Posts Tagged ‘Volume 38 No. 7’

Spirituality and religion at work aims for more diversity and voice in business

During and after the pandemic and with continuing disaffiliation from religious institutions, many people have found spirituality at their workplaces, as a growing number of corporations are making room for the religious needs of their employees. Under “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies at many leading companies, new faith groups based around spiritual practices, interfaith […]

New books keep religious culture wars and racism concerns alive

While discussing politics, race, and religion may increasingly be seen as off-limits in a polarized society, religion publishers are not shying away from these culture-war issues. In Publishers Weekly (May 22), Cathy Lynn Grossman reports that upcoming titles “take on the trauma of racism past and present, the force of Christian nationalism, and the tensions […]

CURRENT RESEARCH

Members of mainline Protestant and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations show the highest levels of civic engagement and volunteering in the U.S., a new study finds. The American Enterprise Institute study, conducted by Scott Winship and Thomas O’Rourke, used the Social Capital Index developed by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. […]

Converts to Islam in Latin America caught between transnational influences and dreams of a local faith

Although most Muslims living in Latin America have roots in Muslim-majority countries, the phenomenon of some local communities embracing Islam has drawn attention from various sectors, including Islamic organizations eager to develop missionary activities. A new study (in French) by Swiss researcher Baptiste Brodard and published by Religioscope (May) offers a realistic assessment based on […]

King Charles’s monarchy—traditional and multifaith?

The coronation of King Charles III in early May was the subject of intense speculation as to whether the ceremony and subsequent monarchy would depart from or uphold tradition in an increasingly secular and multifaith Britain. Commentators and analysts were divided on the degree to which the monarchy would change with the first coronation since […]

Prayer Book’s ancient pedigree draws seekers back to church

The Book of Common Prayer, the devotional and liturgical book of Anglicanism, “is enjoying a revival in the Church of England,” writes Daniel French in The Spectator magazine (May 2). French, a vicar in the Church of England, writes that “Over the past two years, more and more churchgoers have asked me about a return […]

Ukraine war has varying impact on Russian Orthodox Church in France

Due to their diversity, the war in Ukraine and the Patriarch’s statements on the war have impacted Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) communities in France in different ways depending partly on the demographics of a given congregation, writes Catherine Tyson in the Bulletin de l’Observatoire International du Religieux (May). Tyson, a Fulbright Grant Awardee, has conducted […]

War in Ukraine as factor in division among Muslims?

While the Muslim world initially reacted with indifference to the Russia-Ukraine war, the conflict has gradually given rise to opposing positions among Muslims and their religious leaders, with Shiites often supportive of Russia, Sunnis calling for an end to the conflict, and jihadists rejoicing in a war of opposing “miscreants,” writes Pierre-Jean Luizard (French National […]

Prophecy beliefs find wide hearing in contemporary Greek Orthodoxy

In recent years, prophecies recycled through modern means of communication have proliferated in Greece and Cyprus, where conservative moral values and nationalist aspirations have been promoted as an answer to influxes of refugees and financial and health crises. Writing in Social Compass (March), Efstathios Kessareas (University of Erfurt) reports that the producers of such discourses—both […]

On/File: A Continuing Record of Groups, Movements, People, and Events Impacting Contemporary Religion

1) From its founding in 2006, the Moishe House movement has expanded considerably in building a sense of community among Jewish young adults. Moishe Houses started in order to meet the needs of young Jews who wanted to more actively engage in the Jewish community and were too old for Jewish life on campus and […]