c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ A new spiritual awakening is at hand. It’s not just happening at traditional weekly services, but in the workplace. Evidence can be found in the raft of books arguing that religious virtue won’t just get you into heaven, it will also make you a better person by providing meaning, purpose _ and job fulfillment.

It’s not surprising, considering that spirituality in the workplace is grounded in the Puritan notion that economic prosperity is a reward for religious virtue.

Two cases in point: Paul Van Ostenbridge, who, as president and CEO of Atlantic Stewardship Bank in Midland Park, N.J., runs a bank that tithes; and Howard Jonas, who, as founder of the Internet service provider IDT, based in Hackensack, N.J., has been called the “Jewish Bill Gates.”

To hear them tell it, tying religious virtues to business creates a special edge not only with their customers but with their employees.

“We have no Christian symbolism in our literature, and you’ll find nothing on our walls when you walk into our offices,” Van Ostenbridge says. “We’re more concerned with building Christianity into our daily lives. That’s why we attract customers and employees who like the fact that we put a portion of our profits to good use.”

That portion is 10 percent _ known as the tithe _ plucked from the corporate balance sheet from pretax profits each year and handed over to charitable causes.

“Tithing is the main focus of the bank and was one of its founding principles when we launched in 1985,” Van Ostenbridge says.

Since then, Atlantic Stewardship’s tithe has sent more than $1 million to hundreds of local and national causes. This year, donations of about $220,000 will go to some 150-plus causes, including civic organizations, schools and voluntary fire departments, among others.

Has there been any backlash? A “cause” not all customers could embrace? Some, Ostenbridge says.

“One person wasn’t comfortable with one of our programs that encouraged young mothers to carry to term, so she didn’t deposit here,” Ostenbridge recalls. “But that was her prerogative, and I respect it.”

Then there was a customer upset because Atlantic Stewardship supported the Girl Scouts, an objection Ostenbridge never quite understood.

For Jonas, an Orthodox Jew, creating a culture in which spiritual values are the bedrock of the business, connecting employees and customers, is important. Classes in Judaism are conducted a couple of times a week, and daily prayer meetings are held in a basement conference room.

Like Ostenbridge and Jonas, most entrepreneurs who seek to incorporate religious values into their workplaces know that they can’t force it on employees or customers. There’s the risk of being sued under Title VII, which prevents discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, says Michael Barabander, a partner at Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman, a labor and employment relations firm in Roseland, N.J..

In the past two years, Barabander says, there have been at least two cases in which employees sued, claiming they were unfairly terminated after refusing to adopt their employers’ religious beliefs. The employers prevailed, with the courts finding the terminations were based on performance, not religion. Still, it’s a red flag to be on guard.

Jonas refused to be interviewed, but his company is well known for its strong religious underpinnings. It has gotten him into trouble. In 1996, seven current and former IDT employees filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in Hackensack, alleging that their Jewish bosses discriminated against them because they were gentiles. The seven contend they were denied promotions and time off for religious holidays and forced to take salary cuts, while Jewish colleagues captured top jobs and holidays off.

“Preposterous” is how Jim Courter, IDT’s president, characterized the allegations at the time. “We have high confidence that there was absolutely zero discrimination at IDT then and there is zero discrimination now,” he now says. A trial date has been set for Feb. 16.

Jonas and Ostenbridge have a lot of company. For one, there’s S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, the third-largest fast-food restaurant chain in the United States.

He’s built his company on Christian principles, and although he makes a point of saying his company hires people from all religions, the 77-year-old Cathy says he’s never strayed from them since his first restaurant opened in 1946.

Staunchly upholding Sunday as the Christian day of rest and worship, he insists all of his 761 restaurants in 35 states close as a gesture of respect. He also boasts no layoffs, low turnover and generous contributions to a range of organizations, most of which benefit disadvantaged children.

Cathy penned a book several years ago called “It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail,” explaining how he has based his life on principles outlined in the New Testament.

Chapters such as “Crisis is opportunity in disguise” and “You can’t succeed if you don’t start” combine religious parables with homespun philosophy.

Jonas has taken up the pen too. His book, “On a Roll: From Hot Dog Buns to High-Tech Billions” (Viking), outlines his humble beginnings in the Bronx and how he worked his way through Harvard and built a telecommunications empire in a billion-dollar-a-year industry.

“Within the genial multimillionaire hustler is a closet rabbi, humbly reflecting on the human condition,” one reviewer wrote about the book.

DEA END WEINSTEIN