01: Although the secularization theory, holding that the world is becoming less religious, has come under fire in recent years, the new book God is Dead: Secularization in the West (Blackwell, $24.95) finds much of value in the concept, even in a modified form. Author Steve Bruce, a Scottish sociologist of religion and leading proponent of the theory, […]
Missionaries at cutting edge on e-books
E-books may not have caught on in most segments of publishing, but missionaries are rapidly trading in their paper books for the electronic versions. Religion Today.com (July 7) reports that with the “growing trend toward mobility in ministry,” both foreign and domestic missionaries are looking for alternatives to lugging hundreds of books to far-flung places. With […]
Outreach to tourists find place in British churches
If churches in England are losing committed members and worshippers, many congregations are drawing tourists and are even making a ministry of it. Quadrant (July), the newsletter of the British Christian Research Association, reports that 30 million visits are made annually to churches and cathedrals — making for more visitors than regular worshippers. “More and more […]
Evangelical increase in Mexico worries Catholics
Pope John Paul II’s recent visit to Mexico revealed the church’s resolute concern to preserve and win over the nation’s Indians’ devotion to Catholicism and the difficulty in achieving that goal. The pope ended his trip to the Americas on August 1 in Mexico, by addressing the Indians and appealing for greater respect toward them. […]
Current Research: August 2002
01: American confidence in religious institutions is at a 30-year low, down to 45 percent, according to a recent Gallup Poll. The annual Gallup Poll on confidence in institutions reveal that while the Protestant confidence rate of 59 percent is about the same as a year ago, Catholic trust dropped to 42 percent. Although this year’s […]
Evangelicals and Catholics sharing ministries
The closer relations between American evangelicals and Roman Catholics that have developed in the last few years appear to be entering a new stage that involve joint evangelism and ministry projects, according to America magazine (July 15-22). Evangelical-Catholic relations have been strengthened through coalitions on social issues (such as abortion) and joint statements on doctrine and practice […]
Funding religious scholarship — sometimes with agendas
In recent years, charitable foundations have played a large role in both spurring research and supporting ministries in American religion. Both conservative and liberal religious groups are at the receiving end of generous donors who might have different and sometimes conflicting religious outlooks and ideological goals. Christianity Today (July 12) reports that a primary factor in the resurgence […]
Findings & Footnotes: July 2002
01: There will likely be a wave of new books coming out on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the next few months. Two recent works suggest that the scandals often relate to other issues in Catholicism. Betrayal: The Crisis In The Catholic Church (Little, Brown and Co, $23.95) by the investigative staff of the […]
Serbian Orthodoxy takes ecumenical, interfaith turn
The Serbian Orthodox Church is attempting to shed its past image as a stronghold of nationalism and foster interfaith and ecumenical dialogue. At a mid-June New York conference RW attended, Boris Milosavljevic, Yugoslavian Deputy Secretary of Religious Affairs, and Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montanegro and the Littoral spoke of plans to hold an interfaith conference next year that would […]
Islam wins converts in Chiapas, Mexico
Some 300 Mexican Indians have converted to Islam in Chiapas in the southern part of the country since 1995. Fifteen of them have already made the pilgrimage to Mecca last November, reports Inter Press Service (June 18). Those conversions are the result of missionary efforts launched by Spanish members of the Murabitun (http://www.murabitun.org), a sometimes controversial group […]
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