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Brother Chân Pháp Dung: Where the Search for Simplicity Leads

Pháp Dung (the name he was given upon ordination) is among a unique set of people—those whose spirituality has led them to eschew material consumption. As part of the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s global project on engaged spirituality, a team of journalists and researchers have interviewed 80 exemplary individuals committed to making the world a better place. For a significant number of these people, living simply is more than enough, it is a source of freedom. Read More

The Roaring 20s: Religion Trends to Watch in 2020 and the Next Decade 

As we enter the 2020s, we are seeing equally formidable challenges ahead. Many of the ominous signs on the horizon are similar to portents that marked the beginning of the 1920s—rising nationalism, antisemitism, racial polarization, anti-immigrant sentiment, tensions between scientific knowledge and religious belief, and potentially globe-shaking consequences of unchecked capitalism. The recent bout of violent chest-thumping between the governments of Iran and the United States highlights our main headline for the new decade: The Present Echoes the Past. Read More

Evangelicals Versus Oil: Environmental Justice in South Los Angeles

Her faith community’s fight against the drill site represents a distinctive approach to ministry, one that introduces Christians to new social issues, including environmental justice. Embedding themselves into the community has allowed Wong and Church of the Redeemer, an Evangelical Covenant Church, to become powerful advocates for change. Read More