O Ye of Little Faith in Los Angeles! Eric Garcetti Has a Message For You.

If the Mayor of the City of Angels Wants to Be President, His Campaign Should Be a Moral Crusade

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is being coy about whether he’s running for president. But he doesn’t fool me. I’ve already written the speech, or perhaps I should say sermon, that he should give when he announces his candidacy.

America, I offer myself today to our country so that we might restore a sense of decency, kindness, propriety, perspective, respect, groundedness, community, morality, and—yes—a fear of God.

I can lead this righteous crusade of restoration for one reason:

I come from Los Angeles.

I hear you laughing, but I am not trying to …

By Joe Mathews | April 30, 2018

In Whose God Do Americans Trust?

How the Religious Right Projected Evangelical Conservatism Onto the Founding Fathers

By Matthew Bowman | February 13, 2018

Charles Bennett, a Democratic Congressman from Jacksonville, Florida, was afraid of communism. In July 1955, he spoke of his concerns on the floor of the House of Representatives. “In these …

How Conservative Christians Co-Opted the Rhetoric of Religious Freedom

By Adopting the Language of Individual Rights, Evangelicals Cast Themselves as a Beleaguered Minority

By Tisa Wenger | January 23, 2018

Today, just about everyone—including lobbyists, state legislators, and Supreme Court litigants—assumes that freedom of religion naturally means opposition to same-sex marriage and reproductive rights, and sits in tension with anti-discrimination …

Did Protestant Christianity Create the Dismal American Prison System?

Puritans’ Focus On “Right Living” Helped Justify Our Harsh Treatment of Prisoners

By John Carl | July 27, 2016

While in Ireland teaching a criminal justice course this past semester, I had the opportunity to take a tour of an Irish prison.

The Irish prison service states one of …

The Oakland Pentecostal Women Who Defied Convention to Change Their Churches and Their Communities

In the World's Fastest Growing Christian Movement, a Rare Local Tradition of Female Leadership Remains Unbroken

By Abraham Ruelas | June 14, 2016

When I was 17, God put it in my heart to attend Patten Bible College (now Patten University)—and thus brought me into contact with Willa Bebe Patten, a Pentecostal minister …

The Inviting Light of L.A.’s Humble, One-Room Churches

Photographing Modesty and Simplicity In a City Better Known for Its Glamour

March 24, 2015

by Kevin McCollister

My admiration for the city of Los Angeles has nothing to do with its sports teams or film stars, or anything or anyone that might be considered super-duper. …

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