Sightings Articles
Collisions and Doubts -- Martin E. Marty
Where to draw "the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority" (James Madison)? Or, less felicitously, where to maintain or breach "the wall of separation between church and state" (Thomas Jefferson)? When to make use o...
May 16, 2005
Herberg's Relevance —-- Martin E. Marty
Talk about irrelevance: Think of Will Herberg's Protestant-Catholic-Jew when it was published exactly fifty years ago. Talk about relevance: Think of the same book in its golden jubilee year (there will be celebration publications). In the foreword t...
May 9, 2005
Readings on Church and State — Martin E. Marty
With all the stir about "church" and "state" these days, a friend asked for a brush-up reading list for summer. I was glad to work that up, and thought it might be of interest to Sightings readers -- a bonus issue, if you will. Here are some readings...
May 4, 2005
This Side of Theocracy — Martin E. Marty
In last week's U.S. News & World Report, Michael Barone reassured readers that the United States is not "headed toward a theocracy .... [W]hether the United States is on its way to becoming a theocracy is actually a silly question" ("Faith in Our Fut...
May 2, 2005
Considering Pope Benedict XVI — Martin E. Marty
Back from relative hiding on mounts and in wastelands during a papal funeral and a papal election, I have returned to the real world. Asked frequently for my take on Pope Benedict XVI, I have this to offer: -- Benedict XVI is a good choice of name...
April 25, 2005
Furious with Frist — Martin E. Marty
Consult the Sightings archive and you will find few columns that display a preoccupation with the Christian right. Many do discuss the evangelical cohort -- fundamentalist, evangelical, Pentecostal, Southern Baptist, conservative Protestant -- becaus...
April 18, 2005
Protestants and the Pope — Martin E. Marty
Twenty-five percent of polled Americans "prefer" being Catholic, fifty percent prefer being Protestant/Evangelical, and the rest prefer "other" -- Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Orthodox, or none of the above. How did the Protestant half behave after Pope J...
April 11, 2005
Making Headlines —Martin E. Marty
Never, never let go unchallenged the observations that our nation and its world used to be more religious, that citizens used to pay more attention to religion, that the media used to do more with religion than they do today. Once a year I do a reali...
April 4, 2005
Peace for Terri Schiavo — Martin E. Marty
Today down the street at a hospice or in your neighborhood hospital, one of many thousands of Americans is in a coma, or is "brain dead," or in a "persistent vegetative state," or any of a score of variations on the above. Unless the person is your p...
March 28, 2005
Mansfield's Manliness — Martin E. Marty
Harvard notable Harvey Mansfield's review article of two new editions of books by Theodore Roosevelt begins: "The most obvious feature of Theodore Roosevelt's life and thought is the one least celebrated today, his manliness. Somehow America in the t...