The issue of the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate and its freedom in Turkey has assumed a new prominence in deliberations on the nation’s admission to the European Union. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament adopted on January 26 the draft of a strategy report regarding its relations with present and possible future candidates […]
Islamism’s new friendliness to democracy?
Following the victory of Hamas at Palestinian elections, commentators, such as the Christian Science Monitor‘s Howard LaFranchi (Jan. 27), wonder if the campaign for democracy in the Middle East will actually serve to promote Islamists. Such electoral results are however not only related to religious fervor, but also to the partial failure of secular regimes to […]
‘Satanic cartoons’: Test boundaries of blasphemy, freedom?
The controversial issue of 12 anti-Muslim cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has taken unexpected social and religious dimensions. Ambassadors have been recalled, Danish (and Norwegian) embassies have been torched in Arab capitals, and thousands of angry Muslims have demonstrated from the UK to Yemen, from Indonesia to Afghanistan. If there are people still doubting the […]
Current Research: February 2006
01: Protestants still tend to harbor pro-market attitudes, “indicating the lasting legacy of the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism,” according to a recent study. The study is based on a survey in the Detroit area conducted by sociologists Wane Baker and Melissa Forbes and published in Society magazine (January/February). The researchers found that overall, “moral absolutists” […]
Segment of evangelical activists broaden agenda
Evangelical social activism of a more liberal bent appears to be gaining ground, even if its impact seems uncertain, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jan. 22). The new evangelical activism remains committed to pro-life and traditional family causes, but these “activists believe that serving God also means acting on a `biblically balanced agenda’ that would, among other things, […]
Decline of the Catholic Church, rise of Catholic ideas?
While the influence of the Catholic Church is declining in the U.S., the impact of Catholic ideas seems to be on the rise. That is the contention of Joseph Bottum, writing in the Weekly Standard (Jan. 23). Bottum cites the priest sex abuse scandal and the general low public profile now taken by most American bishops (partly […]
On/File: January 2006
The Network of Spiritual Progressives comes out of the deliberations and rethinking of pollitical liberals on the need for a role of spirituality in politics following their defeat by George Bush in 2004 and the strengthening of the Christian Right. More specifically, the network was founded at a Berkeley, Calif., Conference on Spiritual Activism last […]
Findings & Footnotes: January 2006
01: Why after 9/11, when many Americans including the government took up a conciliatory posture toward Islam, did evangelicals seem to become the main antagonists of the religion? That is the question that the article by RW’s editor, entitled, “No God In Common: American Evangelical Discourse on Islam After 9/11,” seeks to address in the […]
Evangelical inroads in Darfur
Partly supported by humanitarian funding, evangelical agencies are making attempts to create a presence in Sudan’s Muslim Darfur area, which has been the site of widespread ethnic warfare, writes French researcher Philip Poupin in a recent article in the French geopolitical journal Hérodote (No. 119, 4th quarter 2005). The issue is devoted to evangelical activities around the […]
Current Research: January 2006
01: A recent study suggesting that high levels of religiosity, such as in the U.S., may be correlated with high rates of social problems has become a lightning rod of controversy. The study, appearing in theJournal of Religion and Society (http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html) and conducted by Gregory Paul, analyzed data from 18 nations and inferred that because the U.S. […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- …
- 199
- Next Page »