Some Koreans, especially those who are culturally engaged and fluent in the language know the day as “Sa-I-Gu” or “4-2-9” – April 29th, 1992, the start of the infamous Los Angeles Riots. That was 20 years ago. Back then, I was a stressed out 2nd year student at Mr. Jefferson’s University, especially since it was near the end of the semester and finals were looming and assignments needed turning in. On the other side of the country, four Los Angeles... Read more
Let’s start with an admission: I’m a fan of new urbanism. And old urbanism, for that matter. It sort of makes sense as a sociologist and someone who is invested in long-term strategies for growing families and cities while retaining permeable cover for farmland, etc. I’m always impressed with old stories about big families in small houses. Ergo, I live in an overpriced townhouse in a high-density neighborhood not far from the middle of Austin. And I generally like it,... Read more
The Research on Religion Podcast turns 100 (episodes) this week. If you haven’t checked it out, do yourself a favor and do it now. In fact, the current interview is with out very own Margarita Mooney on the Pope and Cuba. Tony Gill, at U. Washington, provides a great service with this podcast. Thank you Tony! Read more
Part 4 in a series. Click here for my podcast interview on Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba, hosted by Research on Religion. After watching Pope Benedict XVI’s March 2012 visit to Cuba, I have written a series of posts on Catholicism in Cuba, past and present. In this post, I explore what it means when the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in their 2006 Pastoral Plan that one major challenge they face is reversing the anthropological damage done by... Read more
This is one of my favorite maps of religion. It was produced by Glemary research, and it shows the predominant religious affiliation in counties nationwide. It demonstrates the many historical patterns that shaped American religion. For example, you can see the westward path of the Methodist circuit riders (in green) plus the immigration of Northern Europeans to the Northern Midwest. Read more
Recently painter Thomas Kinkade, “painter of light” passed away at the early age of 54. While many viewers have decided views of what they think about this art, whether it suits them or not, one thing is certain: his work was decidedly informed by his faith. Kinkade had a particular theology about his art work and tried to convey his understanding of his faith through his art. Kinkade’s passing coincided with my preparation for a class session on understanding religion... Read more
There’s a great article in Christianity Today about the changing nature of conversion. Because it’s so important in Evangelical circles now, it’s easy to assume, and assume falsely, that it’s always taken the same form. This enlightening article spells out how our understanding of it has, and is, changing. **** The New Conversion: Why We ‘Become Christians’ Differently Today Evangelicals are undergoing a sea change understanding when it comes to this pivotal moment in the believer’s life. Gordon T. Smith... Read more
Part 3 in a series. Click here for my podcast interview on Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba, hosted by Research on Religion. In recent two posts, I wrote about Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in March 2012. Now that a few weeks have passed, I reflected on the question: does this visit represent a new opening for the Catholic Church in Cuba? Before answering that question, I will briefly summarize the history of the Catholic Church since the Cuban Revolution. The... Read more
By Gerardo Marti In conducting interviews for my book Worship across the Racial Divide, I enjoyed talking with a Caucasian worship leader at an outdoor café on Los Angeles’ Westside. We drank coffee as he described his enthusiasm for racial diversity and the type of music he worked into each Sunday service. Then, in the middle of our conversation, he suddenly blurted out, “I just wish I could be black!” I was struck. Although it was not the first time... Read more
Back by popular demand—and because frankly some weeks (months?) it is just plain challenging to pull new material together—are another dozen curious statistics about today’s young adults, from a new nationally-representative study of just under 3,000 18-39-year-olds. 1. Here’s an interesting one. We asked respondents whether their biological parents were ever married to each other. I got clever (I think) with the responses and acquired more than just a yes or no response. It turns out that 42 percent of... Read more
Black, White and Gray
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In