Originally a youth movement born in U.S. evangelical circles in the early 1990s for promoting sexual restraint before marriage, purity culture has become a trans-denominational subculture and has also reached other countries, gaining an influence, for instance, among German Evangelicals since the early 2000s. Writing in the Zeitschrift für Religion und Weltanschauung (July–August), Claudia Jetter […]
A preliminary study of British Islamic leadership finds that while imams in the UK are shifting toward a British-born, Anglophone modality, they do not have the resources and support among mosque members required to enhance their skills to meet members’ needs. Writing in the current issue of SocrelNews (Spring), the newsletter of sociologists of religion […]
Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) are aligned in the fight for “traditional values,” but politics and religion have been parting ways more when it comes to abortion, Pal Kolsto writes in the current issue of the journal Religion, State, and Society (51:2). While in the past, the issue of abortion has not […]
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further divided the Orthodox Christian world, putting pressure on Orthodox churches in the Baltic States to take a clear stance against the war and distance themselves from the Moscow Patriarchate, writes Sebastian Rimestad (Leipzig University) in Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West (June). In the small Orthodox Church […]
China has been increasingly using religion as a diplomatic tool to further its foreign policy goals, especially in relation to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), writes Juyan Zhang (University of Texas at San Antonio) in The Review of Faith and International Affairs (21:2). Sometimes called the New Silk Road, the BRI was launched in […]
■ A thematic series growing out of a partnership between the Berkley Center’s Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power project and the United States Institute of Peace looks at a wide range of religious and political dynamics in the Balkans. The working papers in the series touch on external religious influences on the Balkans, post-war religiosity, […]
1) Marcos Witt has emerged as a key Latino evangelical figure in the U.S., both for his praise and worship music and, more recently, his evangelism and social action, particularly through his AOA or America Ora Adora (America Prays and Adores) tour. The 61-year-old Witt may no longer be the most popular worship leader among […]
The seemingly sudden public emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), especially in its recent incarnation of ChatGPT, has led to a good deal of speculation in both the secular and religious media. Various observers see the technology as speeding up secularization, creating new religions and spirituality, or even making space for a more human-based religiosity to […]
The greater acceptance and political support of the LGBTQ community is a source of growth as well as change in liberal religious groups, according to two reports. In the Jewish magazine Tablet (June 26), Erica Silverman reports that Reform Judaism has seen a significant increase in members and conversions to Judaism, especially in urban areas. […]
Growing Muslim activism in the U.S., Canada and other countries on such issues as sex education and gender is finding new support and cooperation from conservative Christians, reports Sarah Haider in her blog Hold That Thought (June 15). Recently, conservative Christians have expressed admiration for Muslim parents protesting progressive classroom curricula and teachings on gender […]
