Reform Judaism gains new adherents in Israel. A beloved and respected Vodou priest dies. And Muslims in India rally against ISIL. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly segment on religions from around the world! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Generally speaking when we talk of Judaism, most forms are characterized as belonging to three informal groupings: Conservative, Orthodox, and Reform. In Israel, officially a secularist country, there's been a fair amount of controversy over the role Orthodox Jews play in domestic politics. But right now it's Reform Judaism which is growing in Israel.

It would probably be a fair guess to say most modern Pagans derive at least some of their spiritual knowledge and training from the online world. They're not the only ones either. On Patheos, Ambaa Choate discusses how the internet has impacted her Hindu faith, largely for the better.

Max Beauvoir, a chemical engineer and Vodou priest, as well as a hero in his native Haiti for his efforts to maintain peaceful relations between it and the U.S, died earlier last month at the age of 79. The Daily Beast has a detailed summary of his life as well as an explanation of his heroism on behalf of both Haiti and Vodou.

When it comes to religious and cultural festivals, the Japanese give it all they've got. Bored Panda has a gallery of some of the most colorful festivals (or matsuri) in Japan, from Gion Matsuri to the winter Lantern festival.

Non-Muslims often ask if moderate Muslims are so moderate, why don't they oppose ISIL (also known as ISIS and Daesh)? But the truth is that most Muslims do oppose ISIL, as evidenced by the fact that Muslim nations like Kurdistan, Iraq, and Iran are doing most of the fighting against the group (and suffering many of the casualties). The Huffington Post takes a look at one non-state group working against ISIL, an informal gathering of more than 1,000 Muslim leaders in India protesting the group's actions as "un-Islamic."


Top image by Petar Milošević