It's that time of the week again, when we look around the world to see how religion is affecting and being affected by peoples' lives all over the globe. This week in Faithful Friday we take a look at the intersection of religion and activism—for both good and ill—from the revival of traditional Norse religion in Iceland to the oppression of ethnic minorities for their religious beliefs.

Iceland's been long known as an outpost of Germanic polytheism in Europe (one of the foundations of its medieval constitution was tolerance for both Christians and Heathens) but it's only recently that the Pagans have gotten organized. Take an inside look with news360 into the modern revival of the Old Gods.

Ever heard the adage "be careful what you wish for?" Conservative Christians across the country may be thinking those very words now that Pagans are taking the precedent set by the Supreme Court decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway to open legislative meetings with Wiccan invocations. Read more at The Des Moines Register.

Curious about those figures we cited last week about shifts in the long-term shape of the world's religious population? Well, Pew Research has more details on how they constructed the study and evaluated their findings if you were.

When we talk about women clergy we're usually talking about Pagan priestesses or efforts to reform the Catholic Church but what about female rabbis? This story from the Religious News Service takes a look at how female rabbis are leading Judaism down a new path into the modern age.

Lastly, are Westerners who seek to "protect" their culture from Islam really concerned about faith or is the whole "reclamation" movement in Europe and Australia about race? The Guardian makes a compelling argument that's it's the latter.