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231 Pages·2017·2.07 MB·English

Reimagining
Religion

USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture
Reimagining Religion
USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture
February 2017

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© Copyright Center for Religion and Civic Culture
2017
usc.crcc.edu
@usccrcc
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Contents
8 Introduction How a New Generation Is Changing
Evangelical Christianity
10 Religion, Innovation, Change Apocalypse Later: Millennial Evangelicals,
Israel-Palestine and the Kingdom
Competition, Innovation and the Future
of God
of Religion
Pirates in the White Room
61 Religious Nones
Competitive Religious Philanthropy in the
Wake of the Nepali Earthquake A Meditation on the Nones
The Tidal Wave of Indifference:
17 Experience, Embodiment
I Don’t Church, I Brunch
Churched Out Mindful Togetherness
Good Vibrations: Sonic Rituals and The “Nones” Are Alright
Sacred Time
U.S. Christianity Is Dead, Long Live
Finding, Losing Faith in Foxholes U.S. Christianity—The Implications of
Outsiders as Insiders: How Student New Religious Affiliation Data
Researchers Joined a Jewish Wedding Marginal Muslims: Questioning Religion
The Boxer’s Prayer in Indonesia
Pre-Fight and Post-Fight Prayers What’s in a Name? Religious Nones
and the American Religious Landscape
Faith in East Los Angeles, the Vatican
of Boxing How Korea’s “Nones” Differ from
Religiously Unaffiliated Americans
Manny Pacquiao, Championship Boxer,
Has a New Opponent: Philippine The Conversion of Freddie Roach:
Poverty Boxing Without Religion
The Welterweight Church Usher The Changing Nature of America’s
Irreligious Explained
Andre Ward And The Fight For Consistency
Doing It All for Her: A Lesbian Muslim
Hip-Hop Singer on Art and Activism
83 Spirit and Service
Finding Love in the Heart of Skid Row
Laundry Love
44 Millennials Building the Future of Religion, One Burrito
at a Time: Service Groups and
Will the Real Evangelical Millennials
Religious “Nones”
Please Stand Up?
Charting the Future of Religion
Will a Thriving Singles Scene Renew
American Catholicism?
Young Catholics Drawn to Pope Francis.
Church Life and Dogma? Not So Much
An “Everybody Friendly, Artist-Driven,
God-Optional” Jewish New Year
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90 Place Matters 124 Innovation in Context
The Jewish Religious Scene in Is American Evangelicalism Really
Southern California Disappearing?
Finding the Future in Los Feliz The Many Faces of Lord Krishna in the O.C.
From Margin to Center: A Queer Meditation and Authenticity:
(and Timely) Theological Mix Everything Old Is New Again
in Los Feliz Heart of Dharma: Comparing Buddhist
In Mellow L.A. and Suave Rio, Religious Practice, East and West
Movements are Similar (but Different) The Wild, Wild West of Mindfulness
Where They Make Manna Downtown L.A. Captures Pentecostalism’s
The Burbs Are Alright: Religion, Sprawl Past, Present and Future
and L.A.’s Urban Logic Muslim Women Create a Mosque of Their
Iceberg Lettuce vs. Arugula: Religion Own in Los Angeles
and Gentrification in Los Feliz First All-female Mosque Opens in
Mile of Miracles: A Microcosm of L.A.’s Los Angeles
Religious Diversity Mindfulness is as American as Apple Pie
With Religious Affiliation on the Decline, Ayaan Hirsi Ali Is Not the Reformer Islam
What Should Happen to Hallowed Needs. Here Are the Real Reformers
Buildings?
What Ireland’s “Yes” Vote for Gay Marriage
L.A.’s Congregations Raise New Questions Says About Being Catholic
About Multiracial Churches
Pope Francis Has Spoken on Climate
Made in Los Angeles—How One Church Change—Here’s What Catholic Sisters
Changed with its Community Are Doing About It
How Will Church Plants Grow Without U2, Justin Bieber and the Future of
Becoming Megachurches? Christianity
Katy Perry’s Not the Only One Who Wants Mindfulness and Science: Who’s Winning
to Live in a Convent the Game of Samsara?
What Real Estate Battles Say about Church Why Do Buddhists Give Money in Sri Lanka,
In the Age of Megachurches, Sometimes But Not in the U.S.?
Less Is More A Saintly Start-Up: Why Some New
Mapping the New Landscape of Religion Churches Avoid a Corporate Model
in Los Feliz Praying for Rain in the California Drought
Religious, Spiritual and “None of the
Above”: How Did Mindfulness Get
So Big?
Traditional and Innovative—How Korean
Buddhism Stays Relevant
Slimming the Megachurch in Seoul and
Los Angeles
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Pope Francis’ ‘Joy of Love’ Exhortation How Young Muslim Activists in Sweden
Won’t Resolve Catholic Tensions on Fight Radicalization
Marriage and Sex The Habit and the Hijab: An Exploration
What’s an Evangelical These Days? on Sacred Dress
Trump’s Advisors Point to Divisions A Time for Moral Reflection—The Silver
How to Solve the Difficult Problem of Lining After the Orlando Shooting
Adding ‘Muslim’ to ‘American’ Making Evangelical America Great Again:
Trump and “Wall” Christians
172 Resistance
VP Debate: Tim Kaine and American
Evangelicalism: Same as it Ever Was— Religion in Flux
Or Is It?
216 Looking Forward: Predictions
Do Government Regulations Get in the
Way of Doing Good After a Disaster? The Top Five Religion Trends to Watch
Could Pope Francis Change Hearts and in 2016
Minds on Immigration on a Global American Christianity Is Changing Fast:
Scale? Five Stories to Watch in 2016
What the Fight over Allah Says About the The Top Five Religion Trends to Watch
Future of Evangelical Christianity in 2017
A Crisis of Integrity in Seoul, the
Megachurch Capital of the World
Change Is Happening in the Catholic
Church, Just Not on Holy Thursday
186 The Public Sphere
The (Next) Fire Next Time
The Gay Sex Worker Who Defied Sharia
Law in Banda Aceh to Organize
How a Pentecostal Law Professor Has
Helped Reshape Nigerian Politics
The Role of the Spirit in #BlackLivesMatter
Movement
Is the Pope’s Concern for Immigration
Just a “Numbers Game”?
Celebrating Christmas in an Age of
Religious Extremism
Muslims Seek a Delicate Balance in a
Secular Europe
Why Terrorists Can’t Win in World’s
Largest Muslim City
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About the Center for Religion and Civic Culture
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The idea for the USC Center for Religion and Civic CRCC’s work falls into four activities, with
Culture (CRCC) started to germinate in 1992, as research grounding the other three areas:
the conflagrations of the Los Angeles riots were
just beginning to subside. A number of civic, cor- i Research. CRCC explores religious develop-
porate and interreligious coalitions were formed ments locally and globally from an interdisci-
to heal the deeply divided city and to address plinary perspective
the underlying social problems that had provided i Training. CRCC leads capacity-building
tinder for the flames. programs for religious organizations, civic
leaders and government agencies
CRCC’s founders set out to research the role of i Evaluation. CRCC analyzes and assesses
faith groups in the public square following the initiatives and programs focused on faith
uprising. They wrote a report called “Politics communities
of the Spirit,” documenting and evaluating the i Strategic Consulting. CRCC illuminates
activities of congregations. trends in religion for foundations, govern-
ment agencies and organizations to help
The Center for Religion and Civic Culture came them shape their strategy and maximize their
out of this research project and report. CRCC was impact
conceived as a way to make creative connec-
tions between researchers, policy-makers and Since its inception, CRCC has managed more
religious community leaders, in order to produce than $40 million in funding from corporations,
new insights into the evolving nature of religion foundations and government agencies for
in complex, globalizing societies. research, consulting, evaluation and capaci-
ty-building programming. In 2002, CRCC was
CRCC’s capacities and reservoirs of knowledge named a Pew Center of Excellence, one of ten
are thus a distinctive hybrid. Both locally and university-based research centers to receive that
globally, we have deep networks within a variety recognition. CRCC is also involved in the creation
of religious, civic and scholarly communities. Our of scholarly resources, including the Interna-
connections enable us to undertake cutting-edge tional Mission Photography Archive, the largest
research on new developments in religion. Our online repository of missionary photographs
understanding of the ways that religious tradi- that document social change in non-Western
tions and movements grow and change allows us cultures. Today, our staff includes 15 research,
to help faith groups engage with the wider soci- programming, communications and adminis-
ety. We also help academics, civic organizations, trative professionals, along with contributing
government foundations and businesses engage scholars, university fellows, student workers and
with faith groups. consultants.
In short, CRCC is uniquely positioned to explore CRCC’s deep roots in Southern California mean
how religions change and make change in South- that we remain committed to research in Los
ern California and across the globe—and to help Angeles, even as we continue to promote
religious and civic leaders understand the shifts scholarship across disciplinary boundaries,
of the day. create resources for researchers, policy-makers,
communities and thought-leaders, and explore
religion’s global reach.
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Religious Competition Center for Religion and Civic Culture
and Creative Innovation USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Project Staff University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0520
Richard Flory
Principal Investigator, Sr. Director of Research [phone]
and Evaluation
EMAIL [email protected]
Brie Loskota
Co-Investigator, Executive Director WEBSITE crcc.usc.edu
Donald E. Miller
Project Advisor, Director of Strategic Initiatives
Hebah Farrag
Project Manager, Assistant Director of Research
Nalika Gajaweera
Research Associate
Andrew Johnson
Research Associate
Nick Street
Senior Writer
Napah Phyakul Quach
Director of Finance
Megan Sweas
Editor and Director of Communications
Sumaya Abubaker
Project Manager
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Introduction In 2014, the USC Center for Religion and Civic
Culture (CRCC) was awarded a grant from the
John Templeton Foundation to explore the
proposition that competition between religious
groups stimulates creative innovation, contribut-
Richard Flory ing to religious change. Our “Religious Compe-
Senior Director of Research tition and Creative Innovation” project (RCCI)
and Evaluation project built on research that CRCC has conduct-
ed on religion throughout Southern California as
December 1, 2016 well as on global Pentecostalism—the world’s
fastest growing religious movement. But RCCI
has focused on multiple religious traditions and
encompassed two specific geographic areas:
Southern California and Seoul, South Korea.
Throughout the project, we have investigat-
ed innovative religious (and irreligious) groups
in Los Angeles and Seoul. Our methodological
approach has been qualitative rather than quan-
titative, focusing on case studies of religious or-
ganizations and the social contexts in which they
operate, in order to gain a better understanding
of how religion “works” in the world. Over the
three years of the project we have completed
more than 70 in-depth case studies and have
mapped and collected data on over 500 groups
in Greater Los Angeles. In Seoul, we organized a
team of six scholars who have been investigating
innovative religious groups in six different areas
of the Greater Seoul metropolitan area.
We have focused on Los Angeles and Seoul
because of their similarities in size and religious
diversity, allowing us to compare how religious
innovation works in different locations. Further,
by focusing on distinct locations, we have been
able to learn more about how “place” relates to
religious change and innovation.
For example, Los Angeles has a long history
of producing innovative religious groups and
individuals, such as Aimee Semple McPherson
(Angelus Temple), Robert Schuller (Crystal
Cathedral), John Wimber (Vineyard), Chuck
Smith (Calvary Chapel), Rick Warren (Saddleback
Church) and Matthew Barnett (Dream Center).
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All of these movements are within the The articles are organized thematically, and
Christian tradition, but Southern California has within each themed category they are organized
also been fertile ground for a number of new re- by date—from the earliest to the latest. The
ligious movements, including the Self-Realization categories relate to our research questions, but
Fellowship, Science of Mind (Religious Science) also represent themes that emerged throughout
and various branches of Theosophy. L.A. is the project. Certainly there are other ways to
currently home to thriving and innovative Jewish organize the writing included here, but this rep-
synagogues, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and a resents a good place to start thinking about how
growing number of mosques and Islamic centers. religious change and innovation happens, and
Many groups across all of these traditions and how it relates to culture, politics, economics and
movements have flourished, while others have place.
languished and some have failed after several We hope you enjoy what we’ve gathered
years of successful operation. here, and that both the examples we use and our
Similarly, the Seoul metropolitan area forms interpretations of them spark new ideas about
the cultural, commercial, financial, industrial how religion can innovate in the context of social
and demographic heart of South Korea. The and cultural change, and thus remain vibrant and
range of religious groups in the region includes contribute to the spiritual and communal lives of
Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Bud- its members.
dhism as well as New Religious Movements such
as Cheondogyo, Korea Soka Gakkai International
(KSGI) and Won Buddhism, among others. The
Seoul metropolitan area is home to world-fa-
mous Christian megachurches such as Yoido
Full Gospel Church (YFGC), Kumnan Methodist
Church and Onnuri Church. In short, just as in
Los Angeles, some congregations across these
traditions and movements have thrived, others
have diminished and some have failed altogether
in the distinctive social and cultural ecology of
the Seoul metropolitan area.
This book represents one of the commit-
ments we made with RCCI: to produce a large
number of popular articles and blog posts that
would serve to bring our research to scholars,
practitioners and the general public in a timely
and accessible form. This book gathers our
output to date (January 2017) from the project,
with a couple of additional pieces included that
predate the project but were instrumental in our
thinking. It includes blog pieces and articles that
we have published on the CRCC website (crcc.
usc.edu) and in other outlets such as Huffington
Post, Religion Dispatches, Christianity Today,
Religion & Politics, and many more.
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