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 […]
American conservatives remain divided on the presence and influence of Muslims in society, but there may be a way to forge new ties between these two groups, according to some analysts. There is a strong anti-Muslim thrust in groups near the second administration of President Donald Trump, most clearly seen in the national conservative movement. […]
While American Islam is showing resilience among its second and third generations, African American Muslims and mosques are experiencing steep declines, writes Ihsan Bagby in the journal Muslim World (online in October). Bagby cites his 2020 U.S. Mosque Survey, where he found a majority of mosque leaders following what he calls a flexible and contextual […]
Many faith-based charities that have long partnered with the government have experienced setbacks to the point where they will not be likely to return to their former missions and levels of activity, according to leaders of religious social services during a recent New York conference attended by RW. The conference, sponsored by Religion News Service […]
While trap music, an increasingly popular form of southern hip-hop, has been known for its infatuation with wealth and money, its songs also show a strong if unorthodox spiritual current, writes Rachel Bomalaski in the journal Anthropology of Consciousness (online in October). Trap emerged from the American South’s urban centers in the late 1990s and […]
