Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter discusses why the 2008 presidential race is of such historic significance. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Show ID: 16391]

E.J. Dionne asserts that after three decades during which conflicts over religion played a tremendous role in American politics, the country seems to be approaching a truce and, perhaps, even something akin to peace. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 19866]

How did Ronald Reagan’s vision of the American Dream lead to Donald Trump’s success? Looking back to 1983, Diane Winston, professor of journalism and communication at the University of Southern California, discusses how evangelical religion, the news media, and social turmoil culminated in MAGA’s Second Coming. Winston shows that many journalists uncritically adopted Reagan’s religious rhetoric and broadcast his otherwise unpopular evangelical ideas about limited government and individual responsibility. Winston’s lecture is based on her recent book, Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40173]

The modern world is not disenchanted. On the contrary, it is full of gods and heroes and myths and magic. In this talk, Philip Gorski sketches out a new narrative of Western modernity that can account for this state of affairs: the fragmentation of the sacred. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39810]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps’ political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

In this program, Russell M. Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, explores COVID-19 racism against Asian Americans, which led to what he terms a period of “collective racial trauma.” Twenty-five peer-reviewed articles have since documented the deleterious impacts of direct and indirect racism on the mental health of Asian Americans. Yet Asian Americans have been resilient in the face of this trauma, and utilized their ethnic and cultural wealth as buffers against anti-Asian hate. Jeung identifies three key ways that Asian Americans responded to this trauma and even grew from this painful time. Asian Americans’ posttraumatic growth, the positive psychological change after trauma incidents, is also be detailed. Jeung is the author of many books and articles on race and religion. In 2020, he co-founded Stop AAPI Hate to track instances of bias, harassment, and violence against AAPI people during Covid-19 and to fight racism. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39867]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps’ teaching of ethics and civic values in the classroom and beyond. The panel consists of Katya Armistead, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Student Life at UCSB and co-directs the Civic Engagement Scholars Program, Tim Kring, a screenwriter whose work focuses on themes of interconnectivity and global consciousness, and Shawn Landres, a civic strategist and a Senior Fellow at UCLA Luskin. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39719]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps’ famous course on the Vietnam War and its impacts. The panel consists of former U.S. Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War and co-instructor in Walter Capps' Vietnam War class. Shad Meshad is Founder and President of the National Veterans Foundation who served as a psych officer in Vietnam. Meshad met Walter Capps in 1977 and their conversation about the war led to the Vietnam War class, which Shad continued to help teach for the next 20 years. And Richard Hecht, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies at UCSB, who taught the Vietnam War course for nearly 25 years. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39718]

Alessandro Duranti, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology at UCLA, presents archival footage he filmed of Walter Capps' 1996 campaign for U.S. Congress to analyze how the political candidate framed his choice to run for office. Using semantic and narrative analyses, Duranti shows how Capps refined his campaign announcement to better generate voter enthusiasm and how Capps' public and private comments about the campaign reflected his ethical and political values. Capps was elected to Congress in 1996, and died in October 1997 after serving 10 months in office. Duranti became a close friend of the Capps family during his year-long ethnographic research, and he reflects on the role of family in Capps' life and campaign. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39720]

As part of a special series celebrating the legacy of humanist and professor Walter H. Capps, this program examines Capps’ scholarly contributions and the study of religion today, featuring renowned scholars of religion who were Walter’s graduate students: Tomoko Masuzawa, Professor Emerita of History and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, Julie Ingersoll, Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Florida, and Sarah McFarland Taylor, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Northwestern University. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39707]