklayers, masons, and coal miners, to name a few. Colors with a deep hue, like blue, were supposed to assist conceal dirt and other elements on clothes that had become stained due to physical labor.

Workers in blue-collar jobs

Blue-collar employees are working-class persons who undertake any manual labor, as opposed to those who work in ‘white-collar occupations,’ primarily office-based positions. Employees in the blue-collar sector are often compensated hourly or project-by-project.

Blue-collar employees are primarily employed in warehouses, oil …

Faith and Hard Work In Construction Industry’s

1) Skill shortages and an aging workforce

For the past few years, skill shortages have been a serious issue in the construction business. According to a study conducted by the University of Dundee (2019), the largest age group in the construction industry is 45–54 years old, with the second-largest age group, 35–50 years old, accounting for 22% of all workers.

Many of these employees will eventually retire, making recruiting new, younger talent difficult. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB, 2018) found that the construction industry’s overall appeal as a career option had dropped to only “4 out of 10 among 14 to 19-year-olds,” and the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) reported a 14.6 percent drop in construction apprenticeship numbers the same year.

The decline in younger talent has significantly impacted the sector throughout the years, as critical trade skills are lost as people retire. This is a persistent issue in the construction business, which has been widely recorded as a negative perception of what it’s like to work in the industry among younger people. Construction’s negative reputation is attributed to a lack of gender diversity, long hours, low pay, and insufficient job security, according to the Construction 2025 research.

2) Safety and Health

Another major issue in the industry is health and safety concerns and how a lack of adequately qualified staff can have huge commercial consequences, such as a terrible industry image and severe financial loss.

According to HSE construction statistics from 2019, construction has the largest number of health and safety-related accidents in the United Kingdom. Due to a lack of equipment compliance, training, and safety protocols and procedures. According to the same year’s Labor Force Survey data, younger workers aged 16–24 have a significantly higher risk of occupational injury (37 percent higher) than older workers.

From continuing site training to up-to-date PPE to monthly compliance checks, there are numerous aspects of health and safety compliance that must be maintained. Many construction organizations manage these procedures manually rather than through digitalized systems, which means that training and routine maintenance checks may be overlooked, leaving the company open to costly mistakes. Regulatory authorities, for example, may slam businesses with severe fines if they forget to renew a mandated Health & Safety accreditation.

3) Gender balance in the workplace

With men accounting for 99 percent of workers on construction sites (CIF, 2018), there has long been a perception that the construction business is not a good fit for women. A traditional image of a construction site is one populated by macho construction workers who are bigger and stronger than women and those who are naturally driven to physical labor.

This, on the other hand, could not be more out of date. The construction business offers many opportunities, from construction software to design and even architecture. Employees do not have to work on the construction aspects themselves to be involved.

So, why are there so few women in the field, and what can businesses do to change that? …