Archive
The IVP Program
Early in the Institute for Violence Prevention, Rev. Jeff Carr spoke to the assembled IVP cohort and appealed to them to provide volunteers and food for one of the city’s premier anti-violence …
Participant Recruitment
In order to recruit a class of fellows for the Institute for Violence Prevention, the Center for Religion and Civic Culture distributed information to its network of congregations and faith leaders. The …
The Research Process
Working within the parameters of the Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, established in 2007 by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and headed by then “Gang Czar” Jeff Carr—himself a minister with significant …
Why Even Go to Church?
Yesterday, Jeremy Rhodes wrote about a new survey from Barna Group that shows that almost 50% of regularly attending American churchgoers say that their lives haven’t changed in any way as a …
Understanding the Pentecostal Experience
The most distinctive characteristic threading through all Pentecostal and Charismatic communities is a desire for the individual believer’s direct experience of divine presence—an ecstatic event often described as “baptism in the Holy …
Who’s Leading the Evangelical (Super) Pack?
This post originally appeared on Trans-Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. In an effort to rally evangelical support for one Republican candidate in the upcoming South Carolina primary — …
American Muslims’ lives were altered by 9/11 attacks
The Ventura County Star quoted CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota in an article about how the lives of American Muslims changes after 9/11 and the Iraq War. The turning point for American …
Ten Predictions for Religion in 2012
Donald Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion and executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, offers ten predictions for 2012 and the rest of the decade. 1. Religion will be …
What Does the Demise of the Crystal Cathedral Mean For Our Megachurches?
This post originally appeared in Zócalo Public Square. If this year were like years past, the Crystal Cathedral, the Philip Johnson-designed Protestant megachurch in Garden Grove, would be abuzz with the “The …
Faith and Food Justice: Nourishing Body and Soul
Want to see interdisciplinary activism at its best? Look at food justice. Seeking to address the inequities in the food system from production to consumption, the movement creates ties together the concerns …
Nothing Sparks a Movement Like an Adversary (and Some Bad PR)
This post originally appeared on Trans/Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. When TLC first aired “All-American Muslim,” the show met with some harsh criticism from within the Muslim …
Reading an Image in the Other Context: A Visual Essay
If a photo is worth a thousand words, what would those words say? Paul Jenkins explores questions about representation, cultural context, and historical meaning in a photograph by Basel Mission photographer Rudolf …
Religion’s Uneasy Place: Religious Engagement vs. Religious Freedom in American Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy
CRCC Managing Director Brie Loskota delivered the following as her concluding keynote address at the 8th Annual American Studies Network Conference at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China, in September. Download “Religion’s …
NPR: Catholic Church To Buy Famed Crystal Cathedral
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in a report by NPR on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The Crystal …
Crystal Cathedral Board Prefers Catholic Offer
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in an article by the Associated Press on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. …
CRCC’s Crystal Cathedral expert consulted by Associated Press, NPR, and LA Times
Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, was quoted in articles by the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR on the recent sale of the infamous Crystal Cathedral to the Roman …
The Evangelical 99 Percent
This post originally appeared on Trans-Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. Last week I spent a day at the annual Evangelical Theological Society meetings in San Francisco. My entree …
Murray leads new center at USC
The L.A. Sentinel wrote an article about USC’s Cecil L. Murray Center for Community Engagement. The Murray Center had a soft launch this fall and currently has programming underway. The Center will …
Rev. Cecil Murray speaks on “What Matters to Me and Why”
What matters to Reverend Cecil “Chip” Murray? History, education, faith, people. But most of all, understanding. Murray, holder of USC’s John R. Tansey Chair in Christian Ethics and a senior fellow at …
Occupiers Get Religion
Occupy Wall Street now occupies more than the iconic New York City financial district. In the past month, the movement has spread across the U.S. and the world, to our phones as …