A return to a secular ideal is unlikely in Central Asia, according to Shirin Akiner, a leading expert in Central Asian studies. Her article is one of the contributions on religion in Central Asia and Islam in the former Soviet Union in the journal Religion, State & Society (June). The developments in Uzbekistan — considered as the […]

In the aftermath of the Iraq war, Al Queda and its supporters are “fragmenting, mutating and spreading again” in the Islamic world, reports the Toronto Star (June 22). Although the U.S. has made significant progress in stemming the operation of Al Queda since 9/11, the network has used the U.S. and British led war to help it […]

Far right religious groups advocating a return to white rule and supremacy are finding a place in South Africa. The Times of London (June 26) reports that “Scores of right-wing religious groups, more reminiscent of US-style cults than conventional churches, have sprung up preaching a gospel of white supremacy to a growing army of believers, 10 […]

While the preamble of the draft constitution for the European Union does not make any explicit reference to Europe’s Christian heritage, a compromise has been reached to make some room for the influence of religion in the document. In late May, a draft of the preamble pointed to the influence of ancient Greece and Rome […]

The popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction in Europe may be due to these writers’ attempt to describe and explain the presence of “radical evil” in strongly secularized and socially managed societies, writes Risto Saarinen in the journal Dialog (June). In recent years, Scandinavian writers have become popular practitioners of crime novels, (now the leading fiction genre in […]

Contemporary Catholic music is finding a growing audience, suggesting a growing affinity between young Catholics and their evangelical counterparts. National Catholic Register (June 22-28) reports that the “paradigm is shifting” from the contemporary Christian music category being overwhelmingly dominated by evangelical Protestant performers. “Until recent years, Catholic music distributors primarily geared their offerings to the tiny liturgical […]

Charter schools have become more open to religious sponsorship and inspiration as they have expanded to most U.S. states — a development  leading to a new round of church-state battles. Church & State, a magazine promoting strict church and state separation (June), reports that charter schools and their supporters are finding themselves in court battles […]

The U.S. victory in Iraq and a host of other factors has awakened a missionary fervor among American evangelicals to win the hearts of Muslims, even while they are divided about strategy. A cover story in Time magazine (June 30) reports on the growing evangelical attention to Islamic countries [a trend unfolding for some years; see September, 2002 […]

Churches may not yet have become virtual, but they need to be accessible online if they want to reach people. Such were the views of the participants to the Eighth European Christian Internet Conference attended by RW. The conference, which took place on a ship between Helsinki and Stockholm in early June, gathered webmasters and other […]