http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/ Sightings reports and comments on the role of religion in public life via e-mail twice a week to a readership of over 5,000. en-us Mon, 6 Feb 2012 03:43:09 -0600 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss OmniUpdate (OU Publish) http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0206.shtml Sighting national debates over the religious and judicial implications having to do with fluoridation of water would draw little notice. Such was not always the case. At last mid-century, when the pile of letters to the editor of The Christian Century might thin out for a few weeks, we editors would play games. From our experience, we'd ask, what subjects that we might take up would draw numerous vehement Letters to the Editor to inform and entertain readers? The top two at that time were "antivivisection" and "fluoridation." Martin Marty Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:43:08 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0202.shtml In late December, the City of Chicago issued an emergency demolition permit for the Anshe Kenesseth Israel building, a grandiose former synagogue in the city's downtrodden west side. Built in 1913, Anshe Kenesseth rose in a well-to-do neighborhood with a strong Jewish presence. By the early 1960s, however, the neighborhood's demographics had shifted. The Jews had moved out, and their building was sold to the Friendship Baptist Church, one of a handful of Chicago churches to open their doors to Martin Luther King, Jr. The Friendship congregation eventually built their own church, and passed the AKI building to the Shepherd's Temple Baptist Church in 1983. Unable to afford the massive and aged building, that congregation left in 1997. Robert Powers Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:33:46 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0126.shtml There's a new flying spaghetti monster in the spiritual marketplace: the Church of Kopimism. The newly "established" religion has become the talk of the internet, in part because of its transparently "unreligious" outlook and in part because of the group's social perspective. The Church of Kopimism, which received official recognition as a religious denomination in Sweden, objects to what it calls the Copyright Religion and advocates free sharing of information by and for all (Kopimists 2012). Though it lacks any particular resemblance to established religions, Kopimism has "beliefs and rituals," which are held sufficient to establish it as a legal religious organization. Robert M Geraci Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:17:49 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0123.shtml Next week Crown Forum will publish Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. The weekend Wall Street Journal gave a generous two-page preview. The foretaste in the Journal presented no surprises, since the author, Charles Murray, offered the standard American Enterprise Institute blame-throwing: "As I've argued in much of my previous work, I think that the reforms of the 1960s jump-started the deterioration" of the culture, beginning with economic change. No doubt these urgent reforms did have a down-side and contributed to the "American Divide," but this single-explanation approach leaves out too much about the "why" of the in accounting for the way "the working class falls further away from institutions like marriage and religion and the upper class becomes more isolated." Martin E. Marty Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:32:46 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0116.shtml Those who observe United States Supreme Court decisions on "church and state" are dealing with what many call the most important "religious liberty" case in decades, at least since the 1940s. Like so many cases, this one had a parochial start. The details are familiar, and we need not rehearse them all. Let it come to focus on the fact that a Lutheran parochial school teacher had been dealt what to her was a manifest injustice. She countered by seeking to pursue her case in court. Doing so, claimed the church, was counter to church teachings, so it fired her. Had she been a simply secular employee in a simply secular post, the usual standards for administering justice would have applied. But the church named her a "minister," and argued for a "ministerial exception" to secular standards. The Supreme Court decision left the teacher out in the judicial cold and left many citizen justice-advocates heated up. Martin E. Marty Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:22:06 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2012/0112.shtml Definitions of what it means to be human have been sought out for centuries in many academic disciplines. Theology and philosophy have been at the forefront of this humanistic inquiry, but since Darwin's writing, biology and psychology have posited their own definitions. More importantly, biology and psychology have been used as an interpretive lens on the earlier theological and philosophical definitions of what it means to be human. In the public sphere, the theological and philosophical definitions have taken a back seat to the biological and psychological definitions. While this shift may seem inconsequential, it has a profound effect on the public's views of morality. Rather than morality having a theological or philosophical center or origin, it is now largely represented in media as the natural outgrowth of human evolution from animals, which situates animals and animal studies as the new center for biological and psychological definitions of humanity. Interestingly, despite the culture wars over the place of evolutionary theory in public life, new and popularly accepted definitions of human and animal relations imply an acceptance of the basic assumptions of evolutionary theory. Kristel Clayville Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:41:10 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1222.shtml Last year when Justice John Paul Stevens retired from the Supreme Court and was replaced by Justice Elena Kagan, it provoked some concern over the religious and regional backgrounds of the members who served on the nation's top bench. With six Catholics and three Jews, it marked the first time in American history that no Protestants held a seat. And no less than four sitting justices hailed from New York City alone (Scalia, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan are from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan respectively). The discussions over the religious and regional background of justices, however, have now largely subsided or been summarily dismissed. The notion of the Protestant seat that could somehow represent the varieties of Protestantism in America was as fanciful as the notion of an essential New Yorker who could not grasp legal issues beyond her city-limits. Michael Sohn Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:49:27 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1219.shtml Chelsea Clinton, Hedy Lamarr, Shakespeare as author of Titus Andronicus (seen in the family of "torture-porn" art), and Damien Hirst, major-major painter of images ( "dead animals--sharks, zebras, piglets. . . and cigarette butts," according to The New York Times), Alvin Plantinga and God share page one of The Arts section of the print edition of The New York Times on December 14. All but Plantinga are from genres and types that are regularly visible on such a page. God is familiar there but, in the nature of the case, is invisible. Plantinga is a Christian philosopher, of a caste not familiar there. What did Jennifer Schuessler and her editors find about Plantinga that "warranted" his being featured in unfamiliar media territory? Martin E. Marty Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:19:22 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1215.shtml I spent a few weeks last summer in the Mexican town Tochimilco, a municipality (municipalidad) in the state of Puebla. Set to a breathtaking scene with the majestic Popocatepetl Volcano in the backdrop, this charming town boasts a former Franciscan monastery built in the sixteenth century. In this quaint town, which is about a four-hour bus ride from the bustling megalopolis Mexico City, the church bells ring every quarter of an hour. Every full hour the large loudspeakers mounted on Tochimilco's town hall broadcast secular tunes such as the canción mixteca, a song on the emigrants' plight. The chiming and broadcasting go on through the night. I found myself waking up at three in the morning to the sound of "Mexicans, at the Cry of War," the stirring national anthem. The government makes an audible point that it has the right to keep its citizens apprised of important civic events and the time, and does not yield this to the Church. In some ways this is part of the long-standing rivalry between the secular and religious power dating back to at least the colonial times of New Spain, as Mexico was then known (1521-1821). Christoph Rosenmüller Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:22:07 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1201.shtml According to his official website, Braco (pronounced braht-zo) is a gentle Croatian man with a remarkable gift: a silent gaze that induces "transformative changes" and "profound experiences" in the hundreds of thousands who attend his "gazing sessions." Alan Levinovitz Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:33:12 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1121.shtml Twice in the last four years I have spied Benton Harbor, Michigan, a once flourishing factory town that has suffered all manner of ills: bad leadership, racial conflicts, and more. Its downtown is ghostly. The most devastating blow occurred when Whirlpool abandoned it and its workers some years ago. Friday's Wall Street Journal has a déjà vu inspiring headline: "As Whirlpool Exits, Job Hunts Begin." This time the victim is Ft. Smith, Arkansas. It shows "Grit Among Loss" and has "A Knack for Marketing Area's Low Costs to Manufacturers." Applause, please, seconded by tears. Martin E. Marty Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:06:33 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1114.shtml While polarization marks and blights politics in America today, and while popular culture, commerce, and religion are afflicted with the all-or-nothing ideologies and practices that prevent the citizenry from meeting the challenges which only intensify as seasons pass, here and there and now and then Sightings spies counter-signs. While the media focus on conflict among and within religious communities, those who take the longer view can find occasions for inspiration. That I so often find such signs in publications like The Economist or The Wall Street Journal surprises some readers and perhaps needs some explaining now and then. Martin E. Marty Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:10:17 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1110.shtml A recent New York magazine cover featured a picture of Barack Obama's head covered by a yarmulke, under the headline "The First Jewish President." The story purported to counter a narrative gaining traction elsewhere in the media: that American Jews are increasingly dissatisfied with Obama's policies relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that they are souring on his presidency as a result. Sam Brody Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:16:45 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1107.shtml Writers who deal with current topics are expected to "declare an interest," which on occasion--today is an occasion--I do. For many of the sixteen years since the Festival of Faiths has been celebrated in Louisville, Kentucky, I've been on the scene, and was again last weekend for this year's November 2-7 event. Christina Lee Brown served as Honorary Chair. Though mourning the recent death of her husband, Owsley Brown II, she showed that she can keep the Festival spirit despite that loss and in the face of some grim subject matter. Enough about that: have I declared enough interest? Martin E. Marty Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:51:25 -0600 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2011/1103.shtml It seems so long ago that the eyes of the world were fixed on Tahrir Square, where a broad cross-section of Egyptians peacefully asserted their fundamental right to self govern and took a stand for their human dignity. Recent events, however, serve as a reminder that as broad as the political consensus was, it was admittedly rather thin--the unifying platform was the simple conviction that the time had come for the illegitimate Mubarak regime to bow to a wholesale democratic alternative. Images of religious unity were many as the revolution progressed: Muslims and Copts (Christians of Egypt) protecting each other during prayers, Imams and Priests hand in hand, and signs hailing the union of crescent and cross. These images struck a note of hope that punctuated a far less savory spate of sectarian fissure. But the religious consensus in the revolution's formative period was as thin as the political one was, and now, as Egypt struggles through its post revolutionary stage, a period of both religious and political tenuousness is once more apparent. Anthony Banout and Emran El-Badawi Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:23:57 -0500