The sharp growth of Chinese students in American high schools is also serving as a “lifeline to many Catholic schools around the country,” writes Anthony J. Zavagnin in America magazine (October 31). The number of Chinese high school students in the U.S. increased from fewer than 1,000 in 2005 to more than 23,000 by 2013 […]
Founded in 1962 by two students in Missouri, the Church of All Worlds (CAW) was the real life version of a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961). It remains active more than 50 years later, with branches in four countries and an online and print presence, writes Carole […]
The esoteric movement based on the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff is the latest case of a new religion moving in a more ecumenical and less hierarchical direction as the group’s teachings and writings find a place on the Internet, write David Pecotic and Carole M. Cusack in the current issue of the journal Fieldwork in […]
There is a growing controversy over the use of religious practices in public schools and universities in the Canadian province of British Columbia, reports the Vancouver Sun (November 19). The use of native Canadian or aboriginal spiritual concepts and practices, such as “smudging” (burning sage over one’s body and “spirit”), has been common in schools […]
Opposition to Islam is growing in Poland, even though there are few Muslims there. Those that are there are part of a community that has been integrated into Polish society, often for centuries, writes Katarzyna Gorak-Sosnowska in the Journal of Muslims in Europe (No. 5). The puzzle of intolerance toward the few Muslims in Poland […]
Estonia has been considered one of the most secular countries in the world, but the growth of alternative health teachings and practices may show strong yet overlooked religious and spiritual concerns, writes Marko Uibo in the journal Implicit Religion (19.2). Although Estonians have registered high rates of non-affiliation and belief in religion’s irrelevance (up to […]
Several large Muslim charities in Europe are increasingly taking their cues from corporate life, viewing Islam in instrumental and marketing terms, writes William Barylo in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (36:3). Muslims have set up numerous charitable initiatives in Europe on causes and issues such as halal food certification, finance, education, or Islamic businesses. […]
The aging and depopulation of villages in Japan is affecting the “new religions” in a similar way to that of traditional Buddhist temples and shrines, according to an article in the Journal of Religion in Japan (5). Watanabe Masako writes that the new religions, most of which started in the 19th and 20th centuries, were […]
New advances in the digitalization of the Bible, especially through recent social media and virtual reality technologies, are likely to accent the experiential and group-based nature of Scripture reading, according to an article in the Jesuit magazine America (October 17). The development of virtual reality (VR) is already being adapted to experiencing the Bible in […]
The rapid growth of Amish communities are leading Amish to settle in unusual places, though it seems more likely that they will be heading toward upper Midwestern states in the near future according to sociologists at the recent meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Atlanta, which RW attended. Cory Anderson […]
