Japan has been among the most resistant nations to Christianity, but the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in the north of the country appears to have brought churches closer together to get more involved in social relief efforts, Christianity Today magazine (July/August) reports. In an interview, Tokyo pastor and theologian Atsuyoshi Fujiwara said Japan has […]
Raging ideologies
Buddhist-Muslim clashes on the rise in Asia The recent eruptions of violence of Buddhists against Muslims in Burma/Myanmar and in Sri Lanka inspire fears that such incidents might lead to a Muslim backlash However, there are other cases involving the faithful of both religions that show that even such violent interaction is not necessarily doomed […]
Update: Unificationist first family, movement face new turmoil
Many Unificationists had expected Rev. Sun Myng Moon’s youngest son, Hyung Jin (b. 1979), to guide the movement after his father’s death. However, the wife of the founder of the Unification Church (Hak Ja Han) actually clearly emerged as the leader, reported Dan Fefferman (International Coalition for Religious Freedom, Washington D.C.), himself a church member, […]
Current Research: July/August 2013
01: American entrepreneurs are similar to most other Americans in terms of belief in God, religious affiliation, and religious service attendance, but they do tend to have a more personal view of God and favor places of worship that are friendly to business concerns, according to a Baylor University study. Researchers used a national random […]
Egypt’s Christians take on public profile amid unrest
Egypt undergoes increasing division and instability, Christian churches in the country are finding new unity and revitalization, according to a report in Charisma magazine (June). Although there are also reports of Christians leaving Egypt in fear of growing violence and restrictions, the magazine finds churches are swelling in attendance, gaining a public profile, and even […]
End-times prophecy leaving young evangelical immigrants
Interest in the end-times, a staple of evangelical culture, is stagnating among young evangelicals and charismatics as issues of social justice and environmentalism have gained new traction among this age group, reports Charisma magazine (June). The trend has been a decade in the making, but it has been increasingly evident on the conference circuit. Crowds […]
Pentecostal prosperity teachings enhance ‘American Dream’ for immigrants
For many Latino immigrants the “American Dream” of success and a better future has become fused with Pentecostal prosperity teachings that provide a greater sense of empowerment and hope to these newcomers. While the “American Dream” has been eulogized since the burst of the housing bubble, the hope for a more prosperous future, including home […]
Small-town religion retaining loyalty; feeling frayed community ties
While Robert Wuthnow’s Small-Town America (Princeton University Press, $35) is about far more than religion, the sociologist of religion provides a compelling portrait of how faith and congregational life still impact town communities. Wuthnow and his associates conducted interviews with a representative sample of 700 people across the U.S. seeking to understand the state of […]
Sufis under Salafi pressure in Tunisia
More than 40 tombs of Muslim saints have been destroyed or attacked in Tunisia since the January 2011 revolution, a sign of growing fierce, and sometimes militant, Salafi opposition to Sufi practices of piety, writes Annette Steinich in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung (April 12). In the only case in which culprits were arrested, […]
Orthodox churches show new missionary interest in Eastern Europe, Russia
Eastern Orthodox churches are engaging in new efforts at missionary work often adopting models from Orthodox and non-Orthodox sources, according to the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (April). Missionary work in Eastern Orthodox churches has largely been confined within national or other local boundaries in which an Orthodox presence already existed or was conducted in […]
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