Second-generation American Muslim parents value Muslim schooling and Boy Scouts not only as a way for their children to retain their faith but also as a way to join the academic and professional class, according to research by Rebecca Karam. She presented an ethnographic study of two K-8 Muslim schools in Michigan and the scouting […]
The hotel industry is cutting back its distribution of religious literature in its rooms, although it is unclear whether this reduction is the result of customer disinterest or due to the secular perceptions of those in the hotel industry. The Los Angeles Times (December 6) reports that hotel managers and franchises are feeling the need […]
While the creation of new forms of dancing remains vibrant in Israel, this environment has barely made an impact upon Orthodox Jews, who limit their dancing to traditional forms, especially at weddings—until recently. While still unusual, there are now a few contemporary dance companies formed by Orthodox Jews, reports Aude-May Lepasteur in the Swiss daily […]
Yemen is likely to emerge as a center of operations for the Islamic State (IS) once the movement loses its strongholds in Iraq and Syria, especially since the nation plays a significant role in IS’s end-times teachings, reports the Terrorism Monitor (December 15). The newsletter, published by the Jamestown Foundation, reports that the Yemeni affiliate […]
Benefitting from the expansion of charismatic Christianity across Southeast Asia since the 1980s, Pentecostal megachurches have also appeared in urban centers of various countries in the area, according to ethnographic studies gathered in an edited volume to be published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), based in Singapore. Excerpts have been published in […]
Muslim students are increasingly finding a home at American Catholic colleges, valuing these institutions’ greater openness to matters of faith, writes Kristin Whitney Daniels in the National Catholic Reporter (November 4). “Although making up a relatively small percentage of students at all schools, Muslim student enrollment at Catholic colleges has increased significantly since 2010, according […]
The sharp growth of Chinese students in American high schools is also serving as a “lifeline to many Catholic schools around the country,” writes Anthony J. Zavagnin in America magazine (October 31). The number of Chinese high school students in the U.S. increased from fewer than 1,000 in 2005 to more than 23,000 by 2013 […]
Founded in 1962 by two students in Missouri, the Church of All Worlds (CAW) was the real life version of a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961). It remains active more than 50 years later, with branches in four countries and an online and print presence, writes Carole […]
The esoteric movement based on the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff is the latest case of a new religion moving in a more ecumenical and less hierarchical direction as the group’s teachings and writings find a place on the Internet, write David Pecotic and Carole M. Cusack in the current issue of the journal Fieldwork in […]
There is a growing controversy over the use of religious practices in public schools and universities in the Canadian province of British Columbia, reports the Vancouver Sun (November 19). The use of native Canadian or aboriginal spiritual concepts and practices, such as “smudging” (burning sage over one’s body and “spirit”), has been common in schools […]
