There is a fear of Judaism in Israeli culture, rooted in the concern that the Jewish religion will threaten and potentially eliminate secular Israeli identity, writes Gideon Katz (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boker, Israel) in Israel Affairs (30:4). Katz adopts a phenomenological approach to analyze Israeli literary works, including essays, critiques, and dystopian novels, […]
After the rapid fall of the Assad regime, the jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has quickly become the key player in Syria and is evolving towards an ideological refocusing that is “at once Sunni, Islamic, conservative and revolutionary,” according to Swiss researcher Patrick Haenni (European University Institute in Florence, Italy) in an interview with […]
In the case of Christian converts to Islam in the Philippines, religious conversion does not always involve a complete transformation or separation from previous religious and social ties, a recent study finds. The research by Asuna Yoshizawa (Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan), published in Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations (online December 13), consisted of participant observations and […]
“Daoists, as much as devotees of all other religions in China, are severely affected by the Sinicization policies,” writes Karine Martin in the newsletter Bitter Winter (December 19–20). In an adaptation from her forthcoming book, Martin reports that the increasing restrictions against religions, started in 2018, have widened to target religious schooling and the times, […]
Despite professionalization, Muslim clergy in the U.S. rely on an informal “Rolodex” of contacts composed of fellow imams, students, and other sources of support to fill leadership positions in American Islam, Nancy Khalil and Safiyah Zaidi write in the journal American Religion (Fall). By this figurative Muslim “Rolodex,” the researchers point to an element they […]
Divisions over same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination in the Anglican Communion are now expanding to include new issues related to the nature of the priesthood, including women’s ordination, and deeper matters of biblical interpretation among conservative Anglicans. Writing in First Things magazine (November 6), Gerald McDermott argues that these issues stem from divisions in the […]
Young people in the Turkish Black Sea region are increasingly breaking away from Islam and seeking to join Christian communities, reports Evangelical Focus newsletter (November 22). “What is striking,” Johannes Reimer writes, “is that Christian missionaries are rarely responsible for this awakening. For one thing, they have hardly any access to the region, and for […]
While the Orthodox Church has enjoyed special status since 2002 through a concordat-like agreement, the ruling Georgian Dream party, which won the October parliamentary elections with 53.9 percent of the vote, is proposing to make Orthodox Christianity the state religion through a constitutional amendment, reports special correspondent Thomas Guichard in La Croix International (Dec. 2). […]
While faith-based films have grown sharply over the past few decades and drawn a global audience, mainstream movie studios still largely steer clear of these projects despite a clear economic upside, Daniel Parris writes in his Substack newsletter Stat Significant (September 25). The early 2000s witnessed the emergence of numerous independent studios dedicated to creating […]
The relationship between Islam and space exploration is evolving as more Muslim-majority nations venture into space activities, writes Béatrice Hainaut (IRSEM, Institute for Strategic Research, Paris) in the online Bulletin de l’Observatoire international du religieux (October, in French). The first instance of a Muslim in space was in 1985, and to date, 18 Muslim astronauts […]
