Archive
KPCC: Najuma Smith-Pollard on Same-Sex Marriage and the Black Church
In 2008, a majority of Black voters helped ban same-sex marriage in California. KPCC talked to Najuma Smith-Pollard, program manager for the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, about whether attitudes …
The Varieties of American Evangelicalism
Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency has brought the culture, fault-lines and political commitments of American evangelicalism into sharp relief. How did a candidate whose lifestyle and morals starkly contradict conservative Christian …
5,000 Pies: Serving Pizza and Faith in Long Beach
5,000 Pies is a small, storefront restaurant and “social enterprise” operated by Fountain of Life Covenant Church in a multi-ethnic and economically challenged neighborhood on the west side of Long Beach, California. …
The Influence of Archbishop Oscar Romero
In this video CRCC’s archives, visit the church where Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated, with guide Richard L. Wood, associate professor of sociology at University of New Mexico. Romero was canonized as …
African American Muslims and the LAPD: Moving from Stories to Solutions
This article originally appeared in BOOM California. “We don’t want to walk into a kumbaya situation,” said Umar Hakim. The sixteen men and women gathered around a conference table in Inglewood simultaneously …
Sustaining Religious Life: Support for Catholic Sisters
Catholic sisters work with vulnerable populations around the globe. Their faith drives their dedication to serving “the least of these,” and yet, the conditions in which they work also can cause them …
Holy Listening Connects Young Adults to Churches
This post, co-authored by Dori Baker, originally appeared on Faith & Leadership. Multicolored Post-it notes dot the walls of the seminary classroom. Here, in a pop-up design thinking lab, people are buzzing …
LA Times: Murray Center Gathers Women for Discussion of #MeToo in Black Church
The USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement convened a group of prominent women to discuss sexual harassment in the Black Church. The Los Angeles Times covered the #MeToo-inspired gathering, organized by …
Evangelicals Versus Oil: Environmental Justice in South Los Angeles
This article originally appeared in the June 2018 issue of Sojourners magazine. Sentinel Peak Resources recently announced its intention to abandon petroleum production at its Jefferson Boulevard site. The families arrived early …
LAist/KPCC: Flory on the Trend of Church Cafes
Korean churches in Los Angeles are reaching out to the public through cafes, reports LAist/KPCC. CRCC’s Senior Director of Research and Evaluation Richard Flory explained how this trend in Los Angeles reflects practices of religious …
Sexual Assault During Hajj: Will #MosqueMeToo Lead to Reforms in Mecca?
In February of 2018, inspired by the #MeToo movement, Muslim women took to social media to describe sexual harassment and assault in the holiest shrines of the Islamic faith: the Kaabah in …
LA Times: Thai Masjid Serves Diverse Group of Muslims
Masjid al-Fatiha started as a Thai Muslim house of worship, and has grown to incorporate worshippers from around the globe. The Los Angeles Times featured the masjid–started by the family of CRCC’s …
Brie Loskota: We Decided to Be Builders
Brie Loskota was a guest on Edina Lekovic’s Meeting the Moment podcast episode 10, where she discussed the origins of CRCC’s AMCLI program and the Generation Change program, a global youth peace-building program of the United States Institute of …
The Hill: Richard Flory on the Religious Right’s Criticism of Trump’s Immigration Policies
The controversy over child separation at the southern border is forcing many conservative Christian leaders to be more critical of Donald Trump than they have in the past. Though some believe this …
Catholic Sisters Initiative In Transition: The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Catholic Sisters Initiative Strategy
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Catholic Sisters Initiative launched a five-year strategy in February 2013 to enhance the vitality of Catholic sisters and their work to advance human development around the globe. …
LA-Times Op-Ed: The Leaner, and Arguably Meaner, Evangelical Church
This Op-Ed originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times on May 31, 2018. Franklin Graham, the evangelical preacher and son of Billy Graham, is in the midst of a 10-city tour 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 …
Transitions: New Spiritual Community in Black Radical Organizing
Competing voices within spiritual groups help to create boundaries of belonging within and beyond the group by articulating notions of identity and meaning that are based in history, myth and gender, among …