500th Anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses

Martin Luther penned his 95 theses five hundred years ago--though there's actually no contemporary historical evidence that he nailed them to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  The Research on Religion podcast has another episode on Luther and his 95 theses, this one on Luther's historical setting and impact with Emily Fisher Gray.  The Pew Forum also has done a survey of American Protestantism 500 years after Luther.  The results suggest that Protestants are still fairly split on various ideas including the role of works and the role of the Bible, see here and here.

Religious Digital Currencies

BitCoen is set to launch next month as the first ever international Jewish currency.  A Buddhist currency, Karma Tokens, is also in the works.

How Much do Catholic Priests Make?

According to a new national study, the median total taxable income for Catholic priests in the U.S. is $45,593.  This amount has risen about 9% during over the last two decades.  The taxable income includes salary, housing allowances, Mass stipends, stole fees, and bonuses.

Interestingly, this average taxable income is much less than $75,355 median income for full-time Episcopal priests, though of course the component parts of Episcopal priests' income differ from those of Catholic priests.  Episcopal priests can be married, but Catholic priests are unmarried except for rare cases of when a married priest from another denomination switches to Catholicism.

See more details here.

Why New Religious Movements Fail

There is a very accessibly and nicely written article in the Atlantic on the difficulties faced by new religious movements.  Here are some excerpts.

State persecution, aided by religious authorities, is in fact a major reason why new faiths fail in parts of the world where government polices religious doctrine. . .

[P]erhaps the biggest reason that new faiths like Scientology, Raëlism or Millah Abraham have failed to take off is the lack of state sponsorship. . .

Today, though, it is difficult to imagine that any new faith movement will get the boost of having a powerful state patronize the religion and fund its spread. In large part that’s because global norms have changed and—with the exception of a country like Saudi Arabia—few powerful states see it as their role to sponsor any faith, let alone a new faith. It’s also because there’s much less conquest today, meaning it would be unlikely that even a powerful country that adopted a new faith would be able to spread it by force.

The state and religious regulations are prominent in the article.  The article actually begins with the ongoing account of a new religious movement in Indonesia that is facing stiff persecution as it attempts to grow and thrive.  So religious regulations can stamp out new religious movements that might otherwise grow into new religious traditions.  Ironically, however, the state also has played a role in fostering that transition into a religious tradition.