A fledgling reform movement emerging from the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has gained national attention but observers are questioning if it can keep its centrist thrust and appeal to a wide range of Catholics. The six-month-old Voice of the Faithful movement was founded to galvanize Catholics on the sex abuse issue in the Boston […]

Thanks to the “intelligent design” movement, the distance between evangelical Christians holding to a belief in some form of evolution and those opposed to the theory has narrowed, though not without tension and divisions. The Christian Research Journal (Volume 24 Number 4) reports that the emergence of the intelligent design movement has helped  create a “big tent” approach […]

The non-official house church movement in China has drawn wide support among Christian groups in the West. But some house churches have developed in ways that are of concern to  Western Christians, particularly as some of these groups are setting up operations in the U.S., according to several reports. The Ledger newspaper (Aug. 24) interviews Rev. Gik […]

In a breakthrough to find a solution to the lasting war in Sudan between the government and Christian and animist secessionist forces in the South (2 million victims over the past 20 years, many of them dying from war-related famine), a framework for peace talks signed on July 20 agreed that the constitution would be […]

According to several observers of the Turkish political scene, the current crisis might lead to an unprecedented success of Islamist parties, due to the fragmentation of the secular political groups and to peculiarities of the Turkish electoral system. Long-time politician and ailing Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit clings to power and refuses to leave his […]

E-books may not have caught on in most segments of publishing, but missionaries are rapidly trading in their paper books for the electronic versions. Religion Today.com (July 7) reports that with the “growing trend toward mobility in ministry,” both foreign and domestic missionaries are looking for alternatives to lugging hundreds of books to far-flung places. With […]

If churches in England are losing committed members and worshippers, many congregations are drawing tourists and are even making a ministry of it. Quadrant (July), the newsletter of the British Christian Research Association, reports that 30 million visits are made annually to churches and cathedrals — making for more visitors than regular worshippers. “More and more […]

Pope John Paul II’s recent visit to Mexico revealed the church’s resolute concern to preserve and win over the nation’s Indians’ devotion to Catholicism and the difficulty in achieving that goal. The pope ended his trip to the Americas on August 1 in Mexico, by addressing the Indians and appealing for greater respect toward them. […]

The closer relations between American evangelicals and Roman Catholics that have developed in the last few years appear to be entering a new stage that involve joint evangelism and ministry projects, according to America magazine (July 15-22). Evangelical-Catholic relations have been strengthened through coalitions on social issues (such as abortion) and joint statements on doctrine and practice […]

In recent years, charitable foundations have played a large role in both spurring research and supporting ministries in American religion. Both conservative and liberal religious groups are at the receiving end of generous donors  who might have different and sometimes conflicting religious outlooks and ideological goals. Christianity Today (July 12) reports that a primary factor in the resurgence […]