Sightings Articles

brown jackson swear in

religious identity | U.S. Supreme Court | American religion

Weary (and Wary) of Decisions, Opinions, and Polemics? Religious Wisdom Would Like a Word

Religion that is prescribed by a privileged few to control the lives of the many obfuscates human dignity, limits and cheapens life abundant, substitutes the trivial for the transcendent, and elevates a cruel justice that cannot admit its need for me...

July 1, 2022
back to school image

Rituals | church attendance | American church

Beginning Again... and Again... and Again

We hoped that “Back to School” rituals might turn the page, but beginnings are never as straightforward and uncomplicated as we wish they could be....

September 30, 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
earth viewed from space

stewardship of the earth | environment | social justice | Coronavirus

Will There Be Life On Earth?

An Earth Day reflection on trusting our eyes...

April 22, 2021
Biden Oath

political religion | Rituals | Community

The Blessed Return of Going Through the Motions

President Biden's inauguration and the rituals of normalcy...

February 4, 2021
Lincoln Proclamation

Thanksgiving | political religion | repentance

Longing for a Real Thanksgiving

This year's lonely holiday offers a chance for national repentance...

November 26, 2020
Plant growing in rocks

Smart Museum of Art | Coronavirus | health care | art

The Precariousness of Care

Attending to each other and our communities is costly, messy, exhausting — and vital...

October 22, 2020
Candle burning at both ends

Rituals | Spirituality | capitalism | secularism

The Meanings that Make Us

The limits of creative agency in ritual...

September 24, 2020
corona anxiety

Coronavirus | Mental Health

A Normalized Sense of Hopelessness

Making America Great at the Expense of Her Soul...

July 23, 2020
Protesters Prayer

Coronavirus | prayer | George Floyd | faith

Unexpected ‘Openings’ and the Essence of Religious Practice

What we learn about the nature of religious practice from the innovations and adaptations of religious communities during the pandemic...

June 18, 2020