Recent church-state issues before the Supreme Court reveal a new caution and concern over religious pluralism and potential conflict in society, writes Richard W. Garnett in Commonweal magazine (Aug. 13). The rulings handed down on such cases as “Elk Grove vs. Newdow, involving the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as the Court’s […]

Cultural theorists, a broad term for academics in the humanities considered to be post-modern and post-Marxist, “are now turning to analysis and exposition of the conceptual resources and classic texts of Christianity as prompts and supports for their own work.” In First Things magazine (August/September), Paul Griffiths writes that such prominent cultural theorists as Terry Eagleton, Jean-Francois […]

Among China’s new breed of businessmen, there are Roman Catholics doing their best to spread Christian beliefs among their employees or to support their Church in a variety of other ways, reports the French Catholic news agency and bulletin Eglises d’Asie (July 16). Some have gone so far as to build a prayer hall in their factory […]

No longer restricted by a repressive regime, Sunni Muslims are turning to militant expressions of the faith, preaching jihad in key mosques and organizing politically to wield greater influence in the country, reports the Christian Science Monitor (July 28). While still on the fringes of Sunni Islam in Iraq, the radical preachers are serving as a rallying […]

Canadian Muslims are becoming politically active and are showing that they can wield a good deal of influence in elections, reports the website IslamOnline (July 5). The high turnout of Muslims in Canada’s general elections in early July had a part in the victory of the Liberal party. More than 80 percent of eligible Muslims cast their […]

Since the fall of communism, the religious situation in Eastern and Central Europe and in Russia has become ever more complex and diversified. To shed some light on the changing patterns of religious belief and practice in these regions, RW recently spoke with Detlef Pollack, a well-known German sociologist who has conducted a good deal of research […]

Summer is the time for conventions both political and religious, but so far it is the denominational gatherings which reveal long-range trends that may outlast the season. As expected, at their June convention, Southern Baptists voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), the international pan-Baptist organization over its alleged theological liberalism and theological pluralism. The […]

RW recently attended a workshop during the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR) in Barcelona (July 7-13) and found that Neo-Paganism is emerging in countries, such as Spain and South Africa, from which it was absent until a few years ago. The PWR, first initiated in Chicago in 1893, attracted some 8,000 participants this year, offering […]

The defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India signals the loss of political power of Hindu nationalism as well as renewed Christian hopes of relaxed restrictions against evangelization. The victory of the secularist Congress Party and the marginalization of the BJP primarily means the loss of political influence of Hindu nationalism, reports India Abroad newspaper […]

Despite divisions among themselves, Iraq’s Shi’a will shape Iraq’s future, and Iraq will be the first Arab country to become openly Shi’a, according to an article by Vali Nasr in the Summer issue of the Washington Quarterly, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Shi’as number around 130 million people globally, most of […]