Some Christian congregations, particularly in lower income, urban areas, are turning to the Church of Scientology for support and assistance, according to a CNN report (October 31). Pastors interviewed say that when it comes to religion, they still preach the basics of Christianity. But when it comes to practicing the faith, they borrow resources from Scientology. According […]

There is no incompatibility between secularism and sharia (Islamic law), said Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im (Professor of Law at Emory University) in his keynote speech at the 30th German Congress of Oriental Studies, which gathered in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (Sept 24-28), and whichRW attended. Issues related to Islam had a strong presence at the conference and […]

American Buddhists have yet to deal with the lack of structures and rites of passage that can socialize young people into the religion, writes Clark Strand in the Buddhist magazine Tricycle (Fall). He writes that the problem is that in most cases, “children aren’t ready for the kinds of rituals that adult converts have mastered– like meditating, […]

As computer video games become increasingly interactive, they may well encourage the spread of unconventional and “deviant” religions, according to sociologist William Sims Bainbridge. Writing in the Review of Religious Research (September), Bainbridge surveys the video game market and such new simulated online sites as Second Life and finds that the religious content featured on them are […]

Islamic Salafism is not merely the result of Saudi exports, nor is it necessarily a cause of political radicalization. Those are some of the observations which emerged during a three-day, semi-public conference organized by the Leiden-based Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) near Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. The conference, held […]

Among Indonesians of Chinese descent, Confucianism is experiencing a comeback as it is again recognized as a religion– a status of which it has been deprived since the 1970s, said Yumi Kitamura (Kyoto University) at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1965, Confucianism had been listed among the six religions […]

Islamic preaching in Indonesia has not only undergone a process of radicalization, but also of democratization, according to Indonesian scholar Noorhaidi Hasan, who spoke on new media and public Islam at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (August 2-5), which RW attended. Increasingly, people have come to believe that Islam can be implemented […]

Only a decade ago considered a phenomenal success, Protestant churches in Korea are meeting with widespread public disenchantment as well as numerical decline and internal crises, according to a new study. In a paper presented at the ASR in New York, Kyuhoon Cho of the University of Ottawa said that the sharp growth of Korean […]

Recent news that the Unitarian-Universalist Association (UU) suspended its Neopagan caucus suggests the uneasy relationship that may have existed between the establishment liberal denomination and this new religious movement. This development and others relating to Paganism and Wicca were discussed by specialists on these movement at a session of the Association for the Sociology of […]

Depending on one’s perspective, a recent papal document allowing for greater use of the Latin Mass may make for healthy liturgical diversity or increase divisions in the church. The document, the Motu Proprio, along with an accompanying “Letter to the Bishops,” allows parishes wide freedom in using the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. Previously, a bishop’s permission […]