While the end of the Soviet Union had opened a period with many possible futures for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the war in Ukraine has definitely sent it on a path toward its consolidation as a Russian national church, writes Kristina Stoeckl (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali) in Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost […]
Although African indigenous spirituality has been proclaimed a cultural treasure in UN and UNESCO documents, African states are increasingly denying or marginalizing the freedom of such religious expressions, according to a new report by the USCIRF, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The USCIRF is a bipartisan independent commission whose members are appointed […]
While the revival meetings based at evangelical Asbury College in Kentucky ended by late February, their appeal to a large swath of evangelical young people carried an emphasis on psychological healing that says a lot about Generation Z religion in the near future. Writing in First Things magazine (March 3), Biola University professor Kent Dunnington […]
Recent controversy within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) over the influence of a small far-right contingent within its ranks suggests that conservative congregations and denominations may face pressures from such extremist elements as well as from the more liberal wings of church and society. The conflict came into full view on Ash Wednesday, when the […]
According to observers speaking at a recent online seminar, Ukraine is on a “very slippery slope” in violating religious freedom since it introduced sanctions and other restrictions last year against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Moscow Patriarchate. The online symposium, organized by the Greek Order of Saint Andrew and attended by RW, took place shortly […]
While previous research has found a “hijacking of religion” by populist parties in Europe, and the use of Christianity—along with secular principles—as an identity marker against Islam, this has not prevented the French Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN) from “becoming increasingly secularist in its policies, personnel and electorate,” according to Tobias Cramer (University of Oxford) […]
American-style Jewish innovations that draw on business and consumer models are finding some resonance in Israel, especially in secular Tel Aviv, according to a study by Einat Libel-Hass and Adam S. Ferziger. In an article appearing in the current issue of the journal Modern Judaism, the authors study prominent Reform and Conservative synagogues in Tel […]
Myanmar’s Buddhist monks and nuns have mostly stayed on the sidelines since the February 2021 coup, as the resistance pursues a secular agenda that includes violent action, a new International Crisis Group report, A Silent Sangha? Buddhist Monks in Post-coup Myanmar (March 10), finds. This contrasts with the significant role played by monks in previous […]
Even though Buddhism has been recognized as a “traditional religion” in Russia, Buddhist groups are increasingly divided, with an ethnic denomination that is highly loyal to Vladimir Putin appearing to have the brightest future in the country, writes J. Eugene Clay in the Journal of Church and State (online in February). As with other religions, […]
In a country where the regime uses religion to ensure its legitimacy, the repression of the protest movements in Iran that began last September, after the death of a 22-year-old student following her arrest by the religious police, has created negative impressions of Islam in the minds of a part of the population, said Cyrus […]
