Sightings Articles
True Stories by Martin E. Marty
You know the old joke: When someone absolutely diabolical died, the rabbi asked if anyone wanted to say anything about him at the funeral. No one dared, as there was nothing nice to say. Eventually one stood up and said, “His brother was even wors...
January 18, 2010
Persecuted by Martin E. Marty
Christians, who through the centuries have often been persecutors, in our time often are persecutees. Those of us who try to keep an eye on and have a heart for suffering Christians have to log horror stories weekly. In just a few January days we w...
January 11, 2010
Farewell to Peter Steinfels by Martin E. Marty
Peter Steinfels on Saturday ended a twenty-year run as a columnist in the New York Times, signing off his “Beliefs” column, which was born January 6, 1990. He describes his reasoning about the departure in the January 2nd edition of the paper, which...
January 4, 2010
Searching for God — Martin E. Marty
Last week Sightings looked at bearish signs on the front where religion is practiced (a bit less) in post-Christendom. This week instead of a bear we’ll note the chameleon-like character of religious commitment, or semi-commitment in the same part o...
December 21, 2009
Decline in Conservative Churches — Martin E. Marty
Religion-in-public news last week featured a Pew poll that demonstrated how many Americans mix faiths. More on that in some other week. This week’s stories raise a screech question: Will there long be faiths to mix in America? “Faiths” here means...
December 14, 2009
Decline in Conservative Churches — Martin E. Marty
Religion-in-public news last week featured a Pew poll that demonstrated how many Americans mix faiths. More on that in some other week. This week’s stories raise a screech question: Will there long be faiths to mix in America? “Faiths” here means...
December 14, 2009
The Prosperity Gospel and the Financial Crisis — Martin E. Marty
To explain my disappearance during November: I was enjoying and lecturing on an “Around the World in a Private Jet” tour with alumni from several schools. Machu Picchu, Tibet, and other high points were high points on our 33,000-mile odyssey. Now I...
December 7, 2009
Congregational Economics — Martin E. Marty
Covering “public religion” is our assignment. To many, reporting on congregations and, worse, on “giving,” looks private, personal, beside the public point. They should look again: By far the largest sector of charitable giving is to and through r...
November 2, 2009
Anglicans and Rome — Martin E. Marty
The top ecumenical – some are saying un- or anti-ecumenical – news of the year occurred October 20th with a Vatican announcement. Bypassing forty years of Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations-cum-negotiations and blindsiding Archbishop Rowan Willia...
October 26, 2009
Anglicans and Rome — Martin E. Marty
The top ecumenical – some are saying un- or anti-ecumenical – news of the year occurred October 20th with a Vatican announcement. Bypassing forty years of Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations-cum-negotiations and blindsiding Archbishop Rowan Willia...