The orthodox scientific view that has ruled out the existence of UFOs is coming into question—
raising new dilemmas and prospects for the relationship between science and religion writes University of Chicago anthropologist Hussein Ali Agrama in the science and religion journal Zygon (December). In the last few years, there have been a series of disclosures of military programs and research involving UFOs that claim encounters with these alleged phenomena.
Increased financial capital and growth in the global South (mostly in several African countries)
have allowed the Church of Christian Science to cope with a declining number of churches, societies and practitioners, ensuring its continuing existence in the foreseeable future, writes independent scholar Elise Wolff in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (October 2020).
Among other trends, the post-pandemic future of American churches is likely to include significant growth in convocational ministry, smaller satellite congregations, the continued use of digital church strategies to complement live services, and a new emphasis on healthy churches “adopting” and fostering weaker ones, according to church growth researcher Thom Rainer in a blog post on his website Church Answers (December 21).
While religious attendance is negatively associated with women’s egalitarian attitudes toward gender, this relationship depends on a country’s rate of gender inequality and religious affiliation, according to an analysis of survey data from 37 countries. The study, published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (online in January), is based on a survey of gender roles by the International Social Survey Program that measured women’s religiosity and attitudes on gender.
The new presence of atheists and humanists in Denmark during the past two decades has led to a growth of winter solstice celebrations that appeal to a diverse secular and religious public, according to an article in the journal Religions (12:74). Astrid Krabbe Troll writes that since 2010, there has been a marked increase in these rituals, which are often based on local traditions and natural surroundings.
The mass protests against the presidency of Alexander Lukashenko that have rocked Belarus since last summer have involved the country’s Orthodox and Catholic churches, although the Orthodox hierarchy has been more divided on the issue, while Protestants and other religious groups have remained neutral.
With the ultra-Orthodox community (Haredim) having tripled from 4 to 12 percent of the Israeli population since 1980 and projected to grow to over 20 percent by 2040, the culture war over issues related to the identity of the “Jewish state” will become even more significant as the Haredim aspire to shape public affairs.
Evangelical churches in Lebanon have undergone a resurgence as they have opened their doors to refugees from Syria, writes Scott Gustafson in the International Bulletin of Mission Studies (January). From 2011 to 2020, Syrian refugees, mainly Muslim, flooded into neighboring Lebanon to escape war and unrest in their country.
With the earliest religious reform efforts being launched by refugee monks from China about 60 years ago, the resulting movements within Pure Land Buddhism in Taiwan are succeeding in combining traditional Buddhist values with a desire for worldly engagement in altruistic as well as capitalist activities, writes Sumanto Al Qurtuby in the current issue of […]
Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) is having a significant influence on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, as it attempts to bring together the politics of the broader movement with the religious ideals of the denomination. Started in 2015, BLUU has transitioned from a denominational caucus meant to strengthen African-American representation in Unitarianism to a “spiritual resource and home for BLM activists who are wary of traditional black churches.”
