USC Dornsife College Of Letters Arts and Sciences

University of Southern California

Archive

Archive

L.A. Times: Najuma Smith on the LAPD Civilian Review Process

The Los Angeles Times interviewed CRCC’s Najuma Smith about her decision to volunteer for Los Angeles Police Department civilian review process. The Times investigation found that some reviewers have been chosen repeatedly …

Thriving (or Just Surviving): 2023 Trends to Watch in Religion and Society

If CRCC’s annual trends to watch have been growing more ominous in recent years, then 2023 feels like a pivotal year for many of the issues we’ve been tracking:  Like our final …

Conflict and Congregations: How Churches Respond to Politics and the Pandemic

As the 2022 midterm elections approach, little can be predicted—except, perhaps, that they will further cement the deep divides in our country. Those divides often extend into religious congregations. CRCC is a …

Ruth Messinger: The New York City Politician’s Long Second Act Honors ‘an Obligation to Respond’

This article was originally published by Religion News Service, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality.  (RNS) — New Yorkers of a certain age remember Ruth Messinger as a city …

NY Times: Najuma Smith-Pollard on Abortion Views in Black Communities

Among Black Americans, support for reproductive rights is connected with their concern for broader civil rights, the New York Times reports. The article frames CRCC’s Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard as helping shape …

CRCC on Religion and Reproductive Rights After the Overturning of Roe v Wade

Discussions about reproductive rights continue to circulate in the religious community after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. CRCC’s Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard and Richard Flory have been interviewed …

American Theocracy Is Bad for Everyone–Including White Christian Nationalists

As we marked the 246th anniversary of our country’s independence from a despotic regime that fused church and state power, the staff of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture gathered …

Roundtable of Faith Leaders and Vice President Kamala Harris on Reproductive Health

Vice President Kamala Harris recently hosted a roundtable with faith leaders on the state of reproductive health care in the United States. The event, held at the Los Angeles County Federation of …

Voice of San Diego: Richard Flory on a Right-Wing Church

The Voice of San Diego profiled Awaken, a local evangelical church that has become a center for right-wing political organizing. CRCC’s Richard Flory provided context for conservative political activism of evangelical churches. …

Kumu Hina and Walter Ritte: ‘A very Hawaiian place’

This article was originally published by Indian Country Today, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. HONOLULU, Hawai’i — It’s a weekday evening rush-hour in Honolulu, and Hina Wong-Kalu is driving us …

Pandemic Year 3 Predictions: Adjusting to New “Normals” in 2022

Since 2016, CRCC has shared the trends in religion and society that we see shaping the coming year. What started as light-hearted predictions has grown more ominous over the years. Anybody surprised …

LA Times: Why Are Christian Groups Allowed To Discriminate? Power and Privilege

The Los Angeles Times published the below letter to the editor from CRCC’s Richard Flory: To the editor: Op-ed article writers Rachel S. Mikva, Corey D.B. Walker and Reza Aslan are rightly …

#BuddhistCultureWars: Buddhabros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas

This article appeared in the Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 22, No 1 (2021) and was co-authored by Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger. Abstract While often associated with a liberal demographic, the …

Showing Up! Female Faith Leadership in the COVID-19 Pandemic

This post was originally published on the Berkley Forum, as part of a series on Gender, Religion and COVID-19. As a female pastor and community faith leader, I found myself called to …

Voices of Women and People of Color Must Be Part of Catholic Social Teaching Discussion

This article was originally published in the National Catholic Reporter. In a recent essay, Francis X. Rocca of the Wall Street Journal argued that Catholic social teaching presents a framework for uniting America, noting …

White Christian nationalism and the next wave of political violence

This article was originally published by The Hill. There was a brief period when Republicans appeared to reject Trumpism. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) condemned the insurrectionists as “terrorists, not patriots,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the seditionists were …

Nica Aquino: Searching for Home

Ironically, hope for the Kalinga way of life may be found far from Lubuagan and the Chico River, in the outposts of the Filipino diaspora. For example, one of Cirilo “Sapi” Bawer’s …

Sapi’s Struggle: Indigenous Resistance to Cultural Assimilation in the Philippines

This article was published with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. The buoyant chatter of children drifted down from a wooded ridge as we pulled up to the teaching …

Predictions 2021: An Uphill Struggle

As we do around this time each new year, we at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) are going to make some predictions for 2021. Even though the world …

Spiritual Leadership in Myanmar

I visited Yangon for the first time in January 2020, and from the airport tarmac into its downtown, the city had been signposted with billboards of Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s face. She …