It came as a surprise when the heads of Orthodox churches, at their March 2014 gathering, announced that the long awaited “Holy and Great Council” would finally convene in 2016 in Istanbul. Early initiatives toward the convocation of such a Council go back to the early 20th century, but turmoil affecting Orthodox countries throughout the […]

Conversions and reconversions, whether to Christianity or back to Hinduism, are becoming an increasingly contested political issue in India and other South Asian countries, according to several reports. Stating that his party is “against forceful conversions and re-conversions”, president of nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Amit Shah, has asked secular Indian political parties to support […]

The recent midterm elections show similar patterns in religious voting to 2010, but there was a significant shift away from the Democrats among non-Christian voters and among Christians who are regular church attenders, writes Mark Silk on his blog Spiritual Politics (Nov. 5). Silk notes that the exit polls showed that much of the “religious […]

From 2012 to 2014, changes pertaining to religious freedom in the world have mostly been for the worse, according to the Catholic NGO Aid to the Church in Need in its report Religious Freedom in the World 2014, which was released in November in several languages at events in various countries in America and Europe. […]

While the numerical progression of Islam is likely to slow down alongside the persistence of powerful movements promoting re-Islamization during the coming decades, both charismatic Christianity and revivals of Asian religions should continue to prove attractive in non-Western countries, writes Swiss theologian and scholar Georg Schmid, in the October issue of Informationsblatt (Evangelische Informationsstelle Kirchen […]

The small number of Western Muslims who have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State (IS) has raised concerns that these jihadists may likely continue and even intensify their extremist views and activity upon returning home. But there is scant evidence that these returnees will be as militant or fervent in […]

Whether or not atheists and secularists feel that they have made gains against religion in their recent polemics, recently published books are taking a more practical approach and in effect asking “So, you don’t believe in God, now what?” according to Publishers Weekly (Oct. 21). Rather than arguing about God’s existence as found in the […]

Megachurches are increasingly debating and adopting the practice of external oversight when it comes to financial matters, reports Christianity Today magazine (October). The recent resignation, and more recently dissolving, of the Seattle-based megachurch Mars Hill and other leadership scandals involving finances has put the issue of financial accountability front and center for many megachurches. Scott […]