South African churches, including the Dutch Reformed Church, are perceived as playing a greater social role since the fall of apartheid, even if they may be ill-equipped to serve such a function, according to recent research. South Africa has remained a strongly religious nation in the 13 years since apartheid was dismantled, with a recent […]

Expectations and pressure from German authorities and society are increasingly forcing Muslims in Germany to coordinate and create representative organizations, reports the Muslim newspaper Islamische Zeitung (November). This follows the pattern observed in several other European countries, though Islam in Germany is unique in several ways. According to some estimates, there may be up to 3.4 million […]

The Missionaries of Charity is enjoying steady growth even though it was widely predicted that the order might shrink after the death of its founder Mother Teresa 10 years ago The Catholic World Report (November) notes that the number of Missionaries of Charity homes, which stood at 594 in 1997, now total 757, spreading to 134 countries […]

Since the 1990s, the New Apostolic Church (NAC) has initiated a cautious process of change and engagement with other Christians, writes a German Protestant scholar, Andreas Fincke, in a new report in the German publication EZW-Studien (No. 193). While it has been given relatively little attention by scholars, the NAC is the third largest Christian denomination in […]

Although Christian reconstructionism has declined as a movement, it is still having influence on a new generation of evangelical activists, according to the Public Eye (Fall), a left-of-center newsletter monitoring the Christian Right. Christian Reconstructionism, which teaches that America should be a Christian nation run by biblical law, has often been cited by critics of the Christian […]

Missions and business are forming an alliance as Christian-based companies around the world are seeking to play a new role in evangelization. Christianity Today (November) reports that the phenomenon has gone by different names–from Business as Mission (BAM) to marketplace missions–but such mixing of businesses with Christian proclamation is seen as the “next great wave of evangelization.” […]

As Mitt Romney is making some headway in appealing to evangelical Protestant voters, he may be weakening his own Mormon base in the process, reports The New Republic magazine (Nov. 19). Romney has already angered a vocal minority of Mormons who protest that he is soft-pedaling his faith in the hopes of currying the favor of the […]

Liberation theology may have been forced out of the front door of the Catholic Church in Latin America only to make an appearance at the back door, influencing the region’s political culture. In fact, “wherever the left has come to power in Latin America,” one finds a connection between liberation theology and secular politics, writes […]