While the conflict between religious conservatives and liberals has long characterized the “two party” system in American religion, scholars are now observing a new divide between pluralists and anti-pluralists. This was evident in Johns Hopkins University sociologist Ruth Braunstein’s presidential address given at the early-November meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion […]
Religious AI is bringing about both a doctrinal mutation and cognitive mutation—substituting an algorithmic process for human mediation and modifying how believers perceive and construct spiritual meaning. So writes French political scientist François Mabille of the Geopolitical Observatory of Religion, in a Note of the Observatory (November). Through spiritual chatbots, AI is establishing itself as […]
Contemporary Christian music continues to flourish in the U.S. while broadening its reach and forming a growing partnership with country music through social media, the Wall Street Journal (November 9) reports. Elias Leight writes that Christian music’s new wave can be seen in artists like Forrest Frank, whose songs pair hip hop inflected beats “with […]
As part of a continuing surge in Bible sales, sales of scripture were up 11 percent this year over 2024, according to data from Circana, a firm that tracks book sales. This year’s figure includes 2.4 million Bibles sold in September 2025 as part of a surge that followed the assassination of conservative Christian activist […]
Growing interest in Christianity in the UK, with some (disputed) indications of growing church attendance and involvement, is being tied to far-right activism in the country, according to reports. The Church Times (November 26) reports that church leaders are cautioning their members not to let their faiths be converted into political extremism. At a recent […]
Orthodox Jewish women in Israel are increasingly taking up the roles of rabbis, with some help from a new ruling in Israel, writes Michal Raucher in the online magazine The Conversation (November 20). Raucher adds that in today’s Orthodox world, “a rabbi could be a teacher, a nonprofit executive for a Jewish organization or a […]
The journal Telos devotes its fall issue to “post-liberalism,” the diffuse movement of conservative scholars and politicians who question the post-Cold War liberal political order and propose often religious and populist alternatives. The issue looks at the way that these movements draw their inspiration from a wide range of religious sources, ranging from Eastern Orthodoxy […]
The Monk Life Project is a 30-day ordination program designed to provide practitioners with a foundation for meditative practice and monastic life. Based in Thailand at the International Forest Monastery in Chiang Mai, it’s specifically tailored for international participants. The training is delivered by English-speaking monks. “The project aims to make ordaining as a Buddhist […]
