U.S. Bishops are taking a new confrontational approach with Catholic politicians who have taken pro-choice positions on abortion. The conservative Catholic Crisis magazine (April) reports that a “new generation of bishops is rising” to enforce discipline on dissenting politicians, even to the point of denying them communion. The new approach was first taken last year when Sacraemento’s […]

The most likely effect of the Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is likely to be more religious based productions, reports Time magazine (March 22). Earning $250 million in just three weeks, The Passion has already convinced “Hollywood moguls [to comb] though the scriptures for other projects with religious themes.” A long-shelved TV movie Judas was […]

There is the growing sentiment, particularly in the U.S., that the secularization thesis, holding to an inevitable decline of religious belief under modernization, is out of touch with reality. A recent New York conference RW attended suggests that sociologists are also searching for redefinitions and alternatives to this once predominant theory, even if some are […]

A new generation of leaders is rising in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which might lead to changes in this influential Islamist movement, reports Paul Schemm in Middle East International (Jan. 23). On Jan. 9, Ma’mun al-Hudaybi passed away at the age of 83. He was the last major figure of his generation. While the new leader, Muhammad […]

Ten years after a courageous struggle by the Catholic Church against Sicily’s Mafia, there is a loss of momentum in such efforts, even as religious and quasi-religious currents are now playing a prominent role in this criminal culture. Britain’s The Tablet (Jan. 31) notes that 1993 marked the height of church protests against the Cosa Nostra, when […]

Funerals are increasingly departing from traditional and somber rituals and assuming a more informal, flexible and celebratory nature, reports theNew York Times (Feb. 11). Nationwide, but especially in the American West, funeral homes are embracing a trend known as “personalization,” where services are tailored to individual preferences. A deceased person’s ashes may be sent heavenward via […]

As the Salvation Army attempts to reassert its religious roots, the organization is becoming increasingly torn between its religious and charitable functions, reports the New York Times (Feb. 2). The Salvation Army branch in New York has served as the flashpoint in the conflict. Long regarded as the least religious in its programs, the New York division […]