01: The Journal of Religious and Political Practice is a new annual publication that examines the interplay of religion and politics in an interdisciplinary and global perspective. In the inaugural issue, the editors state that the journal will “explore ideas about religion and politics, not just as ideologies or belief systems, but as rituals, practices, […]
‘Prophetic Medicine’ flourishing in Muslim societies
The use of religious healing methods among Muslims is spreading due to limited health options but also high levels of trust in Islamic healers and their faith-based practices. In a report in Global Plus (July 31), a blog published by the Association of Religion Data Bases (ARDA), Algerian journalist Larbi Megari writes that shops selling […]
Current Research: September 2015
01: When it comes to welcoming other races and ethnicities to church, evangelicals have it over mainline Protestants, according to a novel experiment carried out by University of Connecticut sociologist Bradley Wright and reported in Christianity Today (July-August). Seeking to test the hypothesis that evangelicals have a higher rate of implicit racial bias than other […]
Women serve as ‘willing victims’ in Korean exorcism
Recent cases of “Korean exorcism” in the U.S. and other countries suggest that women in Korean-American churches are more likely to be the “willing victims” of such deliverance practices, in some ways paralleling their involvement in similar shamanic practices in Korea, writes Kyung Hong in the International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society (Vol. […]
Gay marriage and the secularizing of American foreign policy
The growing distance between religious teachings and American cultural norms as represented by the recent legalization of gay marriage may well lead to new conflicts in foreign policy, writes Andrew J. Bacevich in Commonweal magazine (Aug. 14). Bacevich writes that the Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of gay marriage in the Obergefell vs. […]
Women moving to high level leadership roles in Mormonism
The addition of women to three high-level councils in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) may have “far-reaching consequences in a denomination led exclusively by men,” writes Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Salt Lake Tribune (Aug. 27). Three women were added to the church’s Priesthood and Family Executive Council, the Missionary […]
Featured Story: God-friendly Buddhists seek to engage Muslims
A new approach in Buddhist-Muslim relations and dialogue is for the Buddhist participants to discuss their equivalent of God in order to relate to Islam on a doctrinal level, writes Kieko Obuse in the journal Numen (62). The trend is not coming from those societies facing Muslim-Buddhist conflict and even violence, such as Sri Lanka, […]
Polling problems pose new challenges in understanding today’s religion
Religious polling is facing the same loss of confidence from the public and other problems as polling in general, but surveys on religion may face particular challenges, writes sociologist Robert Wuthnow in First Things magazine (Aug./Sept.). In an article adapted from his forthcoming book on religion and polling, Wuthnow writes that religion polling’s use of […]
New women-based prayer rituals gain pan-Jewish popularity in Israel and beyond
Rituals known as “amen ceremonies,” which involve group prayer and sharing of personal stories, needs and alleged miracles, have caught on among both observant and non-observant women in Israel and more recently Europe and the U.S., writes Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar in the journal Contemporary Jewry (July). Amen ceremonies consist of women sitting in a circle, […]
Current Research: August 2015
01: There is still a Presbyterian (or Calvinist) difference at work in the way that these Christians show high levels of optimism, volunteering, happiness and generalized trust, writes William Weston in the social science journal Society (July/August). Weston analyzes recent data from the Presbyterian Panel comparing them with the results of the General Social Survey […]
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