When Sarah Zouak was a graduate student in France, an adviser told her that the phrase “Muslim feminist” was a contradiction in terms. Not only did she pursue a thesis on Muslim feminism, she went on to co-found French Muslim feminist group, Lallab. Read More
This video was produced by Kim Lawton as part of “Spiritual Exemplars: A Global Project on Engaged Spirituality” at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, with support from the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust. Read More
The Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard hosted a conversation with Ida Puliwa, a social entrepreneur and community organizer from Malawi and a “Spiritual Exemplar,” profiled as part of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture's global project on engaged spirituality. They will discuss women's leadership and Ida's innovative model for transforming communities. Read More
Home for Lara Aharonian is this capital city whose architecture still bears the heavy stamp of Soviet days. But when her work on behalf of women living on the margins of society becomes too risky, she heads 20 miles west to find solace in Armenia’s spiritual capital, Echmiadzin. Read More
Caroline Bundy: Finding Grace for Homeless Youth and LGBTQ+ in Alabama ByNick Street September 17, 2022… Read More
Throughout adulthood, the pro-choice/pro-life binary gave me a comfortable foothold in the abortion debate and a prefabricated enemy to address. That changed when I met Sister Teresa Forcades, a former medical doctor, theologian and Catholic nun who supports abortion rights. Read More
New Yorkers of a certain age remember Ruth Messinger as a city councilwoman and later Manhattan borough president whose political achievements were, by dint of the time, feminist, including her 1997 attempt to deprive then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani of a second term and become New York’s first female chief executive — a glass ceiling that has yet to be broken. Read More
Catholic nun and medical doctor Teresa Forcades says women should make their own abortion decisions. Forcades is quick to clarify that the situation is “way more complex” to squeeze into the pro-choice/pro-life binary that frames today’s abortion debate. Read More
Among Black Americans, support for reproductive rights is connected with their concern for broader civil rights, the New York Times reports. The article frames CRCC's Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard as helping shape Vice President Kamala Harris' civil rights-based rhetoric on abortion after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Read More
Discussions about reproductive rights continue to circulate in the religious community after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. CRCC’s Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard and Richard Flory have been interviewed by multiple news outlets about the issue of religion and reproductive rights. Read More
