Restrictions and punishments  against those converting from Islam to other faiths are common in Muslim countries, but increasingly the issue is being played out in the U.S. and other Western countries, reportsCommentary magazine (February). “Muslim apostasy” is forbidden both by religious and political authorities in most Islamic nations, sometimes under penalty of death or imprisonment. Those […]

A new group of Christian entrepreneurs and businessmen are emerging in China and they are introducing democratic practices into the churches, according to the Review of Religious Research (December). Chen Cunfu and Huang Tianhai, both of Zhejiang University, write that these new professionals, who are most evident in China’s developed coastal area, are the major funders and […]

There are increasing ties between the far left in Europe and  Islamist groups, writes Joshua Kurlantzik in Commentary magazine (December). Last year, RW reported on how the Labor radicals and Islamic groups have forged an alliance in Britain, but Kurlantzik writes that these ties have also been growing throughout Europe in the last two years, particularly in […]

Security is becoming a leading concern in European state policy, while the right of religious freedom is coming under increasing pressure, Prof. Riks Torfs (Leuven University, Belgium) writes in the recently published volume 9 of the European Journal for Church and State Research. Controversies surrounding new religious movements in some European States, as well as the […]

As with most election years, 2004 will be remembered for the role religion played in the political arena. But last year also revealed other significant events in religion both in the U.S. and abroad. As is our custom, below are some  musings and forecasts from RW’s editor and contributing editor on developments in religion that are […]