Several high-level defections from the Church of Scientology have led to new accusations of abuse by the leadership in the controversial organization, as well as allegations that the church is struggling with a loss of membership. A special 35-page report in the St. Petersburg Times newspaper (June 21–22) is based on the accounts of top […]

Congregations are feeling their way through the “social media,” such as Facebook and Twitter, and are finding they need to develop new forms of etiquette to adapt such innovations to their ministries. The National Catholic Reporter (May 29) notes that the cell phone texting network known as Twitter is the “newest technology arriving in contemporary […]

The increased outreach of the Democrats to Catholics has paid off, with a new breed of liberal Catholic activists and politicians gaining a place in the Obama administration. The National Catholic Reporter (June 26) notes that “Catholics are visibly more active in the Obama administration than in any other Democratic administration in recent memory.” These […]

Al Qaeda is in trouble, as a dwindling number of Muslim scholars are willing to approve its views and actions, but the terrorist organization might also be facing a more practical challenge besides an ideological one: a shortage of cash. According to Reuters‘ William Maclean, not for the first time, Al Qaeda is in financial […]

In recent years, a number of pirate radio stations have sprung up in Pakistan’s tribal areas, reports Mukhtar A. Khan in the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor (May 26). It started with the establishment of an extremist Sunni radio station in 2003. Infuriated by the views spread on this station, a Sufi group then launched its […]

Calvinism may have a brighter future than Pentecostalism in China, writes Andrew Brown in his blog on the Guardian website (May 27). As China has liberalized it policy on religion, seeking an ideology and ethic for its elite classes, observers have speculated on potential candidates that may play this role. Brown writes that for Chinese […]

Although it has not been successful with all who went through it—some re-emerged later as jihadist fighters—Saudi Arabia’s rehabilitation program for former militants has been praised as a success. But it cannot easily be exported to other Muslim countries, writes Kamran Bokhari in Stratfor’s Global Security and Intelligence Report (May 14). Aside from the financial […]

Despite discrimination experienced in Saudi Arabia, the Shiite minority is unlikely to engage again in actions such as the bloody street protests of the 1970s and 1980s. This is especially the case since “Saudi Shiites are strongly aware of their limited political options” and prefer to seize options offered by the political system and to […]

Due to the increasing influence of Islamic, conservative and even radical views in Indonesian society, observers had expected a rise in the vote for Islamic parties, but this has not been the case: Muslim-based parties have secured less than 24 percent of the total votes; however, this does not mean a reversal of the trends […]

Hindu militias are growing in India, targeting not only Muslims and Christians, but also dissident Hindus, according to political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot during a recent New York lecture. Jaffrelot, of Science Po in Paris, presented a paper at a Columbia University seminar in late March, attended by RW, which argued that “Hindu terrorism” is emerging […]