The recent terrorist attacks by Islamic jihadists against tourists in Kashmir and the threats by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pursue them and their backers in Pakistan have revealed an emerging marriage between radical Islam and communism, reports the Washington Free Beacon (April 26). “Pakistan is the classic example of this nexus,” Mike Watson […]
The belief in Nigeria that there are months of the year particularly marked by demonic forces has been influenced by a combination of Pentecostal and indigenous African beliefs, writes Nduka Udeagha in the Journal of Religion in Africa (online in April). What are called the “ember months,” marking the end of the year, are associated […]
New religious movements in the Philippines are having an impact on politics, but they are also likely to feel the repercussions of this contentious election year, writes Yuchen Ma in the online journal Religions (April 7). While the Philippines is still a strongly Catholic country, new religious movements (NRMs), often based in Christianity (unlike other […]
From its title, University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith’s new book How Religion Went Obsolete (Oxford University Press, $34.99) may seem like other recent books charting a secular future for America and the rest of the world, but Smith has something different in mind. The book marshals survey research, qualitative interviews, and content analysis […]
In the Trump administration’s drive to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from government agencies, faith-based and religious freedom initiatives have been caught in the crossfire, writes Brian Grim of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation on the website of the Coalition for Faith and Media (March 31). While Trump has established a White […]
As its momentum has dissipated, Hillsong’s place within the Contemporary Congregational Song (CCS) industry has been irrevocably altered, writes Daniel Thornton (Alphacrucis College, NSW, Australia) in the journal Religions (March 27). For decades, Hillsong was the dominant producer of the contemporary worship music used in churches worldwide. By 2017, it had managed to become a […]
New Calvinism, known for its impact on the wider evangelical world in the early 2000s, has retreated to more internal concerns, primarily serving its own community, writes social forecaster Aaron Renn in his Substack newsletter (March 7). The movement generated a considerable number of institutions, spokesmen, and old and new media and publishing outlets compared […]
The gender gap in churches is growing, with young men and women differing on social and moral issues. In the Substack newsletter American Storylines, pollster Daniel Cox analyzes the recent 2024 Pew Religious Landscape Survey and finds that more than 6 in 10 (61 percent) young Christian women say abortion should be legal in all […]
A growing number of converts to various forms of Protestantism in France come from Catholic backgrounds, reflecting broader societal shifts in religious attachment, writes Claire Bernole in the French Catholic weekly La Vie (April 3). According to an Ifop survey published in January, 25 percent of French Protestants were not born into Protestant families, with […]
Kosovo, the Muslim-majority Balkan nation, is seeing a growing trend of Muslims converting to Catholicism, reports Sonia Sarkar in Religion Unplugged (March 17). She writes that a group called the Decanski Movement Association has been promoting the voluntary exit from Islam, while also seeking to preserve Albanian national identity and values under the motto: “We […]
