Archive
LA-Times Op-Ed: The Leaner, and Arguably Meaner, Evangelical Church
Brie Loskota and Rebecca Sager published on Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times on May 31, 2018. Franklin Graham, the evangelical preacher and son of Billy Graham, is in the midst of …
The Aspen Institute: Loskota on Tackling Hate Through Interfaith Initiatives
Bridging faith communities is essential to combat violence against minorities and create partnerships to tackle the challenges that face society. The Aspen Institute interviewed CRCC Executive Director Brie Loskota for a podcast …
How Young Women Become Catholic Sisters Today
When Sister Jeanette Kong was growing up in Singapore, she felt herself to be a “jaded and disillusioned young person.” She had been raised in a Catholic family environment with a Catholic …
Encountering God: A Catholic Sisters’s Journey
Sister Jeanette Kong shares how she went from a “jaded and disillusioned young person” to a Verbum Dei Missionary in this video: Fewer young women in the United States are deciding to …
AMCLI: Building a Dynamic National Network of American Muslim Leadership
AMCLI is leadership program that develops and trains American Muslim leaders who are committed to civic engagement. AMCLI fellows are at the forefront of creating a greater presence of Muslims in the …
Forward: Richard Flory on The Jerusalem Embassy Ceremony
While the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a political victory for Trump, it is a religious victory for evangelicals. Trump appealed to this group of evangelicals—a group who …
The Poor People’s Campaign: Learning from the Global Fight Against Structural Poverty
Last fall, I attended a high-energy mass meeting for the new Poor People’s Campaign. Part of a 15-state tour, the Los Angeles event rallied a racially mixed and enthusiastic crowd from the …
The L.A. Decade: Religious Innovation in an Emerging Global City
The following is a speech given at The Collaboratory, a gathering of Jewish leaders. When I was teaching at a Jewish day school for girls, one of my students approached me excited …
NBC: Richard Flory on Bringing Environmentalism to Evangelicals
The thought of climate change as a major issue has often been dismissed by many white evangelicals. Oftentimes evangelicals see climate change running counter to their strict interpretations of theology. However, some …
Wilshire Boulevard: A Tour of Religion in Los Angeles
Wilshire Boulevard was designed to be the grand boulevard of Los Angeles. Major religions established congregations along the street, just outside of Downtown Los Angeles. The USC Center for Religion and Civic …
The Cosby Case at Church: Why Pastors Should Address Sexual Assault
Bill Cosby is back in court this week. This time, in Pittsburgh, his sexual assault case is framed against the backdrop of #MeToo, the movement raising awareness of sexual harassment, and #ChurchToo. …
The OC Register: Reverend Cecil Murray on the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Martin Luther King Jr.
April 4, 2018 marks the 50 year anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Cecil L. Murray, a faith-based leader and chair of the USC Cecil Murray Center for …
March 27, 1994: “Turnips That Don’t Turn Up” – Rev. Cecil Murray
In this Palm Sunday Sermon, Rev. Murray reminds his congregation at First AME Church that humility helps you remember to praise the Lord. Without humility it is easy to forget to be …
Latter-day Zen: The Mormon Man Bringing Meditation to Home
This article originally appeared in Tricycle Magazine. The first thing that I noticed on my visit to Thomas McConkie’s apartment near the University of Utah was a small wooden tan—the raised platform …
Billy Graham Coverage: Richard Flory on Evangelical Politics
The death of “America’s pastor” Billy Graham at age 99 has brought reflection on the politics of American evangelicalism. Richard Flory, CRCC’s senior director of research and evaluation, spoke with FiveThirtyEight and Congressional Quarterly …
Billy Graham Coverage: Richard Flory on the Business of Evangelicalism
Billy Graham left a legacy in the evangelical world not only in terms of his preaching, but also in terms of the organizations he founded or inspired. Following his death on February …
When a Pastor Shows Up at a Black Lives Matter Protest
I posted a question on Facebook at the beginning of 2018: “What ever happened to Black Lives Matter?” The question wasn’t prompted by animosity, despite the disagreements between clergy and BLM. To …
The Black Church and Black Lives Matter – Faith Leaders Institute
Roslyn Satchel is an AME minister and part of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. She spoke at the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement’s 2018 Faith Leaders Institute retreat about why she …
83.9 KPCC: Mark Whitlock on LA’s Korean Christian Community Seeking Social Impact
Korean Americans make up a large portion of Los Angeles’ population, and many of them identify as Christian. However, Korean churches do not have the same reputation for impacting the community in …
Reimagining Religion 2018: New Stories, New Communities
Reimagining Religion 2018: New Stories, New Communities was a conference hosted at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism by the Knight Program for Media and Religion, along with Religion Communicators …