A recent visit to eastern Turkey by the dynamic Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has given some hope of progress for the Syriac Christian minority in eastern Turkey. Davutoglu, a former university professor, who had presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Houston in the […]

Atheists are usually very discrete in the Middle East, reports the Café Thawra blog (Jan. 13), published by Joseph Daher and Paola Salwan. There are rare cases of open expressions of atheism, such as the Syrian philosopher Sadik Jalal al Azm, who claims to be “the only atheist intellectual in the Arab world” and dares […]

Although there are still few Orthodox clergy able to develop a ministry in Spanish or Portuguese, Archbishop Jonah, metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of America (OCA), said in an interview with Miguel Palacio in Pravoslavie.ru (Dec. 21) that there are more and more people from Latin America, especially of local Indian descent, feeling called to […]

Liberation theology has remained active enough in Brazilian Catholicism for Pope Benedict XVI to recently reissue harsh criticisms against the theological movement at a recent meeting with Brazil’s bishops at the Vatican. The Tablet magazine (Dec. 12) reports that Benedict reiterated the criticisms he had made of liberation theology 30 years ago that its Marxist […]

Second-generation members are feeling the winds of change in the Unification Church, even as the movement faces an uncertain future as its founder enters his tenth decade and the church’s business ventures face economic turmoil. The Washington Post (Jan. 3) reports that the children of the original members of the Unification Church have tended to […]

Churches are becoming more involved in making films for “faith-based audiences,” reports Charisma magazine (January). Christian film producers and directors are teaming up with congregations to make films that stress both high quality and production values with a strong viewer base, writes Adrienne Gaines. The success of the films Facing the Giants and Fireproof, produced […]

While Shiite assertiveness gives rise to concerns and nervousness among Sunni regimes, observers should be careful not to explain all developments and attitudes through religion and also be aware of the significance of political dimensions and alliances. This was the implicit message in several papers presented at the international conference on Sunni–Shia relations organized by […]