Computer games built around the character of an all powerful god or deity are hitting the market. The online magazine Feed (April 28) reports that these games, such as The Sims and Black & White, allow users to play God where they “can create people, cities…gamers divine everything from weather to manna for groups of tribal villagers, […]
Christian music — more money, less influence?
The growing commercialization of Contemporary Christian music (CCM) is dividing the industry and leading its top musicians to speak out against recording companies that seek to tone down the Christian content of their work. A cover story in the evangelical newsweekly World (May 13) reports that the $500 million Christian music industry continues to grow an average of […]
Mainliners politically active, but not activists
As the political temperature continues to rise this summer as the elections approach, sociologist Robert Wuthnow points to the little known but increasing strength of mainline Protestants in the political arena. Writing in the American Prospect magazine (May 22), Wuthnow writes that such social causes as ministries for AIDS victims, alcoholics, the homeless, low income workers, and gay/lesbian programs […]
New directions in small group ministries
Over the last few years, Wade Clark Roof writes, major changes are unfolding in small group ministries, both Catholic and Protestant. A well-known scholar on recent American religious life, Roof writes on the religion web site Beliefnet.com that across the country more people are involved than ever before in small groups — anywhere from 33 percent to […]
Millennialists delayed but not defeated
Millennial groups and others forecasting apocalyptic scenarios have scaled back their predictions since Jan. 1, though they’re not necessarily out of business, reports the Skeptical Inquirer (May/June). As might be expected, those groups and individuals who closely tied their forecasts of apocalyptic events to the year 2000 have revised their views significantly as time has passed. Software […]
African-American faiths show innovation, new divisions
African-American Christians and other believers are facing a new pluralism, both with new religious movements emerging and in practices that are causing new divisions. That was one of the conclusions of a conference on “The Spiritual State of Black America” which drew hundreds of church leaders, activists, scholars, and laity to Atlanta in May. In the online […]
On/File: May 2000
01: The mentoring program Kids Hope USA is a leading example of the new partnerships developing between faith groups and public schools. The organization was started in 1994 and it is now active in 100 schools across 18 states, reaching more than 1,600 children. The program, headed by Virgil Gulker, is simple in operation: congregations — usually evangelical […]
Findings & Footnotes: May 2000
01: Timothy Miller’s The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse University Press, $24.95) goes beyond a standard history of the intentional communities. Miller, professor of religion at the University of Kansas, provides both the historical backgrounds and the current status of these communes, many of which were religious in origin. In fact, the much publicized hippies’ communes […]
Current Research: May 2000
01: There is a clear growth of conversions by adults into the Roman Catholic faith, according to church statistics cited in the Boston Globe (April 23). Using data gathered by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the oldest denomination in the Western hemisphere which had witnessed some sharp decline of conversions in recent years, Catholic leaders are […]
Canadian-US divide running through denominations
The same nationalistic fervor leading Canada to diverge from the U.S. on economic and social issues is having a parallel in the churches, reports the Canadian evangelical magazine Faith Today (March/April). Canadian churches, particularly of the evangelical variety, that were once part of American-based denominations are striking out on their own, forming separate identities. Last year, the […]
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