Christian and even Jewish and Islamic schools are seeing a growing number of students from other faiths enrolling, reports the Wall Street Journal (Oct. 12). “As parents worry more about moral guidance for their children, Catholic, Jewish and other faith-based schools are seeing a wave of interest from students of other religions. At Episcopal academies, enrollment by […]

“While some general-interest publishers are trying to promote attack-related titles carefully to avoid appearing to be baldly mercenary or opportunistic, religion publishers, while also concerned with taste and sensitivity, are less shy,” reports Publisher Weekly’s Religion Bookline (Oct. 9), a newsletter on religion and publishing. Since concern with spiritual and emotional needs is at the center of […]

The topic of Muslim extremism, once downplayed by American Muslims for fear of  encouraging prejudice against Islam, is receiving new attention in the U.S. Islamic community in the wake of Sept. 11, reports the San Jose Mercury News (Oct. 23). “Slowly, and for the first time,” American Muslims are “talking publicly about issues previously confined to the mosque […]

Most American Muslims may condemn violence, but their organizations are actively supporting, or look favorably upon, creating a Muslim state in the U.S., writes Daniel Pipes in Commentary magazine (November). Pipes, a Middle Eastern specialist, writes that an ambition to create an Islamic America has taken root among a growing number of Muslim groups and educated believers. […]

The Sept. 11 tragedy has been described as nothing short of  apocalyptic, but some scholars view the term less figuratively in describing the motives of Osama bin Laden and terrorists associated with him. At the recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) in Columbus, Ohio, Catherine Wessinger of Loyola University said […]

Protestant male clergy are falling below middle class status, a trend bringing new models of the ministry to the surface, writes Matthew J. Price in the Christian Century (Aug. 15-22) magazine. Until fairly recently, clergymen belonged to the middle class in income along with other professionals who came out of graduate schools. But in the past 20 […]

The growing acceptance of Menachem Schneerson as a messiah , even a divine being, among Lubavitch Hasidic Jews is having a deep impact on Judaism the world over, writes David Berger in Commentary magazine (September). Belief in Schneerson as messiah has grown from a minority position to one embraced by a “substantial majority” of Lubavitchers, or Chabad, […]

Canada, as well as many other Western nations, is experiencing a mushrooming of churches using and drawing unchurched through the Alpha program, a Christian basics class. The evangelical Faith Today magazine (September/October) reports that Alpha, started by charismatic Anglicans in Britain, has spread so widely in Canada that three-quarters of the churches using Alpha are not Anglican. […]

Recent reports on denominational decline and growth in countries as disparate as England, Egypt and Canada all cite the common factor of busting or booming Sunday school ministries. Touchstone magazine (September) reports that the steep decline in the fortunes of the United Church of Canada are more dramatic when examining the loss of Sunday school students […]