The recent sentencing of Chizuo Matsumoto, known as Shoko Asahara, the former guru of Aum Shinri-kyo, is unlikely to resolve questions of religious freedom and extremism that mark Japanese society a decade after the group led attacks on the public. Asahara, who received the death penalty, led the group in the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin […]

Christianity in China is being allowed more contact with foreign groups and sources as well finding a new embrace by public figures, reports theChristian Science Monitor (March 8). Robert Marquand writes that a “a new official formula” is taking shape allowing for a “grudging acceptance of faith, including low-level experiments with religious exchange abroad — so […]

Founded in 1953 in the Middle East, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party) is a transnational Muslim political movement which has caught the attention of experts in Central Asian affairs over the recent years. It has become quite active in recruiting in Uzbekistan and neighboring countries and has met harsh repression, too. However, there has been […]

Women clergy have found a welcome reception ten years after the decision to ordain women in the Church of England, but it will be difficult for them to progress and achieve higher positions, writes Stephen Bates in The Tablet magazine (Feb. 28). There are now about 2,400 women clergy active in the Church of England (with a […]

A folk “saint” associated with traditional death cults known as La Santa Muerte is growing in popularity in Mexico and may be arriving in the U.S., drawing a following among both criminal elements and those seeking protection from such danger. The Los Angeles Times (March 19) reports that “Saint Death” has become so popular in some parts […]

U.S. Bishops are taking a new confrontational approach with Catholic politicians who have taken pro-choice positions on abortion. The conservative Catholic Crisis magazine (April) reports that a “new generation of bishops is rising” to enforce discipline on dissenting politicians, even to the point of denying them communion. The new approach was first taken last year when Sacraemento’s […]

The most likely effect of the Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is likely to be more religious based productions, reports Time magazine (March 22). Earning $250 million in just three weeks, The Passion has already convinced “Hollywood moguls [to comb] though the scriptures for other projects with religious themes.” A long-shelved TV movie Judas was […]

There is the growing sentiment, particularly in the U.S., that the secularization thesis, holding to an inevitable decline of religious belief under modernization, is out of touch with reality. A recent New York conference RW attended suggests that sociologists are also searching for redefinitions and alternatives to this once predominant theory, even if some are […]

A new generation of leaders is rising in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which might lead to changes in this influential Islamist movement, reports Paul Schemm in Middle East International (Jan. 23). On Jan. 9, Ma’mun al-Hudaybi passed away at the age of 83. He was the last major figure of his generation. While the new leader, Muhammad […]

Ten years after a courageous struggle by the Catholic Church against Sicily’s Mafia, there is a loss of momentum in such efforts, even as religious and quasi-religious currents are now playing a prominent role in this criminal culture. Britain’s The Tablet (Jan. 31) notes that 1993 marked the height of church protests against the Cosa Nostra, when […]