Sightings Articles
America's Decline in Church Attendance by Martin E. Marty
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed grave concern over the decline of church participation in Western Europe. His trip to the UK last week provided opportunities for him to address it. Most commentators in religious and secular communications found almos...
September 26, 2010
Until There are Churches in Saudi Arabia by Martin E. Marty
The tantrum—let’s call it what it is—against government, taxes, Muslims, and moderates continues to rage, and will through November and perhaps long after. A child in a tantrum eventually stops stomping and rejoins the family, where speaking and hear...
September 20, 2010
Franklin Graham on Islam and Violence by Martin E. Marty
Aestas horribilis, Queen Elizabeth might call the summer just past, or those who care about civility in religious discourse and interfaith relations might judge it to have been. While Sightings took August off, forces, agencies, and voices of prejudi...
September 13, 2010
Classroom Controversy by Martin E. Marty
Anyone who spends over a half century at the center and the margins of higher academe, as I have, knows better than to get involved with tenure disputes or hirings and firings of faculty. The further away from the scene of conflict one is, the dimme...
July 26, 2010
Jesus and America by Martin E. Marty
“If you would like to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, Call Need Him Ministry.” That invitation appears at the bottom of a full-page Hobby Lobby ad that ran in scores, if not hundreds, of newspapers a fortnight ago, appropriately on the Fourth of July...
July 19, 2010
Reporting on the God Gap by Martin E. Marty
“A New Roadmap for Reaching Religious Americans on Public Policy Issues” is the subtitle for Beyond the God Gap, a 49-page report and chart for those who are trying to find their way among religious groups as they show up in politics and culture. Th...
July 12, 2010
Christianity Going South by Martin E. Marty
Sightings authors often comment on religion in the United States rather than "the rest of the world," but through the years have shown regularly how artificial or at least permeable such geographical distinctions are when it comes to religion. Phili...
July 5, 2010
Extinction by Martin E. Marty
The blue sky above and the blue lake below my window helped inspire hopes on a weekend morning for a beautiful, untroubled summer day. Then a jostling alert and a son’s apocalyptic posting linked me to an MSNBC item headed by the question, “Will hum...
June 27, 2010
Giving USA by Martin E. Marty
The Chronicle of Philanthropy chronicles – you guessed it – philanthropy, and in the June 17th issue reports on Giving USA for 2009. While the category of religion may not always overwhelm casual readers of trend-reports, religious giving is much wa...
June 21, 2010
Chosen People by Martin E. Marty
The grand theological themes don’t fade or disappear from headlines or prime time. “Being chosen,” as in the case of biblical or modern Israel, is the grand theological theme today. My clippings and blog-printout file bulges with records of renewed...