The late June Supreme Court decision in favor of vouchers for private schools is likely to have favorable repercussions for faith-based groups seeking government support. A late June decision by the Supreme Court upheld that public money can support religious education as long as parents are given the choice of where to send their children […]

It is difficult to predict violence in new religious movements based on objective measures, if only because such tendencies and actions are linked to a group’s perceptions of assault from the outside world, according to David Bromley of Commonwealth University. That was one of the conclusions drawn by several scholars gathered for a session on […]

The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is likely to have a major impact on younger generations, such as Generation X, according to observers. At a recent conference on anti-Catholicism in New York [see last month’s RW for full coverage], historian John McGreevy remarked that just as Vatican II was the defining event in the church […]

The fall of the Taliban has done little to end religious discrimination against minorities  in Afghanistan. The Boston Globe (May 6) reports that official government persecution, such as the wearing of colored badges to identify minorities as either Hindu or Sikh (the two largest minorities in Afghanistan), ended when the Taliban was defeated four months ago. But Muslims […]

A recent conference of French Muslims reveals that this group is increasingly pressing for mainstream acceptance while experiencing divisions within their own ranks. In early May about 75,000 people — the highest number ever — visited the annual gathering of Muslims in France near Paris. There are today some 17 million Muslims in Western Europe, […]

As Latino immigration becomes more diversified, Catholic parishes are experiencing competition and new borrowing between different Hispanic and other ethnic traditions. The New York Times (May 27) reports that the large Mexican immigration in New York in recent years has particularly brought new devotional practices, such as veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to many parishes, creating […]

Churches in cities are increasingly taking an active role in helping residents and members buy homes in their vicinity, reports the Christian Science Monitor (May 23). The new involvement has as much to do with self-preservation as serving the community, writes Mark Sappenfield. “Years of blight and crime have taken a toll on the size and vitality […]