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Monitoring Trends in Religion - From February 1990 to January 2016

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Featured Story: The secular and the religious in 2015 and beyond

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

The following list is drawn from past issues of RW (in which case we cite the specific issue after each item) and from original sources. The terrorist attacks in Paris and in California confirmed two recent aspects of Islamic extremism—the reach of ISIS beyond its base in Iraq and Syria into the West and the […]

Filed Under: Featured Story

Veganism as quasi-religion?

January 1, 2016 by Jean-François Mayer

As a radical stream of vegetarianism, veganism—that refuses any product of animal origin, including eggs, milk or honey—bears many of the marks of a religious belief, writes German Protestant theologian Kai M. Funkschmidt in a two-part article in the November and December issues of Materialdienst der EZW. Funkschmidt understands veganism as a kind of substitute […]

Filed Under: Feature

Southern Baptists’ Advent devotion suggests liturgical turn

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

Southern Baptists are showing a new interest in liturgical observances such as Advent, possibly reflecting a “pushback” among evangelicals against the contemporary worship movement, according to an article in Baptist Press (Dec. 11). The news service reports that LifeWay Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has recently published Advent devotional books, and has included […]

Filed Under: Archive, Domestic

Reform Jews more committed to Israel than usually assumed

January 1, 2016 by Jean-François Mayer

While criticism of Israeli policies is common among Reform Jews, some 70 percent of them still remain attached to Israel and supportive of the Zionist project, writes Jerusalem-based journalist Elliot Jager in The Jerusalem Report (Dec. 14). Holding liberal theology, progressive political beliefs, and a very high level of intermarriage, the Union for Reform Judaism […]

Filed Under: International

Current Research: January 2016

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

01: The largest community of Shi’a Muslims in the U.S., in Dearborn, Michigan, tends to consist of “wandering worshippers,” gravitating toward a range of events at different mosques rather than attending solely one mosque, according to a study in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (35:4). With 96,000 residents, a large proportion of whom are […]

Filed Under: Current Research

Spaces for Russian Orthodox dissent, innovation in provinces

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

While the Russian Orthodox Church is often portrayed as a monolithic church under the sway of Vladimir Putin and nationalism, new movements and groups are creating more space for dissent, especially in the provinces, reports Wallace Daniel in the Christian Century (Dec. 9). Even the stance of Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow suggests the different […]

Filed Under: Archive

‘New Haredim’ making strides toward Israeli mainstream

January 1, 2016 by Jean-François Mayer

Although forces against change remain strong and often intimidating for those who think otherwise within the community, changes are taking place among Orthodox Jews in Israel, among other places, as evidenced by the 5,000 Orthodox Jews who now serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), writes Andrew Friedman in The Jerusalem Report (Dec. 28). There […]

Filed Under: Archive

Shia Islam takes center stage in Middle East’s interreligious diplomacy

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

Shia Islam may be taking the place of the Sunni branch of the faith in making an effort to foster interreligious diplomacy in the Middle East, according to The Economist (Dec. 5). This shift is most evident in Najaf in Iraq, the most revered place in Shia Islam. The Shia holy site of the Imam […]

Filed Under: Archive

New stage of religion- science dialogue strikes harmony in Islam

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

A new era of dialogue between Islam and modern science is based more on the harmony between these fields compared to past attempts to “Islamicize” science, writes Nidhal Guessoum in the journal Zygon (December). The 1970s and 80s saw the growth of a number of schools of Islamic thought seeking to reconcile science and the […]

Filed Under: Archive

Social media giving participants greater say in shaping Chinese folk religions

January 1, 2016 by Richard Cimino

Social media is also having an impact on East Asian folk religion, challenging old hierarchies and elites and democratizing participation in its rituals, according to a study the Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (Winter). Chinese folk religions in Taiwan, which are a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, have sought to increase […]

Filed Under: Archive

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