Richard Flory (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. He is a sociologist whose research focuses on religious and cultural change, religion and urban life, and the religious and spiritual lives of youth and young adults. He has published several books, including most recently, Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation, and Diversity in the Global City (Routledge, 2021) and Back Pocket God: Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press, 2020). Flory has also written for publications such as Religion Dispatches, The Conversation, Patheos and Zócalo Public Square, and has been quoted by a variety of publications, including the L.A. Times, the New York Times, Buzzfeed News and NPR.