Looking beyond the walls of churches, synagogues, and denominational officialdom to examine how religion really affects, and is affected by, the wider society. Published every month, its digital content is unique because it focuses on long-range developments that lead to, and result from, global current events.
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Past Issues“What began with marquee names like Peter Thiel and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan being public about their faith has started bleeding into other areas of the tech industry.
The day following the episcopal consecrations of four priests by the two remaining bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) at Ecône (Switzerland) on July 1, all six bishops have been excommunicated by Rome as schismatics, through a decree stating that clerics and laypeople who formally adhere to the schism place themselves in the same situation.
While Muslim soccer players have entered elite ranks and have long observed their faith on the field and off, this year’s World Cup shows how soccer is no longer “the sole purview of Christendom...[S]occer has peacefully and with little fanfare become a game shared between the world’s two and a half billion Christians and two billion Muslims.
While only a distinct minority of American Muslims embrace Islamism, the ideology seeking to capture state power in order to impose Islamic law and rejecting any separation between religious authority and political life, younger, more assimilated Muslims are increasingly drawn to political radicalism, writes Reihan Salam in the Free Press (June 23).
The lucrative market of celebrity- and influencer-endorsed beverages has expanded into religious branding with the emergence of dedicated Christian energy drinks, writes Lydia Bugg in The Guardian (June 4).
A new study of multi-religious identity shows that up to 60 percent of Americans believe in more than one religion.
Alongside similar measures across the country, a new anti-conversion law in the Indian state of Maharashtra is making it increasingly difficult for Indians to change their faith, reports Ulrich von Schwerin in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (June 16).
A forthcoming issue of the journal Social Compass (articles online in June) is devoted to Witchcraft 2.0, meaning witchcraft adapted to digital technology and social media.
Freedom Con, a gathering of evangelical men, is associated with the Promise Keepers, an evangelical men’s ministry, adding a more populist and politically conservative approach to its program.