While the Russian Orthodox Church is often portrayed as a monolithic church under the sway of Vladimir Putin and nationalism, new movements and groups are creating more space for dissent, especially in the provinces, reports Wallace Daniel in the Christian Century (Dec. 9). Even the stance of Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow suggests the different […]

Although forces against change remain strong and often intimidating for those who think otherwise within the community, changes are taking place among Orthodox Jews in Israel, among other places, as evidenced by the 5,000 Orthodox Jews who now serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), writes Andrew Friedman in The Jerusalem Report (Dec. 28). There […]

Shia Islam may be taking the place of the Sunni branch of the faith in making an effort to foster interreligious diplomacy in the Middle East, according to The Economist (Dec. 5). This shift is most evident in Najaf in Iraq, the most revered place in Shia Islam. The Shia holy site of the Imam […]

A new era of dialogue between Islam and modern science is based more on the harmony between these fields compared to past attempts to “Islamicize” science, writes Nidhal Guessoum in the journal Zygon (December). The 1970s and 80s saw the growth of a number of schools of Islamic thought seeking to reconcile science and the […]

For the 30th anniversary of Religion Watch, we thought it might be interesting to turn our analysis on RW itself; how well have we done in monitoring trends in religion? While we have been hesitant to make forecasts into the far future, trends, by their very nature, should have some shelf-life. As we follow them, […]