Southern Company is one of the largest utility companies in the United States and employs over 27,000 people. As a major employer, Southern Company should respect the free speech and religious freedom of its employees. Southern Company is legally required to comply with many laws prohibiting discrimination against employees on a variety of factors, including religion and sometimes political affiliation.Respecting diverse views also allows Southern Company to attract the most qualified talent, promote a healthy and innovative business culture, serve its diverse customer base, and contribute to a healthy economic market and marketplace of ideas.Despite this, the 2024 edition of the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index1 found that 91% of the largest companies in America promote divisive training concepts like critical race theory (CRT) that replace rich cultural and ideological diversity with a monolithic focus on group identity. Southern Company has stated that, "Our strategy for recruiting, hiring, retaining and developing employees includes a deliberate focus on DE&I."2 In addition, the company states that it "expects all of its employees to commit" to these trainings. regardless of their views. hile companies often push concepts like CRT under the guise of promoting "diversity, equity, and inclusion," such efforts often have the opposite effect. Instead of creating workplaces that afford equal opportunity, DEI too often leads to hostility, polarization, and partiality by focusing only on differences based on skin, biological sex, or religious status.According to the Freedom at Work survey, 60% of employees were concerned that their company would punish them for expressing their religious or political views at work, and 54% said they feared the same for sharing these views even on their private social media accounts.4Companies are also facing increased legal and reputational risk for a broad array of DEI initiatives that make distinctions based on race in light of recent Supreme Court decisions in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, Groff v DeJoy [sic], and City of St. Louis v. Muldrow. Numerous lawsuits have been filed or threatened by state attorneys general and aggrieved employees.5 Recent scholarship has cast serious doubt on the common assertion that DEI is good for business.6 The Wall Street Journal recently reported that "Diversity Goals Are Disappearing from Companies' Annual Reports."7 And numerous companies are voluntarily removing DEI initiatives entirely in response to sustained customer dissatisfaction and public pressure.8 In light of these risks, the Company must take immediate steps to assess potential shortcomings and allay these concerns.