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Mao, Meet Confucius: China’s Religious Revolution

By Kwok Pui-lan

…embership of mainline denominations in the U.S. continues to decline, many Westerners marvel at the rate of growth of Chinese Christianity. In 1949 there were about 700,000 Chinese Protestants; today the number is estimated to be 50-80 million, if one includes members of house churches. Adding 8-12 million Catholics, China will soon become home to the largest Christian population on the globe. How did this Religious Renaissance Come About? Many n…

Romania’s “Witch Tax”: Magic Meets Bureaucracy

By Joseph Laycock

…eir country seem superstitious and backwards. In 2003, two witches in northwestern Romania were charged with fraud when their cures failed to work. Police encouraged villagers not to believe the claims of witches. Tensions grew as Romania prepared to enter the EU. British newspapers reported that more witches were learning English and raised concerns that disgruntled witches would flee Romania and set up shop in western EU nations. Andrei Chiliman…

Halloween, Evangelicals, and the Macabre

By John W. Morehead

….” The evangelical association of Halloween with contemporary Paganism and Western esotericism and witchcraft gives further pause. Evangelical ministries will frequently address witchcraft during the month of October through radio programs, websites, blogs, and newsletters. Unfortunately, the portrait they paint tends to rehearse various mischaracterizations, including a confusion of witchcraft with Satanism, accusations of ritual sacrifice, evang…

Virtual Book Burning and Its Consequences

By Laurie Patton

…identity. In the twentieth century, Hindu extremists have burned books by Western scholars as a way of protesting Western academic analysis of Hindu symbols. The Mouse that Roared? So Pastor Jones is in excellent historical company. Despite his proudly-displayed ignorance of the contents of the Qur’an (an all-too-frequent trait of book burners), he intuitively knew that book burning could involve all three aspects of this complex symbol. It could…

Conservative Bishops Headed For Synod Victory?; Indonesian Sharia Official Says Gay Caning Law Meant To ‘Safeguard Human Dignity’; Slovenian Court OK’s Referendum on Marriage Equality Law; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…, with prelates in Africa, for instance, denouncing the “Eurocentric” and “Western” fixation with issues such as gay rights. Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah linked the push for gay rights to abortion and Islamic extremism, comparing them all to what “Nazi-Fascism and Communism were in the 20th century.” The vehemence of the backlash has shocked even some moderate conservatives, and it has suggested the rise of a tea-party-like faction of bishops wit…

Did the Dalai Lama Just Call for an End to Religion?

By Richard Schiffman

…Some have pointed to Buddhism itself as an example of just such a system. Western practitioners like to think of Buddhism as a methodology for self-cultivation rather than as a religion per se. But Tibetan Buddhism, with its pantheon of deities and arcane practices, certainly looks familiarly religious to those of us brought up on Western religious myths and symbols. I suspect that His Holiness would agree that these religious elements are not a…

Staged Pussy Riot Trial Interrupted by Russian Authorities

By Chrissy Stroop

…e day the verdict was read out, continues both to attract the attention of Western intellectuals and artists and to be a thorn in the side of Russian authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church. Here in Russia, where a September poll revealed that 78% of the population found the Pussy Riot verdict either “appropriate” or “insufficient,” and only 14% found it “excessive,” there seems to be little hope for a meaningful dialogue between those on oppo…

Gambian President Threatens to Kill Asylum Seekers

By Peter Montgomery

…ess of Families annual gathering in Madrid in 2012, Okafor speculated that Western countries advocating for gay rights in Africa were involved in “a conspiracy” to “silence Christians” with the terrorist group Boko Haram. “Unfortuntately, in Nigeria where I come from, we have these fundamentalists, the Boko Haram – I’m sure you’ve heard about them in the news – bombing churches. They seem to be helping some people in Western countries who are out…

Conservative Bishops Unhappy At Synod, But Ignore Walkout Call; Australian Religious Leaders Step Up Marriage Equality Opposition; Italy Debates Civil Unions; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…had to combat. “What Nazi-fascism and communism were in the 20th century, Western homosexual and abortion ideologies and Islamic fanaticism are today,” Sarah said. Allen reported on Sunday, the eve of the Synod’s final week, on a conversation with Bishop Borys Gudziak, who questioned the predominant focus given to “family” issues given the intensity of other issues, including a global refugee crisis and war in the Middle East. New Ways Ministry’s…

Do We Owe Human Rights to the Christian Right?

By Austin Dacey

…mbers rejected a reference to the “various forms of the family”—favored by Western European states, the U.S., and South Africa, among others—in favor of the family. The Council also rejected an amendment, introduced by Norway, observing that the primary concern of international law is the rights of individuals, not collectives, and that individuals need protection from violations of their rights perpetrated within families. Resolution A/HRC/29/L.2…