Although known as a Lutheran country, Greenland is seeing a growing Pentecostal movement, and even a new Bahá’í presence, writes Julia Duin in Religion Unplugged (May 19). Greenland has captured the geopolitical imagination of the Western world, particularly Americans, but less is known about the emerging pluralism and growing Pentecostalism of the island nation. Lutheranism […]
The Ukraine war is leading to a fundamental shift in the way Ukrainian churches and society view women’s capacity for leadership and service, writes Olga Kondyuk (Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in Kyiv) in the journal Religion und Gesellschaft in Ost und West (May). While traditional roles for women are still emphasized in some sectors of […]
Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, a large transnational Buddhist movement, has gradually been shifting from a globalized identity and outreach to a more localized one embracing neighborhood involvement since its founder died in 2021. The changes in practice and outreach of the movement (known as Citta) are the subject of a study by Weishan Huang […]
The unchecked proliferation of Pentecostal churches and their noise-generating activities pose environmental, health, and social challenges in Nigeria, writes Favour Uroko (University of Nigeria) in the Marburg Journal of Religion (May). Last year, RW (July 2024) had mentioned attempts by authorities in Congo to regulate revival churches due to the disturbances they were creating for […]
Much of the research interest in new religious movements (NRMs) in recent years has focused on second-generation members and former members and the effects of generational change in these groups. The current issue of Nova Religio (May/June), a journal of new religions, is devoted to the second (and third) generation of NRM members, specifically looking […]
Although he was seen as a favored candidate for the papacy, the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, as the first American pontiff in history still caught observers off guard. The singularity of the event has quelled, at least until the new pope writes his first encyclical, the usual antagonism and culture-warring […]
There has been a spate of media reports about impending religious and spiritual revivals in Europe and the U.S., but it is not clear if these reported trends will prove to represent long-term shifts in religiosity or “blips” on the screen of continuing religious decline. A much-publicized Pew study in March showed a stabilization of […]
While weddings have taken on a more secular character in recent years, there is a growing interest in integrating wellness and spirituality into marriage ceremonies, reports the New York Times (April 13). “For many couples, health and mindfulness are an integral part of their everyday lives, and they want their weddings to reflect these values. […]
The “booming psychedelic church scene in the U.S. could be about to shift from the underground into the legal overground,” reports Jules Evans in the Substack newsletter Ecstatic Integration (April 8). There are anywhere up to 500 psychedelic churches in the U.S., of which “roughly 97 percent operate illegally and more or less un-transparently.” But […]
A major new study finds a strong association between religious identity and human flourishing. The Global Flourishing Study (GFS) study, a longitudinal survey across 22 countries, was conducted by Baylor University and Harvard University, with its initial findings presented at a recent conference at the Gallup world headquarters in Washington, which RW attended online. Employing […]
