While it is too early to say if the ferment and fervor unleashed by the assassination of conservative Christian and political activist Charlie Kirk will have long-lasting religious effects, the events surrounding the tragedy do suggest a revival of the religious right, even if in new forms, according to several reports. In the Free Press […]
Being the “first generation fully free from the Boomer cultural grip,” Generation Z evangelicals are fashioning a distinct approach to ministry and church leadership based on wider opportunities, writes Aaron Renn in his Substack newsletter (September 23). Gen Z evangelicals are far enough removed from their older boomer counterparts that they may not even know […]
Just as there are secular and cultural Jews and, increasingly, people claiming to be “cultural Catholics,” Muslims are likewise claiming that identity, according to scholars speaking at the mid-August conference of the Association for the Sociology of Religion in Chicago, which RW attended. Survey research has found that almost a quarter of people from Muslim […]
Although mainline and evangelical churches and denominations have taken clear sides in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, Catholics and the black church have either straddled the fence or experienced internal divisions about this contentious issue. In Commonweal magazine (July–August), Julie Schumacher Cohen writes that there has been a Catholic hesitancy in applying the church’s social […]
Scholars and observers from such secular bastions as the UK and Australia are detecting a rising spiritual interest, if not religious revival, while also acknowledging the advances of secularism. The growth of religious affiliation and participation in British cities, a search for authority and meaning among younger generations that has resulted in a self-spirituality and […]
Movies with themes of death have mushroomed in just the last year, but unlike those of earlier decades, these films are in sharper conflict with Christian narratives and more likely to replace them with a “vague spirituality, nihilism and even existential humanism,” according to Joseph Holmes in Religion Unplugged (July 7). He adds that whereas […]
Economic approaches to studying religious trends have been prominent for the past three decades, but Paul Seabright’s recent book, The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People (Princeton University Press, $35), is unique for its comprehensive treatment of the religious past and present as well as its novel use of the concept […]
The Vatican under the early papacy of Leo XIV is being viewed as a negotiating site for international politics and peace talks, if not a partner in such negotiations, writes Massimo Faggioli in Commonweal magazine (June 24). Already, there was talk that the Holy See under Leo could serve as a “facilitator” or “observer” for […]
While it has been widely noted, often by theologians and other religious leaders, that the “new atheism” has fallen out of favor, no longer drawing the large following that it had in the early 2000s, more academic researchers are now weighing in on this noticeable shift. The new atheism was marked by its emphasis on […]
Like other universities facing the contemporary challenges of market pressures and new governmental measures, such as those targeting DEI policies, Christian colleges are being forced to rethink their missions and adopt new models, writes John Seel in Aaron Renn’s Substack newsletter (May 20). While elite “institutions often deploy ideological gatekeeping, endowment resources, and legacy prestige […]
