Sightings Articles
Wheaton's New Community — Martin E. Marty
When a liberal arts college adapts a new behavior code, other local colleges and the press yawn. But when Wheaton College in Illinois, the flagship of evangelical colleges, issued their "New Community Covenant" recently, the "allowing dancing" clause...
March 3, 2003
Religion: Front and Center — Martin E. Marty
"Is There Any Non-Religious News Anymore?" Provocative, hyperbolic, ironic? Yes. But also my assigned topic at the Journalism School at the University of Nebraska some months ago. Both university professors and journalists, as well as other media pro...
February 24, 2003
Watchword: Imperium — Martin E. Marty
Columnist Cathleen Falsani (Chicago Sun-Times, February 14) summed up what reporters almost nationwide have concluded: "For once, religious leaders of virtually all persuasions are speaking with one voice. Or pretty close to it. They are begging for ...
February 17, 2003
The Heavens — Martin E. Marty
Andrew Greeley's new Religion in Europe at the End of the Second Millennium (Transaction) finds that 86 percent of people in Ireland and only 21 percent in "East Germany" believe in heaven. Here in the States, we tend to believe more like the Irish. ...
February 10, 2003
Another Witness — Martin E. Marty
Religious, theological, and spiritual justifications for starting or opposing an invasion of Iraq dominate current coverage. Most Europeans are bemused and many Americans are non-plussed by the dominance of "Evangelical" pro-war talk. Reporting on th...
February 3, 2003
And Now a Word from. — Martin E. Marty
"Don't use your publication as a free bulletin board!" That's the advice publishers give editors and writers. "Let people pay for ads," they say. Or: "Once you start that you'll be besieged and can never stop!" In our covenant with you subscribers, w...
January 27, 2003
Ryan's Commute — Martin E. Marty
When former Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 inmates on Illinois's Death Row earlier this month, he prompted a new round of intense theological and moral debate. Chicago Sun-Times columnist John O'Sullivan weighed in ...
January 20, 2003
History Today — Martin E. Marty
Among humanistic and social scientific academic disciplines, history is one of the least secularized, not because historians are necessarily more pious than others, but because so much of the past that they study is so rich in religious resources. La...
January 13, 2003
Wall Street Journal -- Martin E. Marty
Sightings research begins early in the morning, after four daily newspapers thud onto our porch at 4:45 a.m. Among them is the Wall Street Journal. At our house we think of it as two papers: informative and generally fair-minded news coverage coupled...
January 6, 2003
Year's End -- Martin E. Marty
This week the various religious periodicals and internet outlets issue their "Top Ten" religion news stories of 2002. Rather than add to the listings, Sightings will end the year commenting on the great increase in the number of stories to rank. The ...