Sightings Articles

Baby boomers | American Medical Association | Harvard School of Public Health | church attendance

Living Longer

“A Possible Benefit of Going to Church: A 33 Percent Chance of Living Longer.”...

May 23, 2016

Church and State | religious freedom | Religious persecution

Defining Religion

the issue is not simply who “gets” to define, but who “must?

May 16, 2016

Mega-church | Darrin Patrick | The Journey | Missouri Baptist Convention | Jimmy Dodd | PastorServe | William Willimon

Mega-Morality

The scope Sightings uses can be “tele-” (with a focus on the global) or “micro-” (for scoping on things close-up.) Today we focus on the parochial, a word related to “parish,” because often the most revealing themes of religion occur on that local an...

May 9, 2016

Eric Metaxas | eroticism | sin | Jehovah's Witness | Seventh-Day Adventist | Breakpoint.org

Pornography and Prince

“Pornography” had been the planned Sightings topic today, thanks to a column in Christian Headlines (April 20) by best-selling author and radio broadcaster Eric Metaxas. He celebrated the fact that “wonder of wonders, America’s leading news sources” ...

April 25, 2016

Media | public education | religion news

Religion Coverage

No writer about religion has reason to complain that too little has been happening in “the world of religion.” ...

April 18, 2016

Amoris Laetita | Pope Francis | same-sex marriage | divorce | abortion

Conscience

“Surprised!” is the rarest response of almost everyone to the long-awaited papal document on the joy of love (Amoris Laetitia). So devotedly had Pope Francis and Catholic episcopal leadership pondered and worked on the new 256-page document on the fa...

April 11, 2016

Phi Beta Kappa | James McWilliams | identity protection | Snapchat | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | Spotify | selfie

How To Save Your Soul

“How to Save Your Soul in a Digital Age” is the bold banner on the cover of The American Scholar (Spring, 2016). No, the magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is not turning evangelistic. On page 22 the editors simply translate author James McWillia...

April 4, 2016

Robert D. Putnam | Bowling Alone | David Riesman | other-directed | David Gushee | Christian Evangelical | half-churched Christian

Wafer-Thin Commitment

Now and then a word or a phrase is understood to be so appropriate to a situation that it enters the vocabulary or catalog of slogans. ...

March 21, 2016

American church | Philip J. Hefner | Sidney E. Mead | Paul Tillich | Dietrich Bonhoeffer | religionless Christianity | James M. Gustafson | Joseph Haroutunian | Leigh R. Jordahl | ecumenism | interfaith | secularity

Futures Projected

Let’s step back this week from the overdoses of religion-in-public-life evidences which are candidates for Sightings these seasons and look for some perspective by using the rear-view mirror provided by historians, theologians, and ethicists. Recentl...

March 14, 2016