Sightings Articles
Palestinian Christians -- Martin E. Marty
Sightings was originally conceived as a means for calling the attention of more of the public to the roles religion plays in public life. That was a few years ago, when coverage of religion was comparatively slight and rare. Today, by contrast, it is...
January 16, 2006
Correcting Loconte -- Martin E. Marty
Ask a friendly neighborhood liberal Protestant, if you can find one, who could be a poster-person for the religious left—someone who applies biblical prophecy to contemporary issues. Theologian Stanley Hauerwas is liberal. He attacks Christian libera...
January 9, 2006
Observing the Holidays -- Martin E. Marty
On this day after the Festival of the Nativity, let's take off from sighting religious news. Relax—it's 340 days until the next "December wars" break out. This is a "down" week for everyone but store clerks, until Saturday, New Year's Eve (St. Sylves...
December 19, 2005
Comments on Context -- Martin E. Marty
"December wars": Do we need, and would you want, one more op-ed about them? Already fifty years ago, when I began to moonlight in journalism, we were worrying about the secularization and commercialization of Christmas. Now the debate revolves around...
December 12, 2005
Down But Not Out -- Martin E. Marty
In his December 1 column, David Brooks calls ours "The Age of Skepticism" (New York Times). Reliably conservative as always, Brooks surveys the national scene. His verdict: The Iraq War and US citizens' attitudes? Down. Trust in government? Down. In ...
December 5, 2005
Gambling with Values and Morals -- Martin E. Marty
While our gazes were averted for some months, the Christian Right remained in the news. Though moderate publications like Christianity Today scrupulously cover the financial, plagiarism, and sexual scandals that afflict especially the more entreprene...
November 28, 2005
Rights for Children -- Martin E. Marty
Two Octobers ago, former President Jimmy Carter posed a question and issued a challenge to the students and faculty of Emory University's School of Law: Could not one law school devote itself to addressing why the United States has not ratified the U...
November 17, 2005
Interfaith Excursions -- Martin E. Marty
Most sightings of religion in public life rely on print or screen. This week, let them be in person. My "interfaith" week began with friendly-to-religions humanists in an ad hoc presentation at the Chicago Humanities Festival. Next it was to Louisvil...
November 14, 2005
Bishops and Budgets -- Martin E. Marty
Doing sightings in Friday and Saturday newspapers no longer means having to be satisfied with church ads, church bulletin notices, and the like. The Chicago Sun-Times licenses religion writer Cathleen Falsani not only to be cucumber cool and objectiv...