The “death dreams” of dying patients that are usually about being reunited with deceased loved ones are coming under new scrutiny from medical researchers and are viewed by chaplains as adding a new spiritual meaning to dying, writes Paul Lauritzen in the Catholic magazine Commonweal (April 23). While those claiming near-death experiences make up a […]
While African immigrant churches continue to expand in the West, second- and third-generation members are seeking to maintain African traditions while reaching out to the wider society with evangelism and social action, write Allison Norton and Caleb Opoku Nyanni in the International Bulletin of Mission Research (47:2). African immigrants who planted churches in the West […]
While the Christian revival based at the evangelical Asbury College that was active in February has since simmered down [see March RW], it did spread to other schools and churches around the country and abroad, even outside evangelicalism. Writing in Public Discourse (April 10), Baylor University historian Thomas Kidd notes that the lasting effects of […]
While Catholicism continues to see Latinos exiting the church, it still remains the largest faith for U.S. Hispanic adults, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. Pew finds that the share of Latinos identifying as Catholic dropped from 67 percent in 2010 to 43 percent in 2022. Among the 65 percent who said they […]
After a period of relative calm in Europe, jihadist terrorism has reemerged to target churches, especially in Spain, reports Itxu Diaz in First Things magazine (April 18). Diaz writes that two years ago the Islamic State ordered its followers to attack churches in Spain, and recent incidents suggest that “the call is being heeded.” In […]
Faced with increasing demands for financial donations in a context of rising inflation, Christians in Europe are being forced to make choices, just as consumers must prioritize their spending, but the consequences are not being felt in the same way everywhere, notes journalist David Nadaud in an article for the evangelical magazine of the French-speaking […]
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 […]
