In May, beside 150 male imams, 50 female preachers graduated in Morocco after a 12-month long training course. While only males will continue to act as imams (i.e. to lead congregational prayer), female preachers (murshidat or guides) will especially turn their efforts toward women and children. They are expected to focus on poor classes in […]

The release of the Da Vinci Code did not cause much of an uproar in the U.S. or Europe, but the reaction and protests among Christians in the developing world were much stronger. The New York Times (May 21) reports that in the U.S., “many churches regarded the [film] as a threat, but chose to try to […]

Catholicism and capitalism have struck up a close relationship in Poland, thanks largely to American influence, reports The Tablet (May 20). Jonathan Luxmoore and Jolanta Babiuch write that “freemarket, neoliberal ideology” has prevailed in ruling circles in the church, often providing a unique interpretation of papal encyclicals. The writers cite a recent report noting that U.S. free-market […]

Citing the Da Vinci Code as an example, Moscow Patriarch Alexy II lamented the “erosion of Christian identity in Europe” (Pravda, May 30). Alexy added: “We have complete mutual understanding with the Roman Catholic Church on these issues.” Indeed, some wonder if such cultural concerns might drive both Churches to find common ground in order […]

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) is on the track toward reconciliation and unity with the Moscow Patriarchate, thus ending a 80 year old rift. The decision was made at the All-Diaspora Council meeting of the ROCOR in San Francisco in May, which gathered representatives of dioceses and church-related organizations, both clergy and laity. […]

The Orthodox Church in America, the largest non-ethnic Orthodox church in the US., is experiencing a drop in attendance and other problems, according to a candid report by one of its leaders. Official membership figures of Orthodox churches are often unreliable, making it difficult to track increases or declines in attendance and other membership trends. […]

The division between Muslims of African-American background and those from South Asian and Middle Eastern background may be narrowing as the concern for civil rights has become a concern of Islamic communities after 9/11. African Americans say they have been marginalized in mosques and Islamic organizations by South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants. Concerns […]

A combination of controversy and denominational action seems to be increasing the presence and influence of home churches. Charismamagazine (June) reports that the house church movement is “exploding across North America.” Pollster George Barna is cited as estimating that eight to nine percent–22 million to 24 million people–are now involved in some form of house church. […]

A growing network of students at evangelical campuses are “becoming politically active in combating world poverty and hunger, the AIDS epidemic, debt relief, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and global warming,” reports Stan Friedman in the Christian Century (May 30). Evangelical social activists report unprecedented activity on social issues among evangelical students, even from relatively conservative and […]

The New Age movement has often been seen as a highly individualistic and ephemeral phenomenon by sociologists, but recent studies suggest that the picture is more complex than that. Articles in the May issue of theJournal of Contemporary Religion note that New Age practitioners are socialized into New Age groups and teachings just as one is […]