Orthodox Jewish musicians are finding growing “crossover” appeal in the secular world and even encouragement from their own rabbis, reportsMoment magazine (February). Jewish-themed pop music has been gaining popularity in the last decade, with such bands and musicians as Neshama Carlebach,  Moshav Band, Pey Daled and Beis Groove, gaining a hearing among mainstream secular audiences. The […]

A movement of alternative minyanim, or prayer groups, ?has emerged among young American Jews who want a middle ground between Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. Touchstone magazine (January/February) reports that young Orthodox Jews unhappy with the male-only leadership of their synagogues, and young Conservative Jews believing that their denomination is not traditional enough, have joined forces to […]

Political viability and media sophistication mark those who are considered the most influential evangelicals in America by Time magazine (Feb. 7). The magazine composed a list of the 25 most influential evangelicals with input of preachers, politicians, scholars and activists. Number one is Rick Warren, megachurch pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life, a best-selling book […]

Restrictions and punishments  against those converting from Islam to other faiths are common in Muslim countries, but increasingly the issue is being played out in the U.S. and other Western countries, reportsCommentary magazine (February). “Muslim apostasy” is forbidden both by religious and political authorities in most Islamic nations, sometimes under penalty of death or imprisonment. Those […]

A new group of Christian entrepreneurs and businessmen are emerging in China and they are introducing democratic practices into the churches, according to the Review of Religious Research (December). Chen Cunfu and Huang Tianhai, both of Zhejiang University, write that these new professionals, who are most evident in China’s developed coastal area, are the major funders and […]

There are increasing ties between the far left in Europe and  Islamist groups, writes Joshua Kurlantzik in Commentary magazine (December). Last year, RW reported on how the Labor radicals and Islamic groups have forged an alliance in Britain, but Kurlantzik writes that these ties have also been growing throughout Europe in the last two years, particularly in […]

Security is becoming a leading concern in European state policy, while the right of religious freedom is coming under increasing pressure, Prof. Riks Torfs (Leuven University, Belgium) writes in the recently published volume 9 of the European Journal for Church and State Research. Controversies surrounding new religious movements in some European States, as well as the […]