Sightings Articles
The Russian Orthodox Scene — Martin E. Marty
Conflicts over religion in American politics and among forces of "the religions" and the threats these pose (e.g. Muslim/Hindu) are so preoccupying, so headline- and primetime-grabbing, that many tense subjects of great import get overlooked. Thanks ...
May 5, 2008
Decline — Martin E. Marty
Papal trips, presidential campaigns, polygamist-raids, and other events that warrant billboard-sized headlines are easy enough to sight for Sightings, but they block out the vision of smaller-appearing events that, taken together, add up to portentou...
April 28, 2008
An Islamless World — Martin E. Marty
An early deadline prevents our commenting on the papal visit, the religious theme of the week. So, another topic: Last week we sighted the hard-to-miss, politically-minded preacher Rod Parsley of Ohio, who wants the Christian United States to wage wa...
April 21, 2008
Rod Parsley on Islam — Martin E. Marty
William Franklin Graham famously called Islam a wicked and evil religion, but I don't think he called for its extinction through violence, as in war. Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, a wild politician, did call for the bombing of Mecca to shatter t...
April 14, 2008
The Pope on Immigration — Martin E. Marty
Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. visit next week during an election year will find him cast, willy nilly, in a political role. The chiding of Catholic voters, bishops and priests, and politicians who do not make enough of churchly anti-abortion positions wil...
April 7, 2008
Conversion — Martin E. Marty
Many sincere religious changings occur through inter-faith marriages or after quiet searches, while the publicized, stormier versions of conversion produce what their left-behind communities call "apostates." The difference shows up terminologically;...
March 31, 2008
Public Preaching — Martin E. Marty
Public Pulpits by friend Steven M. Tipton of Emory is a timely, historically-informed analysis of "Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life." The "pulpit" is largely metaphoric here, because Tipton's accent is on policy-m...
March 24, 2008
Torture — Martin E. Marty
No sooner had torture become national policy in the United States, religious leaders were rallying to denounce it. A day or two after the proposal opposing its legitimation was vetoed and thus defeated, Protestant, Evangelical, Muslim, and Jewish lea...
March 17, 2008
Jacob Neusner on Catholic Prayer — Martin E. Marty
A week from Friday is Good Friday, a most solemn day for Christians. It is also a problem day for Jews, and for the evident Christian majority which is (or wants to be) sensitive to the sensibilities of Jews. For centuries the most painful element in...
March 10, 2008
Switching and Shopping — Martin E. Marty
"Switching Denominations" and "Shopping for Religion" made the main religious headlines last week because the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released an important new survey – the broadest and biggest yet – of church affiliations and religious...