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Donald Miller at a podium with sign saying

Donald E. Miller Retires from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture celebrates the long and productive career of its co-founder Donald E. Miller upon his retirement from the center. The Leonard K. Firestone Professor of …

Fouzia Azizi: A Helping Hand for Afghan Refugees

Fouzia Azizi vividly recalls the night her family fled Afghanistan nearly 30 years ago. Fearing for their lives, they crossed the border into Pakistan. They traveled lightly, expecting to return soon. “I …

Sarah Zouak: Leading a Laboratory of Muslim Feminism in France

When Sarah Zouak was a graduate student in France, an adviser told her that the phrase “Muslim feminist” was a contradiction in terms. Zouak had proposed a thesis on the topic when …

CRCC Launches Compelling Preaching Initiative

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture is launching a new project that seeks to help faith leaders think about their preaching in an ever-changing social and cultural landscape.  With support …

Environmental Justice and Spiritual Exemplars

This story map is best viewed on the Arcgis website on a computer.

Monica Francisco holds her fist up in the middle of a streat, surrounded by other Black Brazilian women.

The Radical Resistance and Radical Acceptance of Spiritual Exemplars

How spiritual exemplars work to create a world befitting of our inherent nobility A key question we are asked by consumers of our research on “spiritual exemplars” is about the qualities of …

Sister Networks Building Hope at the US/Mexico Border

Catholic sisters are working together across congregations and across the US/Mexico border to better serve people in need of housing, food, health care and immigration services. This video highlights the work of …

Women of Integrity: Celebrating 175 Years of the Immaculate Heart Community

On Tuesday, September 26, 2023, the exhibition “Women of Integrity: Celebrating 175 Years of the Immaculate Heart Community” opened in USC’s Doheny Memorial Library. It tells the remarkable story of the Immaculate …

“Stories of Social Change: Spirituality in Action” Exhibit Panel at USC Annenberg

A global team of journalists and researchers at the University of Southern California produced more than 100 stories about people dedicated to working for positive social changes as part of the Center …

Parveena Ahanger: A Grieving Mother’s Fight for the Disappeared of Kashmir

Parveena Ahanger, a well-known Kashmiri activist, exuded her characteristic warmth as she sat cross-legged in the kitchen on a freezing January afternoon in Srinagar, the region’s largest city. The warmest corner of …

Boy with volunteer shirt writes while standing in a window cut from plywood, painted rainbow colors

The Complex Relationship Between Religion and Humanitarianism

The hero image of religious saints involved in humanitarian work warrants examination. I have come to this conclusion in the process of leading a global project on “spiritual exemplars” at USC’s Center …

William James

Spiritual Exemplars: The Pragmatism and Mystical Perspective of William James

William James was the inspiration for our project on “spiritual exemplars” at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. James, a philosopher and psychologist, believed that one learns more from what …

About the Exhibit

“Stories of Social Change: Spirituality in Action” is a multimedia exhibit based on the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s Spiritual Exemplars Project. Through the project, CRCC’s team of journalists and …

Spotlight shines on spiritually engaged humanitarians in ‘Stories of Social Change’ exhibit

This story was originally published by USC News. After being immersed in the material for five years, Megan Sweas didn’t need a script as she led small groups on tours of the …

Washington Post: Richard Flory on Saddleback’s Rick Warren Ordaining Women

Rick Warren, founder and pastor of Saddleback Church, is challenging the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) belief that women should not be pastors in their church. Saddleback was disfellowshipped by SBC officials after …

Fijians in Transnational Pentecostal Networks

Fijians in Transnational Pentecostal Networks by Karen Brison (Australian National University, 2023) The writing of this book was supported by the Pentecostal Charismatic Research Initiative. In Fijians in Transnational Pentecostal Networks, Karen J. Brison …

David Raimundo dos Santos: Without this Black Catholic Priest, Affirmative Action Wouldn’t Be Alive and Thriving in Brazil.

This article was originally published on Black Catholic Messenger, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality.  Sometimes the truth hits so hard that it changes your life forever. For the …

Ethnographic Religion Reporting

This reporting guide was originally published on Religion Link, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality.  When asked to make predictions about newswriting for 2021, Kevin D. Grant, co-founder & …

Remembering Nick Street: CRCC’s Storyteller

There’s a spider alive because of Nick Shindo Street.  Nick, a Buddhist, had convinced his colleague Najuma Smith, a Christian minister, that spiders were God’s creation and deserved to live. So when …

The Moral Power of Stories: How Exemplars Help Us Find Meaning and Purpose

What has more emotional salience, an abstract moral principle such as love or justice or a good story of someone whose life commitments exemplify these values? Shortly after I finished my Ph.D. …