Religion in Eastern Europe, especially in Orthodox nations, is likely to have a growing influence in forming new national identities, according to sociologist Irena Borowik. With the fall of communist ideologies and the impact of globalization, Eastern European countries are experiencing a rapid change in their identities. This is the major difference with Western Europe, […]

Vatican watchers have been trying to detect clues and patterns in the previous work of Joseph Ratzinger that might reveal the nature of his papacy as Benedict XVI. But they may need to look no further than the controversial document he penned in 2000, with Pope John Paul II’s approval, called Dominus Iesus. Writing in […]

Relations between Jews and Christians are changing due to the growing influence of Christianity in the global South, according to an article in theChicago Defender (July 14). Today it is no longer a matter of Jewish groups dialoging with American mainline Protestant groups or working with evangelicals on their mutual support of Israel. The changing situation […]

Internet blogs are having an impact both on institutional religion and the ways in which it is being covered by the media, reports an article in RNA-Extra, (July/August), the newsletter of the Religion Newswriters Association. Religion reporter Yonat Shimron writes that bloggers are becoming important new sources for the media. For instance, Rocco Palmo, a 23-year-old […]

Catholics are increasingly being viewed as an influential swing vote that could help determine the next election, according to Religion Link (July 17), a news service for religion reporters. In the 2004 elections, Catholics surprised analysts by backing a Republican evangelical Protestant over John Kerry, the first Catholic candidate since John F. Kennedy Jr. But a Gallup […]

Along with developments in Iraq, the recent events in Lebanon may reinforce the Sunni-Shiite rift in Islam. According to Stratfor (July 19), a publication of Strategic Forecasting, condemnations of Hezbollah for threatening everyone’s future are as strong as condemnations of Israel in countries such as Saudi Arabia. Stratfor emphasizes that the issue is not only theological, but geopolitical, with […]

In June, 56 Indonesian MPs – including members of Muslim political groups – called upon the President to abolish sharia-inspired decrees and ordinances adopted in recent years in various districts and towns around the country, reports the French Catholic monthly Eglises d’Asie (June 16). Following Suharto’s fall in 1998 and decentralization, 22 districts and municipalities have introduced […]

While much of Europe is suffering from a shortage of priests, Poland’s burgeoning seminaries and rectories are playing a crucial role in supplying clerics throughout the continent, reports BBC News (June 2). About a quarter of all young men training to become Roman Catholic priests in Europe are Polish. There are 7,131 seminarians preparing for the priesthood […]