A schism has developed in the Russian Church Outside Russia, one of the larger exile Russian Orthodox churches, over leadership issues and the prospect of rapprochement with the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Following the retirement of Metropolitan Vitaly Ustinov, who had been the Primate of the ROCOR, the  Council of Bishops elected Metropolitan Laurus […]

A special provision allowing Episcopal parishes converting en masse to Roman Catholicism to keep their Anglican traditions and liturgy has found few churches taking Rome up on the offer, according to a report in New Oxford Review magazine (November). The arrangement, called Anglican Use parishes, was established by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith […]

The Vineyard churches, a network of charismatic congregations, are becoming increasingly diverse in practice and worship if not doctrine, reports Cutting Edge, (Fall) a newsletter published by the church group. The Association of Vineyard Churches is known for its freewheeling and informal contemporary services (called the “new paradigm”) that stress charismatic “signs and wonders,” such as […]

Religion in 2001 will be remembered through the prism of war and terrorism, national mourning, and new explorations and reevaluations of Islam prompted by the events of Sept. 11. But there were other events that may signal new patterns and trends in religion for 2002 and beyond. We will start with these developments and then […]

Mount Athos, famed as a  stronghold of the Greek Orthodox faith, is seeing a growing number of foreign monks in its monasteries, reports the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Oct. 31). Since 1923, Mount Athos has enjoyed the status of an autonomous internal administration with its own governor. During the Cold War, Greek authorities sought to stop the […]

A small but growing number of militant Muslims are emerging in Bosnia, fueling “complex and ambivalent feelings toward the West” in this Balkan nation, reports the Los Angeles Times (Nov. 16). Although grudgingly grateful to Americans for their help in ending the war with Serbians, Bosnians have clearly changed since the 1992-1993 conflict. “The effect of the […]

England has become a center of militant Islam, enough so that this minority in the Muslim community is coming under increasing scrutiny, as is the policy of multiculturalism that may have encouraged this trend, according to two reports. The Washington Post (Nov. 23) reports that the militant Islam coming out of England and other parts of Europe […]

Mainline Protestant publishing houses are facing serious financial problems as well as new challenges, reports the e-newsletter PW Religion Bookline (Nov. 20). Hit by harsh pressures from economic forces as well as decline in their sector of American Christianity, publishing houses owned by mainline Protestant churches are responding to the turbulence of the times in a variety […]

Non-Islamic extremist religious and political groups are latching on to and, in some cases, forming ties with terrorist Muslim groups and activity, according to two reports. The Sept. 11 attacks have been used by far right groups to gain recruits and stir up anti-government and anti-Semitic sentiment, reports USA Today (Nov. 27). One human rights leader says […]

Black Muslims in the U.S., whether from the Nation of Islam or part of the mainstream Islamic world, are far from united when it comes to questions of terrorism and the influence of Osama bin Laden, reports the New Republic magazine (Nov. 19). While black Muslims should be in a position to help correct fellow American misunderstandings […]