Islamic-oriented humanitarian NGOs have flourished in Turkey in recent years, but their “parallelism” to the foreign policy implementation process of the current Turkish (AKP) government potentially makes their status ambiguous as non-governmental entities. This ambiguity also places them at risk in relation to changing perceptions of Turkey in areas where they operate, write Nihat Çelik […]
While the strong significance of and veneration for its current leader, Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928), is obvious to anybody reading Soka Gakkai publications, the lay Buddhist movement does not intend to transfer this status to a successor, writes Ulrich Dehn (University of Hamburg, Germany) in an overview of the movement published in the journal Materialdienst […]
Behind the generic label of nonreligion, one finds a variety of views and “multiple secularities,” suggesting that the religious nones are not a coherent group, according to researchers speaking at the conference “Approaching Nonreligion” that took place at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, from July 7–9, which RW attended. Due to the rise of unaffiliated […]
The decision by Britain to pull out of the European Union in late June has been cited as having a wide range of political and economic ramifications, but “Brexit’s” impact may likewise have various unintended religious consequences, particularly regarding immigration and interfaith relations. The Tablet (July 2), a British Catholic magazine, looked at how Brexit […]
As in the rest of Europe, Poland is experiencing an upsurge in populist rightist groups and sentiment, with a measure of support from Polish church leaders, reports Commonweal magazine (July 8). The Polish church was in the spotlight in late July as it hosted Pope Francis and the World Youth Day, but there is considerable […]
The large number of Russian Christian immigrants in Israel are increasingly taking on an Israeli identity and embracing Hebrew language services, particularly Messianic Jews, writes Lisa Loden in East-West Church & Ministry Report (Summer). The Law of Return allowed waves of immigrants into Israel from the former Soviet Union if they could prove some Jewish […]
There is a growing interest in Sufism among Israeli Jews, often leading to new interfaith encounters that accompany this form of mystical Islam, according to the Washington Post (July 28). Recent years have seen the growth of whirling dervish practices as well as the rise of large-scale Sufi music festivals, Sufi study groups, and tours […]
The Islamic State (IS) is gradually dismantling its “caliphate,” but such a process of “de-sanctuarization” of the movement is likely to make it more decentralized and active in jihadist terrorist activity throughout the world, according to recent reports. The Terrorism Monitor (July 22), published by the Jamestown Foundation, reports that the Islamic State’s own leaders […]
The recent outbreak of self-immolation protests in the Tibetan movement for independence has been interpreted as nationalists’ rejecting of Buddhist teachings and the political authority of the Dalai Lama, but a new study finds Buddhism and its leader holding its relevance for this community. In the current issue of the journal Contemporary South Asia (Vol. […]
Quinceanera, the coming of age ceremony for 15-year-old Latina girls in the U.S., is becoming more secular, coming to resemble Jewish bat mitzvah ceremonies, reports the New York Times (June 5). Traditionally, the quinceanera combined a birthday party with a rite-of-passage into womanhood for teenage Latinas, but it also had strong religious overtones, including a […]
