A new religious phenomenon based around a select group of gurus proclaiming instant enlightenment has emerged in several Western countries. In the journal Nova Religio (October) Liselotte Frisk writes that by the end of the 1990s, a group of Westerners claiming to have reached enlightenment were touring Asia and the West holding meetings to help others make […]

The question of whether Islamic groups should accept aid from Saudi Arabia is raising debate and divisions in the American Muslim community, reports the Los Angeles Times (Dec. 1). Since Saudi Arabia is increasingly seen as the importer of the militant “Wahhabi” branch of Islam, both the U.S. government and American Muslim groups themselves debating the consequences […]

Although Sept. 11 still reverberated across the American landscape, religious trends emerged from several unexpected places in 2002. As is customary, the following review looks at the trends unfolding from last year’s news that are likely to carry some impact in 2003 and beyond. Some of the trends have received fuller treatment in previous issues […]

While evangelicals are usually associated with the unofficial and illegal underground churches in China, there is a new trend of these believers working with official church bodies. The evangelical digest Current Thoughts & Trends (December) reports on missionaries who willingly work with the Chinese government’s Three Self Patriotic Movement and are establishing flourishing evangelical seminaries, Bible institutes […]

Madrasas, schools that teach young children strict Islamic basics and often viewed as incubators of militant Islam by Westerners, are likely to keep growing and remain relatively unchanged, even under current reform efforts. That is one of the conclusions of journalist Husain Haqqani writing in the magazine Foreign Policy (November/December). Haqqani notes that madrasas are not only […]

Although under pressure from militant Islam, Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, continues to show resiliance. That was one of the conclusions of a paper on the current status of Sufism in the Arab world delivered at the conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Toronto. Mark Sedgwick of American University in Cairo noted that […]

Films dealing with Mormon themes, and often targeting a LDS audience, are increasingly making their way to the cinemas, reports the independent Mormon magazine Sunstone (October). More “feature films than ever are targeting the LDS audiences,” a trend that started with the release of Richard Dutcher’s film, “God’s Army.” The films deal with contemporary and historical subject […]