CRCC Research Director Richard Flory and Reverend Mark Whitlock have appeared in a Neon Tommy article where they discuss the religious implications of the current Mayoral Race in Los Angeles. An excerpt from the article: "Though religion and politics mixes...
CRCC Senior Writer Nick Street has written a piece published by the Global Post where he details the ways Muslim and Christian leaders are seeking a path toward peace after years of interreligious violence in West Africa. An excerpt from...
CRCC Research Director Richard Flory has been quoted in an article appearing on the KPCC website. Flory discusses the ways that non-religious young adults still take part in some traditional religious practices like Lent. The report was written by students...
Senior Writer Nick Street has been researching and reporting on the charismatic Catholic movement in Latina America for CRCC's Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative. The Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative award grants to those conducting research projects that engage topics...
Huffington Post Religion published an article by David Briggs on religion in the Global South. The article quoted Donald Miller and cited Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement. Briggs, writer for the Association of Religion Data Archives,...
Many have forgotten about the faith-based initiative by now. The once contentious and controversial set of policy initiatives, created by the conservative evangelical movement with the purported goal of encouraging religious organizations to take government funds to do social services,...
This month, the Yiddish Book Center will launch a new program called Tent: Encounters With Jewish Culture, which is based on the belief that “modern culture can inspire us to think imaginatively about what Jewishness means. And vice versa.” The program...
Reverend Cecil 'Chip' Murray has been featured in a KTLA broadcast that profiles his work in the Southern California community since the 1992 L.A riots. An excerpt from the piece: "Reverend Cecil Murray is nationally known for picking up the...
CRCC Senior Writer Nick Street has written an article for Huffington Post Religion where he discusses the convergence of religion and tolerance in the face of Nigeria's political, economical and social turmoil. An excerpt from the article: "On a brilliantly...
CRCC Senior Research Fellow Bruce Phillips has been been featured in a USC article detailing his research and efforts to catalog the demography of the Jewish population in Southern California. An excerpt from the article: "How many Jews are there...
The Orange County Register has published an article by Reverend Mark Whitlock, executive director of the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, discussing African-American identity in relation to black history month. An excerpt from the article: "Black is consciousness and...
George Villanueva, Ph.D. candidate at USC Annenberg and a 2012 IRG fellow, has been been featured on KCET discussing the many ways the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina inspired acts of civic engagement among the residents of...
I have followed the news of Cardinal Roger Mahony with great sadness. Though he did not commit abuse, he covered up the abuse of others and, thereby, allowed it to continue. I feel a great deal of pain for those...
The Wall Street Journal published an article written by CRCC senior writer Nick Street. The piece discusses the rise of Pentecostalism in early 20th century Los Angeles and Hollywood actress Megan Fox's recent revelations about her Pentecostal upbringing, her experiences...
Disasters do not occur in a secular vacuum. The impact of a disaster on the lives of individuals and the communities in which they live must be understood and responded to within the spiritual, social and cultural context in which...
Since the mid 1950s Los Angeles has been the second largest Jewish community in the United States, but has never had a Jewish mayor. New York, by contrast, elected its first Jewish mayor, Abe Beame, in 1973, followed by Ed...
The Obama administration has proposed a compromise over the mandated coverage of contraceptives in the Affordable Healthcare Act that was approved by Congress in 2012. Officials state that the proposed mandate will more simply define the religious organizations that are...
The name Silas Malafaia was on everyone’s lips. A sociologist at a secular university near Brasilia, the rector of a Catholic seminary in Campinas, a Pentecostal lawyer in Sao Paulo and a gay Presbyterian pastor in Rio de Janeiro all...
The recent controversy over the presidential inaugural benediction provides a nice opening for considering the role such acts play in America today. One might ask why in a pluralistic, disestablished society we need the “blessings” of invocations and benedictions in...
I was an undergraduate at Columbia College where the Great Books were built into the freshman curriculum. My doctorate is in experimental particle physics. I now teach city planning and public policy. What I keep discovering is that notions from...
A 43-year-old African American man—a member of my church—was shot in the back nine times and over 50 bullets riddled the yellow SUV in which he sat. At his funeral service, no one asked if the guns that killed him...
CRCC Senior Fellow Bruce Phillips has authored an article appearing in JewishJournal.com that discusses current Jewish demographics in Southern California. An excerpt from the article: "As I wrote upon my return from from the annual meeting of the Association for...
California is a paradox. While it is known as one of the most progressive states in the country, home to the entertainment industry and innovative technology companies, it has also produced conservative— even reactionary— counter-movements. For example, California’s Proposition...
From “pagan idols” to “avant-garde art,” over the course of the 20th century westerners have often evaluated the same non-western objects very differently at different historical moments. For the past three years I have been engaged in archival research about...
Though North Texas is hardly unchurched territory, metro Dallas has become a beachhead in the global missionary movement of Nigeria’s Redeemed Christian Church of God. About half a mile from Fellowship Church, a “seeker-sensitive” megachurch that boasts an attendance...
As a sociologist of religion and a professor at Biola University, I’m immersed in Christian culture. But it took a two-year research project on new movements in Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity for me to realize something interesting: Christianity (or at...
After more than five years of activity among Keck School of Medicine faculty and students, we are pleased to announce that our dream of a USC Institute for Integrative Health (USC IIH) has become a reality! An increasingly large number...
It needs a particular courage not to overcome the past but to live with it still. -Geoffrey Hartman Over the Thanksgiving table last week, a family member told a story about a site in northern California that had been vandalized. The thieves...
Republicans might need to get used to losing, at least on the national stage. The 2012 presidential election was the first to demonstrate how much the American electorate is changing when it comes to the role of race and religion....
Government agencies and spirituality go together like, well, they don’t. Remember that all-encompassing conversation stopper: SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE! As far as amendments go, the first is quite memorable. Not being a constitutional scholar I dare not offer an...
USC postdoctoral fellow Brad Bouley presented a lecture titled "The Holy Body: Between Science and the Supernatural" on Tuesday, Nov. 13 as part of the Haunted Religion seminar series sponsored by the Interdiscplinary Research Group (IRG).Bouley's lecture has been featured...
Nadia Roumani, Co-Founder and Director of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) , has appeared in an article on eJewish Philanthropy discussing the emergence of faith-based organizations and companies in social innovation and entrepreneurship. An excerpt from the article:...
Many observers on both the right and the left see the 2012 national and state elections as the death knell of evangelical political power. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the election “an evangelical disaster”...
KPCC interviewed Brie Loskota about a new report from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, "Faithful Action Working with Religious Groups in Disaster Planning, Response and Recovery." This report details the need for increased involvement of the faith...
In this video, Senior Writer Nick Street explores glossolalia (speaking in tongues), the Pentecostal movement in Jos, Nigeria, and a Charismatic Catholic congregation in Nairobi, Kenya....
The Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement hosts a workshop for faith leaders and educators learning to deal with trauma and its impact on middle school-age children.The event features Talia Levanon, executive director of the Israel Trauma Coalition, who has provided...
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute introduced its fifth cohort of fellows on November 1, 2012. Each year, AMCLI selects twenty-four fellows to participate in a yearlong program to support and developing emerging leaders between the ages of 25-40 in...
The Interdisciplinary Research Group of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture has announced a new round of funding for USC faculty and advanced doctoral students. The fellowships will support research related to religion. Fellowships (up to $10,000 for faculty,...
The Interdisciplinary Research Group of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture has announced a new round of funding for USC faculty and advanced doctoral students. The fellowships will support research related to religion. Fellowships (up to $10,000 for faculty,...
Glory Moses, a pastor’s daughter, is no spiritual slacker. Other 20-year-olds in her native Kerala may be counting the days until the opening of Kochi’s mammoth Lulu Mall—billed as the largest shopping center in India outside Mumbai. But Moses, a...
CRCC freelance journalist Rhonda Rhoumani has written an article appearing in the Financial Times where she discusses the international shockwaves created by the Syrian political conflict and it's ensuing consequences. An excerpt from the article: "When Libya’s Muammer Gaddafi threatened...
CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory will present at Loyola Marymount's Faith and Politics Symposium on October 16. The symposium will bring together a number of scholars from multiple disciplines, as well as activists and community organizers, to create a...
CRCC Research Associate Martin Krieger has been featured in a KCET article regarding his photographic work on the Orthodox Jewish enclave in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles. Krieger is currently the Professor of Planning in the Price School of...
The Los Angeles County Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence released a report on Friday detailing patterns of abuse and 'unreasonable force' in the Sheriff Department's jails. The report places blame on Sheriff Lee Baca's leadership for failing to stop the...
Dr. Maher Hathout, at L.A. City Hall, during a Sept. 17, 2012 press conference where Muslim and Coptic leaders denounced violence and hate. Photo used with permission of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. In the past few weeks, two familiar...
This week, the CRCC Interdisciplinary Research Group launches a new working group on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics in southern California. Led by Diane Winston and Richard Flory, the group will include scholars from USC and neighboring...
My dual roles as a Jewish sociologist and a sociologist of American Jewry come to the forefront during the Jewish High Holidays. Each year, as I take part in the holidays, I marvel at the annual appearance of many who...
This September marks the ninth annual National Preparedness Month, one of the many efforts our government has undertaken to engage whole communities in building disaster resiliency, including faith communities, citizen corps councils, VOADs (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) and a...
The New York Times recently ran a piece on the network of volunteers tracking the drift of flotsam in the Pacific from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last year. The story included a map that plots the likely...
Join the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement and Emergency Network Los Angeles, for a free interactive workshop for nonprofit organizations and learn how to create and implement a disaster plan that really works should a disaster occur. The training...
Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, authored a Los Angeles Times opinion piece on the role of religion in the 2012 presidential elections. An excerpt from the article follows below:...
Executive Director of the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement Mark Whitlock was featured in an OC Register article that discusses his efforts to decrease racial tensions between Latinos and African-Americans in Southern California. Working with pastor Santos Chavez,...
In recent months, a group of Gospel music pioneers came to USC to get a peek at the Gospel Music History Archive, a joint project of the USC Digital Library, the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, and the Black...
On the Wednesday that marked the midpoint in the recent weeklong Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative (PCRI) conference outside Nairobi, about 30 research fellows and CRCC staffers trundled onto a pair of big tour buses that took us to the...
Four years ago this week, Rick Warren and Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, California hosted the first campaign meeting of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. Warren called it the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, and...
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) develops and trains American Muslim leaders who are committed to civic engagement. AMCLI strives to empower these pioneering leaders to realize their full potential, and in doing so, have a more effective and...
On July 27, CRCC will be partnering with the Center for Public Policy at Concordia University in order to present "Governing California:A Symposium on Solutions for the 21st Century". According to Keith Curry, current director of the Center for Public...
CRCC Director Don Miller spoke at at the 2012 Kigali Genocide Memorial last week. The two day lecture series also featured a variety of prominent historians, scholars and government officials. The symposium focused on genocide denial, where the speakers discussed...
The Center for Public Policy at Concordia University and the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture present "Governing California:A Symposium on Solutions for the 21st Century," a symposium for elected officials, business, labor and community leaders that will focus...
CRCC Senior Fellow Cecil Murray has appeared in an article in News in Black regarding the death of the late Rodney King. King, whose 1991 beating by LAPD sparked the Los Angeles riots, was found dead on Jun. 17 at...
Nonprofits and faith-based organizations fill a critical gap in the state’s network of facilities that serve those facing life struggles, but these organizations face an increasing number of challenges. In order to strengthen these important organizations, State Controller John Chiang,...
On June 14, President Obama ordered the Department of Homeland Security to cease the deportation of some undocumented youth. The order states that immigrants younger than 30 who came to the United States before they were 16, have clean criminal...
The USC Cecil Murray Center is currently recruiting up to 50 faith leaders from four communities to participate in the Faith Leaders Institute, a leadership transformation and capacity building program. Funded by the California Endowment, the program will teach about...
CRCC will participate in the annual Society for the Scientific Study of Religion conference Nov. 9-11 in Phoenix, Arizona. CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory is the organizer of one session, while Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative grantee Henri Gooren...
CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory and Executive Director of the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement Mark Whitlock have appeared in an article in Christianity Today discussing the effect of demographic changes on black churches in South Los Angeles....
At about the same time that President Barack Obama came out in favor of gay marriage, and North Carolina amended its constitution to forbid gay marriage, a small group calling itself the Biola Queer Underground announced itself on the campus...
Brie Loskota testified at a public hearing hosted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. The event, "L.A. Civil Unrest: A Community Blueprint for the Next 20 Years," took place on April 24, 2012 at...
The Center for Religion and Civic Culture and the Program on Environmental and Regional Equity announce the publication of "Putting Faith First: Traditions and Innovations in Organizing within Religious Communities." While some may think of religion as yet another element...
Rev. Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray has appeared in national and local news stories regarding the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles civil unrest. Twenty years ago this month, over a thousand fires burned in the heart of Los Angeles. The...
Figueroa Press and CRCC announce the publication of Rev. Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray’s autobiography, Twice Tested By Fire: A Memoir of Faith and Service. The inspiring 200-page book is currently available on Amazon, and the USC Bookstore. The Guibord Center:...
Capricious selected CRCC research associate Matt Gainer as their photographer of the week on April 18. They posted a portion of images from his series Imperial Pictures on the website. Gainer received funding for the project from IRG and CRCC...
USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni interviewed Rev. Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray for the Huffington Post about the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots. During the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles, Murray became a household name as...
When I was a kid the Movieguide newsletter would arrive and, if I was quick enough, I could hide it before my mom stacked it on our bookshelf near the encyclopedias. If I failed, there it sat as an arbiter...
CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory has a three-month stint as a guest blogger at Patheos' Black, White and Gray blog. The following piece was published on the blog on March 27, 2012. Several news stories about religion in the...
USC received $305,000 in grants from National Endowment for the Humanities to catalog, digitize and conduct a workshop on its International Mission Photography Archive, headed up by co-principal investigators Jon Miller, CRCC senior research associate and IMPA director, and Matt...
My colleagues and I were stunned and saddened to learn that the Rev. Eugene Williams III died on Friday, March 16, 2012. Williams, a community initiatives fellow and longtime partner with the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, founded Los...
The Crystal Cathedral has finally met its demise. After bankruptcy, the sale of the landmark sanctuary to the Orange County Roman Catholic Diocese and now the (somewhat ungraceful) exit of the entire Schuller family, the fate of the formerly iconic...
The Financial Times published an op-ed on the unrest in Syria by CRCC Research Associate Rhonda Roumani. The piece, published on March 13th, talks about the complex reaction to Syria’s revolution, even among its expatriates. An excerpt: When I worked...
Why go to church when a recent Barna Group survey found that most churchgoers barely remember any insight from the previous week’s service? CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory talked about that topic and more to the Research on Religion...
CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory has a three-month stint as a guest blogger at Patheos' Black, White and Gray blog. The following piece was published on the blog on February 28, 2012. At the USC Center for Religion and...
Religious leaders from across the state gathered at USC yesterday to help focus the work of a new civic collaboration called California Faith Action. The event, titled "Interfaith Leadership for the NEXT California," was co-sponsored by CRCC and the Knight...
I attended chapel today at Biola University (where I once worked), which increased the number of times I have attended a Biola chapel from zero to one. But, if chapels had been like today’s, maybe I would have been...
In cities and towns around the world, countless numbers of people flock to beaches in search of sun, sea and sand. Yet a different picture emerges in Lagos, Nigeria, the second-largest city in Africa. Kuramo Beach is situated on Victoria...
American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute Co-founder and Director Nadia Roumani will be presenting at Voice After Exit: Diaspora Advocacy Seminar on February 15 in Washington, D.C. The event, seventh in the USAID Diaspora Engagement mini-series, will be held at the...
Today, Ashis Nandy, renowned public intellectual and social theorist, will deliver the annual lecture for the Interdisciplinary Research Group of the CRCC at 5 p.m., with a book signing to follow at 6:30 p.m. A reception will kickoff the evening...
USC News recently featured the USC Small Business Diversity Office and its relationship to small businesses around the University Park, Health Sciences, Marina del Rey and Alhambra campuses. The article also highlighted the small business office's partnership with the Cecil...
At the beginning of Black History month we were greeted with tragic news: Don Cornelius, the founder of "Soul Train," committed suicide. While this event has little to do with religion on its face, a story on CNN (aptly titled...
CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory recently began a three-month stint as a guest blogger at Patheos' Black, White and Gray blog. The following piece was published on the blog on January 22, 2012. Yesterday, Jeremy Rhodes wrote about a...
CRCC Senior Fellows Bruce Phillips and Diane Winston will speak at "Looking for Judaism in Unconventional Places," a symposium held by the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies on February 12-13. This conference will examine the significance of the transformations for...
Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray is among many distinguished speakers at From the Ashes: The 1992 Civil Unrest and the Rise of Social Movement Organizing event on Thursday, April 26th at the USC Davidson Conference Center The all-day event, co-sponsored by...
In an effort to rally evangelical support for one Republican candidate in the upcoming South Carolina primary -- and beyond -- "evangelical leaders," according to the New York Times, met last Saturday to vote on who that candidate should be....
The University of Padova, Italy is is currently accepting proposals for the conference Pentecostal Politics of Space and Power: A Global Perspective, held at the university from June 7-8, 2012. Pentecostalism emerged on a global scale in the twentieth century...
Want to spend the month of July in New York researching the role of religion in social movements, with access to libraries and research facilities at Columbia University, Union, Auburn, and Jewish Theological Seminaries? The 2012 CrossCurrents Research Colloquium, in...
Rev. Najuma Smith, program manager of the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, will be speaking at the USC Hillel's MLK Day Shabbat Celebration on Friday, January 13th. The event will also feature the Saved by Grace Gospel Choir and...
Last week, Justin Bieber debuted his second tattoo - the face of Jesus Christ on the back of his leg. Bieber also has a tattoo of Jesus' name in Hebrew on his ribcage. But Christian tattoos are a trend that...
Muneer Awad, current American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute fellow, is making news for leading a local Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) group against an Oklahoma voter-approved measure barring state judges from considering Islamic and international law in their decisions. CNN...
Donald Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion and executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, offers ten predictions for 2012 and the rest of the decade. 1. Religion will be increasingly polarized. Religion will be increasingly polarized around...
Zócalo Public Square is featuring CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory's op-ed on the Crystal Cathedral on its front page today. In the piece, Flory examines what the fall of Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Orange County means for other...
The Ventura County Star quoted CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota in an article about how the lives of American Muslims changes after 9/11 and the Iraq War. The turning point for American Muslim life was the 9/11 attacks, which had...
Want to see interdisciplinary activism at its best? Look at food justice. Seeking to address the inequities in the food system from production to consumption, the movement creates ties together the concerns of environmentalists, the labor movement, animal rights activists,...
When TLC first aired "All-American Muslim," the show met with some harsh criticism from within the Muslim community. In general the complaints went like this: 1) "All American" doesn't represent the racial and ethnic diversity of American Muslims, 2) the...
Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has always been very open about his Christian faith, but after leading the team in recent comeback wins for the Broncos and a rise to the top of their division, people are wondering: Is God...
The Muslim Observer featured AMCLI alums Naim Shah, Jr. and Umar Hakim in an article about the ILM Foundation. Shah, who serves as director, and Hakim, who is currently associate director, spoke with the publication about their participation in Community...
If a photo is worth a thousand words, what would those words say? Paul Jenkins explores questions about representation, cultural context, and historical meaning in a photograph by Basel Mission photographer Rudolf Fisch. The photograph was taken at the beginning...
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota delivered the following as her concluding keynote address at the 8th Annual American Studies Network Conference at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China, in September. Download "Religion's Uneasy Place."(PDF) This paper explores the complicated roles...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in a report by NPR on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The Crystal Cathedral, an temple of glass in Garden Grove,...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in an article by the Los Angeles Times on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The Crystal Cathedral, an temple of glass...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in an article by the Associated Press on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The Crystal Cathedral, an temple of glass in...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in articles by the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The Crystal Cathedral,...
Last week I spent a day at the annual Evangelical Theological Society meetings in San Francisco. My entree to the event was an invitation from some colleagues who are working on an project linking theological reflection and California culture, which...
The L.A. Sentinel wrote an article about USC's Cecil L. Murray Center for Community Engagement. The Murray Center, located a few blocks off-campus at 509 West 29th Street, had a soft launch this fall and currently has programming underway. The...
The City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission hosted an important public forum Oct. 24th at Loyola Marymount University. The dialogue focused on faith-based efforts around poverty and homelessness as part of the city’s observance of Homelessness Awareness month....
What matters to Reverend Cecil "Chip" Murray? History, education, faith, people. But most of all, understanding. Murray, holder of USC's John R. Tansey Chair in Christian Ethics and a senior fellow at the university's Center for Religion and Civic Culure,...
Occupy Wall Street now occupies more than the iconic New York City financial district. In the past month, the movement has spread across the U.S. and the world, to our phones as apps, to pop culture on MTV, has gone...
CRCC will be well-represented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion conference this weekend Oct. 28-30 in Milwaukee, W.I. CRCC Director of Research Richard Flory is the organizer/convener of three panels. Senior Fellow Vern Bengtson and Donald Miller...
CRCC's Interdisciplinary Research Group will be offering opportunities for fellowships and grants for religion-related scholarship at the University of Southern California. IRG is now soliciting proposals for the following awards: Faculty Research Fellowships: Three fellowships of up to $10,000. Funds...
This article is one in an occasional series of dispatches from scholars in the Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s global research network. Danny McCain of the University of Jos is the principal investigator of the Nigeria Pentecostal and Charismatic...
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, housed at CRCC, is pleased to announce this year's class of 22 fellows for the 2011-2012 academic year. AMCLI fellows were chosen through a selective and competitive application process. This year's class hails from...
It's about that time again. Not for a new social-protest movement to pop up, or for someone to remember that the Latter-day Saints Church has some pretty important politicos in it, or for us to belatedly acknowledge black contributions to...
CRCC, the USC Office of Religious Life, Loyola Marymount University and the Magnolia Place Family Center partnered together for the Congregations and Community Project last month, a project that aimed at understanding the role of churches and religion in the...
This article is one in an occasional series on the ways in which religion impacts local and international affairs outside of the United States. Note: South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is in Washington this week to discuss trade issues...
The Huffington Post has featured the religion honors thesis, a short film called Awe, by recent USC graduate Jake Bloch, who graduated in May 2011 with a double major religion and music. The ambitious thesis is a 15-minute film that...
CRCC's Interdisciplinary Research Group annual seminar series is going strong with the topic "Religion on the Move: Crossing Borders, Setting Boundaries." The first seminar, held Sept. 7, covered the topic of "Diasporas and Religious Doctrine." IRG seminar co-director Professor Janet...
In a lecture co-sponsored by CRCC and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, Rev. Tom Rausch, S.J. will discuss the topic, "Pentecostals and Roman Catholics: Past Tentions, New Initiatives" on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 at USC. The reception begins at...
Our Weekly featured CRCC's report "The Black Church Next: Challenges and Opportunities Facing African American Congregations in 21st Century Los Angeles," by Daniel Walker, CRCC research associate. The report details the struggle of the Black Church to stay vital, which...
Brie Loskota, CRCC managing director, has joined Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch of the U.S.-China Education Trust and Professor Sonya Michel of the University of Maryland and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on a trip to Beijing, Changchun and...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in an OC Weekly article on Dave Gibbons, the head of the Newsong church based in Irvine. Gibbons believes that small churches are the new megachurch, and has focused Newsong on the...
The USC Shoah Foundation Institute is hosting its second annual Student Voices Film Competition and the Student Voices Master Class Presented by HBO. The two-day documentary master class sponsored by HBO will be held on October 9 and 16. The...
CRCC, with Loyola Marymount University and the Magnolia Place Family Center, will be conducting interviews with congregations in Central Los Angeles and is looking for about 100 volunteers to conduct this research. The volunteer commitment requires one training session on...
The Religion News Service quoted American Muslim Leadership Institute director and co-founder Nadia Roumani in a story about the perception of Muslims approaching the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Americans say they now know more about Islam than they did 10...
Does the bankruptcy of Orange County's Crystal Cathedral signal that megachurches are on their way out? KPCC Southern California Public Radio talked to Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, in their quest to find out. Rev. Robert Schuller's ministry -...
The Daily Herald in Illinois featured American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute alum Junaid Afeef's efforts to raise funds for to help orphans in India by running while fasting for Ramadan. Afeef, 41, a member of AMCLI's first cohort, started running...
A new report published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings explores the role of Muslim faith-based organizations in American civic life. Authors Brie Loskota and Nadia Roumani, co-founders of CRCC's American Muslim Leadership Institute, examine the...
Christianity Today referenced CRCC Executive Director Donald E. Miller's book Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement in an article about how Pentecostals are engaging in compassionate ministries and social change in numerous ways. In the book Global...
CRCC senior fellow Reuven Firestone teamed up with his wife Ruth Sohn for an article in Jewish Journal on Cairo's Tahrir Square and what it has come to mean in Egypt post-Hosni Mubarak. Firestone and Sohn write: Tahrir Square has...
In one of the most electrifying moments in “Eyes on the Prize,” the documentary about the civil rights movement that aired on PBS in 1987, an African-American teenager named Jimmy Webb tries to persuade a Selma police officer to let...
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute is currently accepting applications for its next cohort until September 6, 2011. AMCLI is housed at CRCC and works in partnership with the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown...
Richard Flory, CRCC's director of Research, spoke to KPCC radio about the latest developments with the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. The Crystal Cathedral’s board of directors have rejected serious bids from Orange County’s Catholic diocese, a real estate...
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in an LA Weekly article about Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes and his suspected involvement with Focus on the Family and other controversial groups. Mycoskie, who has come underfire since he spoke...
The Templeton Report, the newsletter of the John Templeton Foundation, reported on the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative's meetings in Quito, Ecuador, in May. PCRI is funded by a grant from the Templeton Foundation and is headed by CRCC Executive...
NY1, New York City's 24-hour-news channel, featured American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute alumna Linda Sarsour and her recent acheivement: Winning a Brooklyn Do-Gooder Award. She is the director of the Arab American Association of New York and a fellow at...
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota moderated a panel at the Religious Pluralism Public Forum, sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission last Wednesday at the Van Nuys City Hall Chambers. Panelists included: Imam Jihad Turk, Religious Director...
The Passing the Mantle Clergy and Lay Leadership Institute held its first session with its new class of fellows last week at USC's Ronald Tutor Center. The 2011 class of fellows gathered on the University Park campus on July 14-15...
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota and USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni spoke at the sixth annual Summer Institute in Public Diplomacy, held by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School from July 17 to July...
The Religion News Service quoted Diane Winston, CRCC senior fellow and Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC's Annenberg School for Journalism in a story about politicians' aversion to religious labels during their campaigns. Winston commented on Michele Bachmann's...
The CDD News, Los Angeles Community Development Department newsletter, featured the Religious Pluralism Public Forum, which CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota moderated in June and was sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission. The panel, held in...
USC Dornsife News wrote about the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative's conference in Quito, Ecuador, in May. The article quotes CRCC Executive Director Don Miller, coordinator of PCRI, along with featuring the projects of grantees Karrie Koesel (Where Faith Thrives:...
In Los Angeles, the sense of impending doom in the air and on the news makes it seem like the world will end this weekend. Not quite, but close enough - 10 miles of the 405 freeway will close for...
Diane Winston, CRCC senior fellow and Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC's Annenberg School for Journalism, reviewed the controversial book "Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion" by Janet Reitman for The Washington Post. An excerpt:...
Donald Miller has observed Pentecostal and charismatic services around the globe. In May 2011, he visited indigenous Pentecostal churches in Quito, Ecuador, where he captured footage of prayer, worship, and dance. Miller, Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion and executive...
Voice of America featured the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative in an article and video about Pentecostalism being the fastest-growing form of Christianity. PCRI is coordinated by CRCC Executive Director Don Miller and funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Miller...
The Denver Post quoted Diane Winston in an article about the rise of religion and religious characters on primetime television. "Our collective anxieties are being dealt with on TV," Winston told The Denver Post. Winston comments on several TV series...
CRCC just released "The Black Church Next: Challenges and Opportunities Facing African American Congregations in 21st Century Los Angeles," by Research Associate Dr. Daniel E. Walker, who looks at the state of the Black Church in the report. From the...
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota moderated a panel at the Religious Pluralism Public Forum, sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission last Wednesday at the Van Nuys City Hall Chambers. Panelists included: Imam Jihad Turk, Religious Director...
The great American political experiment has passed many milestones along the path toward a more inclusive society. Kennedy broke barriers for Catholics, Geraldine Ferraro for women, Lieberman for Jews and Obama for African-Americans. But there are a few stubborn biases...
Ara Oshagan's photo exhibition "Father Land" runs from June 1 to July 30, 2011 at the Glendale Public Library. The photographs are from the book of the same name with text by his late father Vahé and published by powerHouse...
On the 30th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS, Diane Winston, CRCC senior fellow and Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC's Annenberg School for Journalism, wrote about the "entangled relationship" between religion and AIDS, today and 30 years...
Nadia Roumani, co-founder and director of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI), received a proclamation from Borough of Manhattan President Scott M. Stringer declaring June 12th as Nadia Roumani Appreciation Day in New York City at the Muslim Consultative...
Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative grantee Karrie Koesel talks to the weekly podcast series Research on Religion about her research on "house churches" in China. Koesel, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Oregon, has a PCRI...
The Interdisciplinary Research Group is pleased to announce funding awards to three doctoral students who are traveling to participate in major international academic conferences this summer. Kristina Buhrman, a doctoral student in history, is attending the International Association for Buddhist...
NPR quoted Richard Flory, CRCC director of research and research associate professor, in a report about the ongoing financial woes of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County. The Crystal Cathedral, a megachurch founded by Robert H. Schuller, Sr., is currently...
A new article by Nick Street, journalist in residence, examines the work of CRCC's Interdisciplinary Research Group, which has provided over $70,000 in grant funding since 2009. The article features research by Christian Hammons, Jane Iwamura, Mohamed Saleh, and Bradly...
A USC Dornsife article featured the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, a CRCC initiative designed to equip young leaders with enhanced civic engagement skills. “There’s a fundamental idea that faith communities have a mandate to address social ills,” said Brie...
The past tumultuous few years for the Crystal Cathedral have included the retirement (and un-retirement, then subsequent re-retirement) of the Schuller pater familias; the son's inheriting the family business only to be replaced by his sister (his sister!); the church's...
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota will moderate “Religious Pluralism: Shaping the American Identity,” a public forum on June 22, 2011 from 6-9:00 p.m., sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission. The forum, held at the Van Nuys...
The Voice of America featured the International Mission Photography Archive, a joint initiative of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture and the USC Digital Library. "Online Archive Preserves Images from Christian Missions in Africa, Asia" Michael O'Sullivan. "An ambitious...
Brie Loskota delivered remarks at a Faith and Diplomacy Briefing in Washington, D.C. on April 11, 2011. The event was sponsored by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Ms. Loskota's remarks follow below. I was in Thailand in September on...
Shocking! According to the New York Times, there are gay and lesbian students at evangelical colleges, and they actually want to be recognized by their schools for the people they are, not as some sort of sexual rehabilitation project. Perhaps...
Congressman Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will begin hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims on Thursday, March 10, 2011. Not only is this witch-hunt morally dubious, it is bad sociology. He is stereotyping an...
Several recent reports suggest that the evangelical Christian world, as we have come to know it over the last 30 years, may be changing forever. Much has been written since the last presidential election about the rise of a new...
With the recent retirement of Cardinal Roger Mahony, many assessments of both his accomplishments and shortcomings have--and will--be written. But any appraisal of Mahony’s contributions to the civic culture of Los Angeles is incomplete without a close examination of...
CRCC Executive Director Donald Miller participated in the forum, titled "Democracy and the Culture of Civic Conversation," kicking off the California Council for the Humanities' Searching for Democracy initiative. The forum and series of panels were held March 4, 2011,...
A few weeks ago I walked into my hometown Ralph's grocery store in a suburb of Los Angeles and found Homeboy Industries chips and salsas in the deli section. Delicious, hot, crispy and full of ethical goodness--yum! Just in time...
Although there are still some lingering questions from last November about the role that values-voters played in the midterm elections--for example, were moral issues trumped by personal financial interests?--more recently, a new politics of fear has begun to dominate legislative...
CRCC managing director and American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) co- founder Brie Loskota moderated a recent webinar “Faith in Roots,” reporting out on the stories from the first year of the Community Organizing Residency (COR) on to launch the...
The Interdisciplinary Research Group of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture invites faculty and graduate students from across the disciplines to participate in the seminar, "Gender, Sex, Religion, and Politics: Why the Past Matters Today." The seminar is...
With the recent midterm election now behind us, reporters are beginning to speculate about potential Republican challengers to President Obama, and even challengers from within his own party, in the 2012 presidential election. To date, much of the media attention...
Bibliothèque du Défap in Paris has recently contributed approximately 6,500 pictures to the International Mission Photography Archive (IMPA). These historical images, taken in Madagascar, Cameroon, Lesotho, and Gabon by representatives of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS), bring the total...
Many theologians, reporters and devout Catholics uttered a collective "whaaat?!?" when the Holy See announced that condoms could be used in a morally responsible way to help stop the spread of HIV. There is probably no more appropriate day than...
The next meeting of the Gender, Sex, Religion and Politics seminar, scheduled for this Friday (Nov. 19), will feature Diane Winston of USC and Lara (Katie) Schubert of Claremont Graduate University. Wilson’s paper, “The Angel of Broadway: Transformative Dynamics Among...
What is particularly striking in the aftermath of Tuesday's historic election is that there is no consistent religion storyline. Observers have alternately argued that there is no values or faith story in the 2010 election, that the Tea Party is...
Lisa Bitel, professor of religion and member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group, appeared on this History Channel TV special, talking about the Celtic roots of the holiday. Description from History Channel: Halloween began centuries ago as a pagan holiday that...
With an important election looming, our constantly simmering political contest over "values" is once again at full boil. Self-described "values voters" sparked furious debate following the 2004 exit polls. Liberals declared that God has no party. Conservatives saw a chance...
The CRCC Interdisciplinary Research Group held its first seminar on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. This session featured Heather White (New College of Florida) and Sheila Briggs (USC). Lori Meeks writes that the papers revealed "Christian views of gender and sexuality would surprise contemporary Christians."
The Rev. Mark Whitlock, CRCC's director of community initiatives, appeared on CNN to discuss his church's attempt to bring an end to segregation on Sunday morning. Rev. Whitlock is pastor of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church in Irvine, a multiethnic...
Guest blogger Hannah Cohen describes a recent tour of Pentecostal sites in Los Angeles.
The sky is falling and apparently it's taking organized religion with it. That's the take-away message in a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece by William Lobdell. Starting with novelist Anne Rice's defection from the Catholic Church (or more accurately,...
The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the new class of fellows for 2010-2011. Meet the fellows. The American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute is housed at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and works in...
The recent retirement, then non-retirement, of famed Crystal Cathedral and "possibility thinking" pastor Robert Schuller, was reported over the past weekend, first in the Orange County Register, and picked up by the AP. The story was then denied by Schuller's...
The only thing Americans seem to like more than the culture war is trying to make money off the culture war. As soon as the "Jesus fish" appeared on the back of a minivan, another enterprising group started selling the...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency featured research from the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, a partnership among USC, Hebrew Union College and the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation. The report found that Muslim-Jewish engagement is growing in the United States, with the greatest...
Richard Flory on Glenn Beck and Liberty University
Brie Loskota on investing according to "Christian beliefs"
Our ongoing project on the Los Angeles Dream Center has introduced us to many memorable people, among them, Alfred Lomas. Alfred is the director of the Food Truck ministry at the Dream Center, where he has used that ministry to...
Religious history in the former Soviet Union is more than a linear story of evangelization, conversion, and church growth.
Truthdig quoted Hebah Farrag on the role of the perpetrator’s nationality and religion in whether a violent act is deemed terrorism. Hebah Farrag of the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture says the answer, in short,...
That evangelical Christians have long been able to co-opt popular cultural forms, give them a nice (and wholesome) Christian gloss, and then turn them into forms intended to further their aims is well established. For example, in the early 20th...
According to a recent report from the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, the number of people served by its affiliate food pantries, kitchens and shelters throughout Los Angeles County has increased 46% since 2005, and almost 9% just from Spring to...
Richard Flory, CRCC senior research associate and research associate professor, was quoted in an Associated Press article by Gillian Flaccus. The Crystal Cathedral, a megachurch founded by Robert H. Schuller Sr. is being forced to sell property and curtail broadcasts...
It is no secret that women generally get the short end of the stick, so to speak, when it comes to how they are treated and viewed in religions and religious institutions. A pretty safe rule of thumb would be...
Join Rev. Mark Whitlock, director of community initiatives and pastor of Christ Our Redeemer Church, as he welcomes Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray for a conversation on KJLH. The live program airs on Sunday, January 17, 2010, from 8:00 to 9:00...
Richard Flory, CRCC senior research associate, appeared on a CBS Evening News broadcast about American religious practice. The story, "Crossing Boundaries," focused on a recent study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which found that "large numbers...
A provocative film series at USC uses cinema as a launching pad for conversations about topics in the Muslim and Jewish communities. The series is cosponsored by NewGround:Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, and the USC Office...
In his recent state of the state address, Gov. Arnold Shwarzenegger addressed the issue of California's prison spending relative to its investment in higher education. But how does his proposed constitutional amendment affect communities when prisoners return after they complete...
Navigating the web for accurate information on Islam and Judaism can be treacherous. But some exceptional resources exist amidst the pages of negative bias and questionable legitimacy. To assist dialogue groups and other interested individuals in their internet research ,...
There seems to be some concern among both religious leaders and the faithful, that our recent economic woes will cause significant change in the religious landscape of America.
Welcome to the new website of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. We hope that you enjoy the new look and improved access to resources and information. We are also launching “The Wire,” our collective blog that will feature thoughts on current events, project updates, and notes on what we are learning as a research team.
Or maybe we could develop an alternative explanation and call it the “Spiritualization Thesis.” Americans are, apparently, as interested in religious and spiritual activities as ever, including prayer and seeking out various forms of spiritual guidance and direction.
There's an interesting article in the Sports Section of the New York Times (August 2, 2009) on several X Games competitors who have given up life in the fast lane, of (apparently) sex, drugs and rock and roll, and have converted to Christianity of an evangelical sort.
“Our concern is that many of the gospels being preached today are designed for the ear, not the human condition,” Rev. Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray told the Los Angeles Times. “Our goal is to share our knowledge and experience to...
Slab City, an informal community built on the remains of a Marine base near the Salton Sea, is the location for a new project led by Matt Gainer.
Gainer, research associate and director of the USC Digital Library, will use documentary photography and oral histories to examine how community is maintained in Slab City, a site that has no official status as place, no official status as place, no state supported infrastructure and no private property.
Read The S Factor: A conversation about Pentecostalism with Donald E. Miller, an interview with CRCC's executive director that was featured in the July/August issue of Books and Culture. How has your understanding of Pentecostalism changed over time as you...
The Los Angeles Times wrote about CRCC's Passing the Mantle program. But don't count the old lions out. They now shepherd a USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture summer program called Passing the Mantle. Now in its fourth year,...