01: A nationwide study of Protestant ministers shows that four out of ten of them are in serious disagreement with their denomination on politics or theology. The study, conducted by Ellison Research (press release, Dec. 11), surveyed 475 churches and ministers of almost every denomination, and found that close to 50 percent of senior pastors […]
Network of gurus promoting instant enlightenment
A new religious phenomenon based around a select group of gurus proclaiming instant enlightenment has emerged in several Western countries. In the journal Nova Religio (October) Liselotte Frisk writes that by the end of the 1990s, a group of Westerners claiming to have reached enlightenment were touring Asia and the West holding meetings to help others make […]
Saudi aid sets off debate in American Muslim community
The question of whether Islamic groups should accept aid from Saudi Arabia is raising debate and divisions in the American Muslim community, reports the Los Angeles Times (Dec. 1). Since Saudi Arabia is increasingly seen as the importer of the militant “Wahhabi” branch of Islam, both the U.S. government and American Muslim groups themselves debating the consequences […]
Aftermath of 9/11, sex abuse crisis mark 2002 religion
Although Sept. 11 still reverberated across the American landscape, religious trends emerged from several unexpected places in 2002. As is customary, the following review looks at the trends unfolding from last year’s news that are likely to carry some impact in 2003 and beyond. Some of the trends have received fuller treatment in previous issues […]
Findings & Footnotes: December 2003
01: Most people glancing at the newly-published volume Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gülen Movement, edited by M. Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito (Syracuse University Press $24.95), won’t know who the man is pictured on the cover of the book, but perhaps they should. Fetullah Gülen (b. 1938) is an important figure in […]
Christian missionaries find uneasy place in Central Asia
Evangelical missionaries s in Central Asia are having a modest rate of success and facing fewer restrictions in some states, according to recent research conducted by French scholar Sébastien Peyrouse. At the conference of the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) in Anchorage, Alaska in early November, which RW attended, Peyrouse presented research from his recently […]
Current Research: December 2003
01: A new survey finds that a majority of college students say religion and spirituality are important in their lives but they also show a sharp drop-off of religious involvements as they move through their college years. The survey, conducted by UCLA among 3,680 students at 46 colleges and universities, found that 73 percent say […]
Jewish Philanthropy no longer strictly Jewish
Jewish philanthropy is gradually shifting to serving non-Jews as well as Jews, reports Moment magazine (December). In the new landscape, American Jews and American Jewish organizations are funding “programs to eliminate suffering of all kinds in their own communities, donate to groups that protect the environment, and feed, clothe and find jobs for the poor all over […]
Muslim political candidates still down but upturn ahead?
Since Sept. 11, there has been a significant drop in American Muslims running for political office, but there are signs that this may be changing. The Christian Science Monitor (Nov. 7) reports that Muslims only began running for office in significant numbers in the 1990s, hitting a peak in 2000, when about 700 candidates ran and 153 […]
Smart kidnapper reveals growth of Mormon underground
The seemingly bizarre religious views and practices surrounding the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart by the street preacher Brian David Mitchell (known as Immanuel) are not so uncommon in the ultraconservative subcultures existing on the margins of Mormonism, according to an article in the independent Mormon magazine Sunstone magazine (October). John-Charles Duffy writes that although the Church of […]
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