The Turkish-based movement founded by the American-based preacher Fethullah Gülen now represents one of the most influential and effective Muslim networks in the world, reports The Economist magazine (March 8). The movement claims to have established 500 schools in 90 countries and has even built up a presence in northern Iraq, with schools, a university […]

Islam in the Muslim areas of the former Yugoslavia is becoming more diverse, with a development of neo-Salafism, but the prospects for any type of Islamic state are not very good, write experts Xavier Bougarel and Bashkim Iseni in the newly published issue of Politorbis (No. 43, 2007), a journal of international affairs published by […]

While Scientology has been more effective than most religions in controlling its teachings and official writings from online use and criticism, recent events suggest that the dynamics of the Internet have overtaken the controversial church. David Sarno, writing in the Los Angeles Times (March 3), reports that there have been a series of challenges to […]

The failed candidacy of Mitt Romney both created greater visibility for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and served as a painful reminder to Mormons that they are still not fully accepted in American society. The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 8) reports that the high rates of opposition to or wariness about […]

Critical comments from several mainline Protestant churches regarding current policies in Israel and calls to divest from companies involved in some specific types of business with Israel are creating tensions between those religious groups and Jewish organizations, Nathan Guttman writes in the Jewish daily Forward (Jan. 30). While relations with the Presbyterian Church are also […]

America’s “Fourth Great Awakening,” marked by a period of evangelical revival and reform, is coming to an end, judging by the failure of such religious and moral change and programs to gain wide resonance in the U.S., writes Ronald Bailey in the libertarian magazine Reason (April). Bailey’s reference to the Fourth Great Awakening is taken […]

From Burma to Tibet, from Thailand to Sri Lanka, more and more Buddhists are taking to the streets and supporting increasingly assertive political movements, in contrast to the usual image of Buddhism as “Asia’s quietest religion,” writes Christian Cary in Newsweek (March 1). The recent protests in Tibet and across the Tibetan diaspora that erupted […]

More Muslims, particularly women, are running for political office, spurred by the perceived erosions of their civil liberties. The soul searching that followed the 9/11 attacks prompted more woman to step into leadership roles, a trend encouraged by the community, says Agha Saeed, founder of the American Muslim Alliance, which has been tracking Muslim candidates […]

Although granted most favored nation status by the U.S. government, Kazakhstan, under the authoritarian president Nursultan Nazarbayev, is cracking down on Christians, particularly Protestant groups that have been established in recent years. Chronicles magazine (December) reports that as the U.S. seeks to establish a strategic position in the Central Asian country because of its oil […]

Extremist Muslims are seeking to reach and influence non-Arabic speaking audiences by setting up English-language pages on existing Arab websites, reports Memri (Dec. 4), an Israeli news service that monitors and analyzes Middle Eastern media. One of the apparent goals of the Islamist forums and blogs in English is to erode support among the Western […]