The stalemate between Catholic traditionalists, those opposing innovations from the Second Vatican Council, and Rome appears to be resolved on at least one front, according to several reports. On Jan. 18, in Campos Brazil, a group of 28,000 Roman Catholic traditionalists reunified with Rome. Their bishop, Licinio Rangel had been consecrated in 1991 by bishops […]

New registration laws in China may lead to the reemergence of distinctions between Protestant denominations. A high-level national work conference on religion in China took place in Beijing from Dec. 10 to 12, 2001. Top Chinese political leaders attended, including the seven members of the Politburo of the Communist Party. According to a China Daily report on […]

Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, is undergoing a revival in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s fall, reports the Boston Globe (Jan. 23). For centuries, four major Sufi orders had vast and devoted followings in Afghanistan, evidenced in the weekly mass visits to saints’ tombs, the raising of colorful flags at cemeteries and the celebration […]

The early January announcement by the Archbishop of Canterbury (and head of the Anglican Communion), Dr. George Carey, that he would retire before the end of the year, has put into motion a search for a successor who will be a key shaper of world Anglicanism and the Church of England. There have been many […]

Christian coffee houses, a staple of the Jesus movement and subsequent evangelical outreach in the 1970s, are making a comeback, reports the Washington Times (Jan. 14). Coffee houses were mainly for evangelism mixed in with entertainment and fellowship for evangelical young people in the late 1960s and 70s. But as the patrons got older and had families […]

“Fixed-hour prayer,” a practice common among Christians from liturgical churches, is finding a wider appeal among other believers, reports Cutting Edge (Winter), a newsletter of the charismatic Vineyard churches. In an interview with the newsletter, author Phyllis Tickle says that the interest in the practice (also called the “office of the hours” or divine hours), consisting of […]

Although it may sound like science fiction, a new period of space exploration and eventually colonization is beginning, and religious groups and thinkers are clamoring to be on board. After a nearly 30-year hiatus, the space program has been revived with ambitious plans for exploration. The completion of the $60 billion International Space Station as […]

American Indian and Australian Aborigines are divided among themselves over Western New Agers, Pagans and other alternative spiritual groups adapting and marketing their traditions, according to an article in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (January). For close to two decades, there has been a conflict between alternative spirituality-New Age groups and native spiritual leaders who accuse the […]

The Reconstructionist movement in Judaism is gradually entering the mainstream after 47 years of existing on the edge of Jewish life. The Jewish Week (Jan. 18) reports that new leadership and maturity is bringing? greater stability and acceptance, if not sharp growth, to the smallest and youngest Jewish branch in the U.S.. Reconstructionist Judaism, founded by Modecai Kaplan, […]