Islamic preaching in Indonesia has not only undergone a process of radicalization, but also of democratization, according to Indonesian scholar Noorhaidi Hasan, who spoke on new media and public Islam at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (August 2-5), which RW attended. Increasingly, people have come to believe that Islam can be implemented […]
Scandals, schisms and politics cause Korea’s protestant decline?
Only a decade ago considered a phenomenal success, Protestant churches in Korea are meeting with widespread public disenchantment as well as numerical decline and internal crises, according to a new study. In a paper presented at the ASR in New York, Kyuhoon Cho of the University of Ottawa said that the sharp growth of Korean […]
Current Research: September 2007
01: A survey of religious political action groups and their effectiveness in influencing state legislatures finds that the use of lobbyists and building a strong membership base are more important than holding a specific ideology. The study, presented at the meeting of the ASR, is based on a survey of 15 Indiana legislators (exactly 10 percent […]
Uneasy Unitarian — Pagan marriage heading for divorce?
Recent news that the Unitarian-Universalist Association (UU) suspended its Neopagan caucus suggests the uneasy relationship that may have existed between the establishment liberal denomination and this new religious movement. This development and others relating to Paganism and Wicca were discussed by specialists on these movement at a session of the Association for the Sociology of […]
The return of the Latin mass — new diversity or division?
Depending on one’s perspective, a recent papal document allowing for greater use of the Latin Mass may make for healthy liturgical diversity or increase divisions in the church. The document, the Motu Proprio, along with an accompanying “Letter to the Bishops,” allows parishes wide freedom in using the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. Previously, a bishop’s permission […]
Campus religion — pluralistic and vital
A recent study in the journal Social Forces (June) reports that college-educated Americans are more likely to be religious than the non-college -educated. Such a finding is another reminder that religion remains a vital force on American campuses. In a paper presented at the mid-August meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion in New York, […]
Iran universalizing the message of Mahdism
Groups of Iranian Muslims are eager to promote the message of Mahdism as answering the expectations of the entire world – and not only of Muslims – for a Savior figure. This was made clear at the Third International Conference on Mahdism Doctrine, meeting in Tehran from August 26-27, which RW attended. The conference gathered participants from […]
On/File: August 2007
01: A New Sanctuary Movement is taking shape that could put churches near the center of the American debate on immigration. A small but growing coalition of churches, synagogues and other houses of worship are seeking to rehabilitate the 1980s sanctuary movement by that name, where congregations took in illegal immigrants escaping political violence in their […]
Findings & Footnotes: August 2007
01: The July issue of The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science is devoted to the issue of the new pluralism in American religion. The issue, guest edited by Wade Clark Roof, is divided into sections on general history and theory, region and religion, minority and immigrant experiences, and institutional patterns (such as interfaith […]
Churches switch sides in Venezuela’s culture wars
Christian churches are increasingly divided about the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but not necessarily along traditional Protestant and Catholic lines, according to sociologist David Smilde. Writing in the current Sociology of Religion Newsletter (Spring), a publication of the American Sociological Association, Smilde notes that Chavez has long sought to draw support and activism from churches […]
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