Sightings Articles

unraveling flag

American religion | culture wars | 9/11 | sociology of religion

On Social Dissolution: Lost Threads and Forgotten Dogmas

From passing conversations on the street to extended news commentaries on air and online, it is hard to miss the pervasive sense of social breakdown....

September 23, 2021
war on women protest

culture wars | sociology of religion | American public | political religion

Don't You Know There's a War On?

Thirty years after its publication, Culture Wars remains an essential guide to American politics....

September 17, 2021
conspiracy wall

conspiracy theories | humanness | political partisanship | power differentials

Conspiracy Theories and Human Psychology

The unsettlingly normal cognitive roots of outlandish explanations...

September 9, 2021
summer on the quad

Summer Hiatus '21

A curated Sightings reading list for you during our summer break...

June 30, 2021
Protester

Coronavirus | political religion | Roman Catholicism | protests

A Year to Mask and Unmask

What the pandemic has concealed and revealed about the conditions of possibility for our society...

June 28, 2021
Cold Cave live in Paris 2018

music | pop culture | religio-secular culture | Religion and Literature

Secular Music in Seven Lessons

Darkwave artist Cold Cave's recent album, "Fate in Seven Lessons," sheds light on the complexities of popular culture's interaction with religion...

June 24, 2021
Dr. Manette

Religion and Literature | university life | study of religion | Students | Coronavirus

A Tale of Two Classrooms: Impressions of an Academic Year

Even in extraordinary times, Dickens reminds us to exercise caution around superlatives...

June 21, 2021
Juneteenth quilt

Black Church | Judaism | deep solidarity | slavery

Now Let Us Sing! Juneteenth 2021

The deep roots connecting Jewish and Black prophetic witness...

June 17, 2021
A road sign with an arrow pointing left has been altered with graffiti to point right

adaptation | Coronavirus | obituaries | imagination

Think Again: Religion in the Wake of the Pandemic

Covid has given us a chance to rethink and reinvigorate our traditions, and we cannot afford to waste it...

June 14, 2021
maya ritual

Native Americans | American religion | Death | memorial

Loss and Continuation: Lessons from the Popol Vuh

An ancient Maya tradition on keeping those we've lost alive...

June 10, 2021