Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has become a hero for many conservative Christians in the West (see the New Yorker, September 13), seems also to be generally appreciated by mainstream churches in the country, writes Hungarian sociologist of religion Gergely Rosta in a background report published in German by Nachrichtendienst Östliche Kirchen (September 9). […]
“Despite a history of sectarian strife, cooperation between the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in Ireland has deepened in recent years, with the churches increasingly speaking with one voice on important social and political issues,” writes Ger FitzGerald in the online magazine The Conversation (October 19). FitzGerald reports on the Church Leaders […]
The Catholic Church may not be winning the hearts and minds of those engaged in the war on drugs in the Philippines, but the church is playing an important role in preventing violence and helping victims, according to University of Louisville sociologist David Buckley. In a paper presented at the recent meeting of the Society […]
Twenty years after the Islamic jihadist attacks on 9/11, and amidst the perception that such terrorism has waned, “there is a significant risk of jihadi resurgence,” writes Colin Clarke in the CTC Sentinel (September), the publication of the Combating Terrorism Center based at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Most terrorism specialists acknowledge that […]
Is religious architecture in a state of decline? It may depend on which architectural authority one is consulting, writes John L. Allen. In an article originally appearing on the Catholic website Crux, and reprinted in Christian News (September 6), Allen reports that a recent survey of the 25 most significant architectural works of the postwar […]
Muslim women are reportedly facing a “marriage crisis” in the U.S., as increasing numbers are experiencing divorces as well as difficulties finding Muslim husbands. An interview appearing in the Washington Post blog The Lily (September 20) features Tahirah Nailah Dean, an Afro-Latina Muslim lawyer and writer who has collaborated on a new photo series documenting […]
While young people are commonly viewed as less religious than older Americans, a new study by Springtide Research Institute finds that 78 percent of people between the ages of 13 and 25 consider themselves at least slightly spiritual, including 60 percent of unaffiliated young people (atheists, agnostics and nones). The institute’s new study, State of […]
The adoption of Jewish practices and strong support of Israel are increasingly prominent and taking on new expressions in Latin American evangelical and charismatic churches. Amy Fallas, in the online magazine The Revealer (September 9), notes how the adoption of Jewish worship elements in many Latin American churches since the 1990s, such as the use […]
As it emerges from the pandemic, the Catholic Church in Italy is facing a loss of social influence and public confidence that may bode ill for its future, writes Massimo Faggioli in the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal (October). “More than a year since the worst of the pandemic…the bishops’ conference has sunk further into irrelevance. […]
Every seventh year, the practice of shmita (“year of release”), which seeks to let the land rest after being worked for six years, raises practical issues and dilemmas for municipal authorities in Israel, even though a majority of Israeli citizens do not care about this issue, reports Pascal Manker in the French weekly La Vie […]
