Sightings Articles
Revolution by Martin E. Marty
“C’est une révolte,” said King Louis XVI to his messenger about events on July 14, 1789. “Non, Sire, C’est une révolution,” the Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt corrected him. With this exchange Hannah Arendt pointed to a difference between a revolt...
February 14, 2011
Christian Evolutions by Martin E. Marty
Ever since 1859 anyone could start fights by breathing a single word: “evolution,” on which Charles Darwin held the patent. The conflicts were billed as “science vs. religion,” but it has been clear for 152 years that some schools of scientists oppos...
February 7, 2011
Church Mortgages and Forclosures by Martin E. Marty
“Churches Find End Is Nigh” is the kind of headline which should produce ennui. One expects to read under it of the 1900th annual prediction of the end of the world. But, read on: the subhead portends an article on “Ends” which are current and real: ...
January 31, 2011
Memphis Church Preservation by Martin E. Marty
This season it’s Memphis. Last season it was in some city near you. Next season it will be a challenge in your city, or, if you “have” one, in your denomination. “It” refers to what in my eyes is one of the sad insolubles on the “public religion” fro...
January 24, 2011
Religion in News Clips — Martin E. Marty
Thesis: Religion is on the ropes in our modern secular world. Still, look at the stealth news about religion in one week. (Harriet Marty breakfasted Saturday with what looks like confetti left over after I have clipped religion-relevant stories fro...
January 17, 2011
Martyrdom and Acquiescence — Martin E. Marty
“Iran Targets Christians with a Wave of Arrests,” “Egyptian Copts Mark Christmas Cautiously,” and “Anti-Christian Crimes Downplayed,” were all Friday headlines that set the tone for weekend coverage of bad news. Google some words like “Christian Mart...
January 10, 2011
Public Religion Trends in 2010 — Martin E. Marty
The end-of-year summaries of “public religion” draw frequently on the most extensive press survey each December, from the Religion Newswriters Association, made up of reporters and columnists in the secular media. (A ringer in the Association, I was ...
December 27, 2010
Andrew Greeley's Chicago Catholics — Martin E. Marty
Father Andrew Greeley, friend, neighbor, sociologist, novelist, youngster—we were born on the same day, but he arrived three hours later—has published over 150 works of fiction and non-fiction. Chicago Catholics and the Struggles within Their Church ...
December 20, 2010
Microfinance — Martin E. Marty
Sightings has no difficulty focusing on microfinance, which manages to be in the news, for better or worse, more days than not. Nonprofit microfinance is one of the biggest stories of religion-in-action around the world. If it deals mainly with the “...
December 13, 2010
Oklahoma’s Shariah Law Ban — Martin E. Marty
In late November Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a permanent injunction on the “Oklahoma shariah law ban” leaving Oklahoma at least temporarily unsaved by the “Save our State” Question 755. The constitutional amendment had been approved by 70% of t...