Many people have asked me over the years if they can legally run their business on biblical principles. The simple answer is yes. Although you cannot discriminate in your hiring based on religious discrimination you do have the right to run your business as you think is best, including by applying timeless biblical wisdom.

In fairness to any staff you may hire who may not hold the same beliefs as you, you do need to prepare them for what’s to come before hiring them. The best way to do this is for you to develop a clear vision, mission, and values that states how you intend on running your business and what guide you are going to use to make decisions.

They do not have to necessarily believe what you believe but if you desire for the business to be run in alignment with biblical truths they need to be in agreement to adhere to the desired values of the organization, even if they come from the Bible.

Dave was a business owner who typically informed applicants during the interview process that they used the Bible as a guide book for making decisions. They hired a key executive who after 6 months came to them and said, “I know you told me that you were going to run this business according to the Bible, but the weight of that didn’t sink in until after I had been here a few months and realized you were really serious. This is not a good fit for me, and I would recommend that in the future you be even more upfront about your method of doing business.” Dave decided to develop a company video for job applicants to view that is very clear on what it meant for them to operate according to biblical standards.

Every business leader operates according to some form of worldview. If yours happens to be a biblical worldview and you desire your entire business to be operated by those standards you have the right to do so and you should communicate that clearly to all who desire to work for you.