Like their white counterparts, African-American Generation Xers are tending to merge “innovation and traditionalism” in their search for spiritual connections, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper (Jan. 1). Like the black baby boomers preceding them, Gen Xers show loose attachments to denominational labels and some of the other traditions of the black church and value spiritual experience over […]

As the controversy over the impeachment of President Clinton continues to swirl over the nation, respected observers and pollsters are finding a generation gap to be a major source of the conflict on the issue. The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, (Jan. 11) reports that “deep divisions across social, political and generational lines” are brought on […]

American evangelicals are experiencing an intellectual renaissance, although it is uncertain whether it will reach most evangelical believers. In the Catholic magazine Commonweal (Jan. 15), James Turner writes that the publication of the bi-monthly journal Books and Culture signals the culmination of a “kind of evangelical Long March through American intellectual life.” Evangelical intellectuals who write for the journal, such […]

A spirituality based on community life is one of the factors in the growth of the “co-housing” movement in the U.S. Co-housing, a form of living where residents have their own homes, but also create community through shared meals and other activities, first emerged in Denmark in the 1970s. New Age magazine (January/February) reports that since […]

Are extremists “hijacking” the American Muslim community through its leaders’ complicity and silence regarding terrorism? That’s the controversial view of  the Islamic Supreme Council (ISC), a Muslim education group based in Washington, D.C. The Muslim magazine (January), which is published by the ISC, carries a statement from the council saying that “too often we see leaders of the […]

The expansion of the Alpha course, a popular seminar introducing British unchurched to Christianity, is having a strong impact on moribund parishes of the Church of England. The Economist magazine (Nov. 7) reports that the Alpha, a ten-week crash course in basic Christianity, was started in the 1970s, but it is only in the past few years […]

After a period of prosperity and rapid expansion, churches in South Korea are undergoing a period of rethinking about their mission in an economically depressed nation. South Korea and other East Asian countries are is deep in the throes of economic depression, as shown by growing ranks of unemployment and currency devaluation. During the nation’s […]

Churches and synagogues are increasingly turning to professional fund-raisers to draw in funds, according to the New York Times (Nov. 18).  About 7.4 percent of the members of the National Society of Fund-raising executives work for religious organizations — which is double the number from seven years ago. “I wouldn’t be surprised if next year’s survey shows that […]