Roundup: Sharing sacred texts, sexual abuse, Christians in Syria, celebrity culture, church membership, belief and exorcism

Christians, Muslims, Jews to share sacred texts

Christian clergy across the United States will organise readings from the Quran and other sacred texts Sunday, June 26, as part of an initiative to counter anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes of Islam.

US Catholic Church study blames 1960s permissiveness for rise in sexual abuse

Report claims less than 5% of abusive priests were paedophiles as critics accuse it of  ‘garbage in, garbage out’ exoneration.

Syria’s Christians fear for their religious freedom

Syria’s minority Christians are watching the protests sweeping their country with trepidation, fearing their religious freedom could be threatened if President Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic but secular rule is overthrown.

Celebrity and iconicity

By drawing attention to the phenomenon of celebrity, an artist hopes to investigate a nagging suspicion that something fundamental is missing in present enthusiasms surrounding the role of art and artists in the contemporary church.

Loose connections

What’s happening to church membership?

Belief in religion is ‘simply a universal part of human nature’

Humans are naturally inclined to believe in gods and an afterlife, according to a major three-year study.

What’s behind the return of the exorcist

After a decades-long absence, interest in demonic possession—and the ritual to defeat it—is on the rise.