The adoption of Jewish practices and strong support of Israel are increasingly prominent and taking on new expressions in Latin American evangelical and charismatic churches. Amy Fallas, in the online magazine The Revealer (September 9), notes how the adoption of Jewish worship elements in many Latin American churches since the 1990s, such as the use […]
As it emerges from the pandemic, the Catholic Church in Italy is facing a loss of social influence and public confidence that may bode ill for its future, writes Massimo Faggioli in the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal (October). “More than a year since the worst of the pandemic…the bishops’ conference has sunk further into irrelevance. […]
Every seventh year, the practice of shmita (“year of release”), which seeks to let the land rest after being worked for six years, raises practical issues and dilemmas for municipal authorities in Israel, even though a majority of Israeli citizens do not care about this issue, reports Pascal Manker in the French weekly La Vie […]
Women in Mosques Platform, a Turkish group set up in 2017, is campaigning for Muslim women’s equal access to mosques in a country that has traditionally encouraged women to worship at home. On the website of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (September 10), Sevilay Nur Saraçlar writes that, while there are spaces for […]
Throughout August and September, the Berkley Center for Religion and World Affairs at Georgetown University, through its Berkley Forum, has issued a series of reports and reflections on Covid-19 and the Russian Orthodox Church that provide an important resource for understanding changes taking place in church-state relations in Russia. Several writers note how the pandemic […]
Maverick City Music, a charismatic Christian singing group and record label, has in a relatively short time gained wide influence in the Christian music industry through its emphasis on worship. Although the Atlanta-based group was founded only three years ago, many of its songs can already be found on church worship setlists worldwide. Even in […]
While Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Nashville, Tennessee, have been viewed as evangelical bastions and bellwethers since the 1990s, the changing fortunes of evangelicalism in much of the U.S. have also been reflected in the changing religious makeup of these cities. But in two separate articles profiling the cities, Christianity Today magazine (July/August) notes how evangelicals’ […]
The persistent blind spot regarding the role of religion in Afghanistan is continuing after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country for much of the political, media, and academic worlds, according to one analysis. On his blog NYC Religion (August 16), Tony Carnes argues that the media and political leaders both neglect the diversity […]
Known for its strong physical engagement and social interaction in worship—from holy hugs to high-fives—and its more traditional choir stands and fellowship halls, the Black church has had to make significant adaptations to the reality of Covid-19. Writing in the Washington Post (August 25), Mark Moore, Jr., a pastor and marketing consultant, notes that “[i]n […]
With women starting to be called to important positions at the Vatican, Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, an economist and Salesian nun, was appointed interim secretary of the Roman Curia’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in August, making her the highest-ranking woman ever at the curia. She has also become one of the three leaders of […]
