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 […]
A “hinge moment” may have been reached in the longtime battle against the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), as the jihadist movement has been “mustering forces in Syria’s Badiya desert, recruiting and training a new band of holy warriors to resurrect its dream of ruling a caliphate,” reports Brian Stewart in Quillette (October 10). This […]
Since its emergence in the early 1990s among Cambodia’s Muslim minority (about 5 percent of the population), Salafism has undergone significant changes, with young Salafis seeking cooperation and understanding with other Islamic groups. Writing in Mediterranean Politics (online October 7), Zoltan Pall (Austrian Academy of Sciences) explains that these younger adherents have sought to build […]
While schismatic separations from the United Methodist Church (UMC) have largely taken place within the U.S., the largest being the Global Methodist Church, the denomination is now facing the situation of its international partners threatening to leave, according to Evangelical Focus (September 9), a newsletter on European evangelicals. So far, the denomination has lost around […]
While allowing for “prudent adherence” to the messages, the Vatican has recently taken steps to tighten control over the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), writes Mikael Corre in La Croix International (September 20). On September 19, the Holy See issued a decree that does not formally recognize the supernatural nature of the […]
In recent years, a new generation of young left-wing Christians has emerged in France, challenging the notion that Christian leftists were disappearing in the face of right-wing Catholics, writes Pascale Tournier in the Catholic weekly La Vie (September 26). This group, primarily consisting of individuals aged 25–40, is beginning to organize and assert itself in […]
Australia’s legalization of same-sex marriage in 2017 has opened the door to a series of federal, state, and territory-level religious discrimination bills (or proposed bills) that focus on anti-discrimination rather than protection of the autonomy of religious institutions, curtailing the capacity of such organizations to govern their affairs, writes Ian Tregenza in the Journal of […]
Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda based in Somalia, is finding new support among the young as well as forming new alliances, such as with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, reports Tam Hussein in the online magazine UnHerd (September 16). The ineffectiveness of the Somali government in defeating the terrorist group was on display in July […]
While the practice of deprogramming or “faith breaking,” where members of minority religions are confined and submitted to heavy psychological indoctrination and various forms of violence, has been reported to be a common practice in China, these techniques are now being conducted in cooperation with an official religious group, Dong Deming reports in the newsletter […]
