Archive
Muslim Women Create A Mosque of Their Own in Los Angeles
This post originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. The day before the inaugural jumma, Friday congregational prayer, at the Women’s Mosque of America, M. Hasna Maznavi, who serves as the project’s President, was …
First All-female Mosque Opens in Los Angeles
This post originally appeared on Al Jazeera America. The first women-only mosque in the United States opened its doors in Los Angeles on Friday with an inaugural jummah, or prayer, by Edina …
Intersections: Cecil Murray, South L.A.’s Civic Leader and Spiritual Guide
This article originally appeared on Intersections South LA. By Jordyn Holman Since late November, residents from South Los Angeles have been peacefully protesting courthouse decisions to not indict police officers in Missouri …
Mile of Miracles: A Microcosm of L.A.’s Religious Diversity
The processes of spiritual seeking, discovering and creating are constantly shaping and reshaping the religious landscape of Los Angeles. Far from being a godless metropolis, L.A. is one of the most religiously …
Downtown L.A. Captures Pentecostalism’s Past, Present and Future
“When people ask me, ‘What good can come out of Skid Row?’ I tell them that the people of God come out of Skid Row!” Pastor Cue’s sermon hit a crescendo as …
The Interfaith Observer: Generations of Religious Leadership Sit Down Together
The Interfaith Observer wrote about the beginning of the Future 50, a collaboration between Interreligious Council of Southern California (IRC) and the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. The initiative came …
How Muslim Civic Activism Helped Pass California’s Prop 47
This post originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. California mostly defied the rightward national trend in this week’s midterm elections. The victory of Proposition 47, for example, makes California the first state in the …
Richard Flory Addresses the Los Angeles City Council
This post was a speech delivered to the Los Angeles City Council and a gathering of religious leaders whose communities are working with the City on disaster preparedness. Good morning, it is …
LA Voice: Congregations and Communities Building Electoral Power
For many years in the United States, churches have been at the center of progressive political and social movements. From abolitionism to child welfare and of course the Civil Rights Movement, religious …
Evangelicalism: Same as it Ever Was–Or Is It?
Nobody ever said religious innovation was easy—either as an undertaking in the context of a religious community or as the subject of a scholarly investigation. For one thing, creative and innovative activity …
Good Vibrations: Sonic Rituals and Sacred Time
“Please come on Saturday morning, by 6:50am to get settled in for the 7-8:30am gathering.” So read the email from Kathryn, one of my research interlocutors, who helps coordinate a small group …
Finding, Losing Faith in Foxholes
Photo by Eric Feferberg The aphorism “There are no atheists in foxholes” first arose to describe the pleas for salvation prayed by terrified soldiers facing impending death in the trenches of Europe …
California Megachurches
Megachurches Adapted from the description provided by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. When researchers talk about “megachurches,” they are generally referring to any Protestant congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance …
Churched Out
I’m churched out. I’ve gone to more church services in the last two months than I have over the past 30 years. Now, I’m not exactly complaining about this development since these …
Pirates in the White Room
Cartoon by Matt Bors. Last week I met Gary Wexler, who teaches in the communications management program at USC’s Annenberg School. The two of us were having lunch with my CRCC colleagues …
The Wild, Wild West of Mindfulness
Diana Winston’s post-college spiritual journey was something of an anachronism. After she graduated from Brown in the late 1980s, Winston traveled to Southeast Asia, where she spent several years working with Theravada …
Want to Build a More Resilient City? Bring Faith to the Table
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced his commitment to hire a Chief Resilience Officer, who will be tasked with increasing the city’s ability to recover from man-made and natural disasters. This …
Heart of Dharma: Comparing Buddhist Practice, East and West
A dozen or so Vipassana (Insight) practitioners have just ended a session of “sitting” (meditation) and discussion in one of the numerous Insight meditation centers in Los Angeles. In light of the …
Iceberg Lettuce vs. Arugula: Religion and Gentrification in Los Feliz
Last week I took a walk on the gentrifying edge of Los Feliz with the pastor of a local church that mainly ministers to the down-and-out. We talked about the urban landscape …
The Burbs Are All Right: Religion, Sprawl and L.A.’s Urban Logic
As a part of our Religious Competition and Creative Innovation project, our research team meets once each month for “idea lunches” during which we have freewheeling discussions about what we’re seeing in …