Try to imagine a world in which only things acceptable to pure reason are deemed legitimate, suggests Giles Fraser. It would be to imagine the most desperately impoverished cultural and emotional (let alone spiritual) desert.

A pioneer in the global study of the phenomenon of fundamentalism, commentator and scholar Martin E. Marty reflects on the changing patterns of religious life as they have impacted Europe recently.

The Anglican bishop of London says in a Christmas letter that the return of religious issues to centre stage in the public sphere is welcome, but he claims it has provoked a dangerous reaction from what he calls "secular fundamentalists".

The non-religious as well as the religious fight amongst themselves, Mark Vernon observes. But in questioning, they are all the better for it, provided that plural thoughtfulness can overcome intolerant rationalism.

As more evangelical Christians become involved in ecological causes a leading training college in the UK is to hold a conference exploring the relationship between notions about 'end times' and working for the environment.

Despite India remaining the world's most populous and vibrant democracy, freedom of religion is in decline and plural secularism threatened, says a journalist-turned-Christian activist who is now secretary general of the All India Christian Council.

Ekklesia is a think tank that promotes fresh forms of thought - without relying on tanks. In an interview with SCM, Simon Barrow explains what the deal is with post-Christendom and how to respond to the fuss about religion.

An ambitious media look at religious zealots in Christianity, Judaism and Islam is receiving worldwide media coverage, but lukewarm reviews from television critics in the United States. The CNN series began to air on 22 August 2007

Simon Barrow says that beyond the popular scriptural fantasising which feeds much religion on the internet, there are processes of scriptural reasoning which produce a dynamic, fruitful bond between the Bible to lived reality.