The division between Muslims of African-American background and those from South Asian and Middle Eastern background may be narrowing as the concern for civil rights has become a concern of Islamic communities after 9/11. African Americans say they have been marginalized in mosques and Islamic organizations by South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants. Concerns […]

A combination of controversy and denominational action seems to be increasing the presence and influence of home churches. Charismamagazine (June) reports that the house church movement is “exploding across North America.” Pollster George Barna is cited as estimating that eight to nine percent–22 million to 24 million people–are now involved in some form of house church. […]

A growing network of students at evangelical campuses are “becoming politically active in combating world poverty and hunger, the AIDS epidemic, debt relief, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and global warming,” reports Stan Friedman in the Christian Century (May 30). Evangelical social activists report unprecedented activity on social issues among evangelical students, even from relatively conservative and […]

The New Age movement has often been seen as a highly individualistic and ephemeral phenomenon by sociologists, but recent studies suggest that the picture is more complex than that. Articles in the May issue of theJournal of Contemporary Religion note that New Age practitioners are socialized into New Age groups and teachings just as one is […]

Due to economic pressures and declining attendance, more and more church buildings in Germany will have to be closed or sold. However, the conversion of church buildings into alternative use sometimes leads to reactions even among secular-minded Germans, Joachim Guntner reports in the Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung (April 24). The number of Roman Catholics going to […]

A listing of Britain’s top 100 lay Catholics by The Tablet magazine (March 18) shows the high degree of acceptance and prominence reached by Catholics in recent years. Among those heading the list of influential largely practicing Catholics (or “cultural Catholics” whose work and lives are still shaped by the faith) include: Mark Thompson, director of the […]

Defying the dire predictions made above, Anglican and Methodist churches in England have joined forces to draw in the unchurched and reverse declines by diversifying their worship offerings. The Tablet (April 8) reports that an official movement called Fresh Expressions, sponsored by the Methodist Church and the Church of England, has drawn approximately 400 churches to offer […]