Depending on your point of view, religion is the source of values like compassion and social justice that are essential to the harmonious co-existence of diverse groups in any given society. Or it provides the rationalization for intolerance and injustice toward the “other,” which is the root of conflict and suffering. Reality, of course, is much more complicated than either perspective.
In any case, religious beliefs—and beliefs about religion—inevitably shape social values and political power, in both the secular societies of the global North and the deeply religious cultures of the global South. Explore the relationship between religion and a variety of social and political issues, from economic inequality to immigration.
Photo Credit: Franco Folini
- CommentaryA Year of Crisis and Opportunity: 2024 Trends in Religion and SocietyIn CRCC’s annual trends post last year, we wrote about surviving, if not thriving. We write this year’s trends with a special place in our hearts for CRCC’s senior editor Nick Street, …Topics: Community Dynamics, Creativity and Innovation, Race and Culture, Religious Leadership, trends
- ArticleKonda Mason: Growing rice in Louisiana is a path to justice for Black farmersThis article was originally published on The Christian Science Monitor, with the support of CRCC’s global project on engaged spirituality. It’s past daybreak on a muggy July morning when Konda Mason reaches the farm, a …Topics: Buddhists and Buddhism, Engaged Spirituality, Environment, Race and Culture, Religious Leadership, Spiritual Exemplars
- ArticleSarah Zouak: Leading a Laboratory of Muslim Feminism in FranceWhen 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 …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Europe, Gender and Sexuality, Muslims and Islam, Spiritual Exemplars
- AnnouncementCRCC Launches Compelling Preaching InitiativeThe 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 …Topics: Black Church, Catholics and Catholicism, Christians and Christianity, Evangelicals and Evangelicalism, Media, preaching, Religious Leadership
- VideoSister Networks Building Hope at the US/Mexico Border
- ArticleParveena Ahanger: A Grieving Mother’s Fight for the Disappeared of KashmirParveena 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 …Topics: Asia, Engaged Spirituality, Muslims and Islam, Spiritual Exemplars, Violence, weforum
- CommentaryThe Complex Relationship Between Religion and HumanitarianismThe 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 …Topics: Disaster Response, Engaged Spirituality, Faith-Based Organizations, Religious Leadership, Social Services, Spiritual Exemplars, Violence, weforum
- ArticleDavid 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 …Topics: Catholics and Catholicism, Engaged Spirituality, Latin America, Race and Culture, Religious Leadership, Spiritual Exemplars
- CommentaryThe Moral Power of Stories: How Exemplars Help Us Find Meaning and PurposeWhat 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. …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Media, Spiritual Exemplars
- VideoUnveiling the Heart of 100 Humanitarians
- VideoImam Muhsin Hendricks: Promoting an Inclusive Islam for LGBTQ+ Muslims
- ReportStories of Social Change: Spirituality in ActionA multimedia exhibit 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 change as …Topics: Engaged Spirituality, Media, Spiritual Exemplars
“It is, finally, not the external forms of religion that matter so much; they are cultural products, vessels (potential conduits) of the holy, not to be confused with the divine (which would be idolatry). What is important is the quality of life that results from one’s concourse with the God beyond gods.”
—Donald E. Miller
“The Future of Liberal Christianity”
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