Archive
Part Two: Forgiveness: Comedic Relief, Belief and Creating Ease
A philosopher, having made an appointment to dispute with Mulla Nasrudin, dropped by and found him away from home. Infuriated, the philosopher picked up a piece of chalk and wrote “Stupid Oaf” …
KPCC LAist 89.3: Richard Flory on How Gen-Z Are Finding (Or Moving Away From) Religion
How has living in a time of tremendous social change influenced Gen Z’s attitudes towards religion–organized or otherwise? CRCC’s executive director Richard Flory was on KPCC LAist 89.3’s Airtalk with Larry Mantle …
Part One: Mercy – Haqq, Humor and Honoring God’s Divine Creations
A patient with a permanent visual impairment once asked me, “Why did God give eyes to blind people?” She wondered aloud why God did not, for instance, leave the sockets empty, and …
Healing Heartwork Toolkit: Exploring Joy
Since 2021, in response to the emerging needs of AMCLI fellows, the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) has crafted a toolkit focused on deepening our understanding of Islamic modalities …
Spiritual Exemplar Life Story Interview Guide
The following interview guide may be useful to journalists and researchers interested in collecting and telling stories of humanitarianism and/or the role of spirituality in people’s lives and work. The USC Center …
Who are Spiritual Exemplars?
CRCC’s project on “spiritual exemplars” expands upon a burgeoning field of research on moral exemplars, primarily undertaken in psychology and moral philosophy. Scholars leading this field ask why we should limit our …
Insights into Engaged Spirituality
Bringing journalists into an academic project breaks some conventional standards of social science research, which typically focuses on controlled samples and standardized research protocols. Doing so allowed us to pull off a …
Telling Good Religion Stories
News coverage of religion can be cynical, focusing on corruption, abuse and the negative elements of religion as a crutch or escape from reality. With this project, CRCC aimed to introduce into …
Engaged Spirituality: 100 Stories of Inspiration and Resilience
Around the world, humanitarians care for AIDS orphans, fight oil companies in the arctic, perform surgery in the middle of wars, save migrants from certain death in the desert or the sea, …
Layli Miller Muro: Protecting the Rights of Migrants
As a lawyer and a member of the Baha’i faith, Layli Miller-Muro believes the pursuit of justice is a divine calling. When she was in law school in 1996, Miller-Muro successfully helped …
Self-Care for Faith Leaders: Thriving Congregations Conversation with Dr. Thema Bryant
Pepperdine University Professor and 2023 President of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Thema Bryant spoke about the lingering impact of the pandemic on faith leaders and congregations. This was recorded as part …
Shifting Your Mindset About Church Leadership: Thriving Congregations Conversation with Quentin P. Kinnison
Fresno Pacific University, Associate Professor Quentin P. Kinnison, provides insights on what it means to transform pastoral leadership. This was recorded as part of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s …
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 …
Huda Abu Arqoub: Building the Land Her Grandfather Knew
Peacebuilder Huda Abu Arqoub has a spiritual vision for Israel/Palestine rooted in the past. A truly holy land, she says, is one in which all can live together. When Huda Abu Arqoub …
Ten Characteristics of Thriving Communities of Faith
Even as religious affiliation continues to decline, CRCC’s research on religious creativity and innovation has found groups that are thriving across religious traditions. While not necessarily large (though some are), these groups …
Holistic Resilience: Why Some Spiritual Exemplars Question Suffering as a Path to Resilience
When CRCC’s “Spiritual Exemplars Project” team was invited to present about “resilience,” it was easy to think of many examples within our sample of 100+ spiritually engaged humanitarians who had endured and …
Sister Norma Pimentel: The Hands and Voice of God for Migrants at the US/Mexico Border
Sister Norma Pimentel is one of the nation’s leading voices calling for new and more just immigration policies. As executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, she …
Gopal Patel: An ‘Old-school Hindu’ Takes on the Future of Climate
This article was orginally published by Religion News Service with support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (RNS) — Nearly two decades ago, at the age of 21, …
Dr. Nikia S. Robert: The Birth Of The Abolitionist Sanctuary
This article was originally published on The Christian Recorder, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. On a late spring Sunday in May, the Rev. Dr. Nikia S. Robert, an …
Student Reflection: Curating Religion: Pluralistically, Singularly, or Not At All?
By Caris White Caris White is a student at Dartmouth College studying religion and art history. The following blog post was an independent project she worked on during a summer internship with …