The growing anti-war views of Eastern Orthodox leaders may be causing new tensions in these churches. Although not featured in much of the media, there was almost unanimous agreement among Orthodox leaders that the war with Iraq was immoral with anti-war pronouncements issuing from the high level of the partiarchates of Moscow and Constantinople to […]

The Capuchin order is exercising increasing influence in Catholicism, and it is hoping to offer its innovations and ideals of community life and participatory leadership to the wider church, according to the National Catholic Reporter (Nov. 14). The Capuchins broke away from the Franciscan order in the 16th century as they sought to recover the movement’s original […]

News magazines in the U.S. are cutting back their religion coverage even as European media is showing a new interest in the subject. In his e-newsletter Sightings (Nov. 9), Martin Marty cites a report by the Religion Newswriters Association that the three major news weeklies,Time, U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek have either recently cut back or phased out specialized […]

“Realignment” has become the new buzzword among observers and participants in the current struggle of the Episcopal Church over the recent election of gay bishop Gene Robinson. The term seems to mean that conservatives and liberals will, in one way or another, part ways and realign with like-minded Anglicans from other churches and parts of […]

Political scientists are discovering that clergy may be more influential in American politics than previously assumed, especially when it comes to the impact that women, “postmodern” ministries and evangelicals are making in the churches. Those are a few of the findings from a special section of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (December) that brings […]

The escalation of the Intifada and the loss of faith in Zionism in Israel have spurred a movement of secular Israelis engaged in a study of Jewish texts and a search for religious identity. At the SSSR conference, Adina Newberg of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College presented a paper on the growth of liberal Jewish houses […]

The wearing of a scarf by Muslim girls at French schools has been an ongoing topic of controversy since the 1980s. But the situation  has gained new intensity in October, after two Muslim girls were barred from going back to (government) school because they refused to remove their scarves. There have been many articles and TV […]