Sightings Articles
Of Sociology, Theology, and Bibliography -- Martin E. Marty
To publish is, by definition, to go public. So religious publishing fits our category of "public religion." Evangelical publishing has gone public in such impressive ways that secular publishers compete for its authors and markets, and some (bad) eva...
July 22, 2002
The True, the False, and the Useful -- Martin E. Marty
Eighteenth-century historian Edward Gibbon wrote of the Antonines' Rome: "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as...
July 8, 2002
Concerning Faith-based Initiatives -- Martin E. Marty
Last week John J. DiIulio, Jr., who momentarily was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, issued an angry manifesto. He foresees a "New Civil Rights Struggle." Read him on the editorial page of the The Wall Stre...
June 24, 2002
Pornography and American Protestantism -- Martin E. Marty
"Conservatives Decry Ruling on Kid Porn," read a Religion News Service headline in May 22-29 issue of HYPERLINK "http://www.christiancentury.org/" The Christian Century identifying Christian conservative groups as main critics of the recent U. S. Su...
June 10, 2002
Soundings Old and New -- Martin E. Marty
I attended two fiftieth reunions with fellow seminary alumni last weekend, having Masters of Divinity diplomas from both Concordia in St. Louis and utheran in Chicago. At the former I was chosen to speak to all alumni on social change in the new 21st...
June 3, 2002
The Pulse of American Atheism -- Martin E. Marty
To change the subject—there are more subjects than one in the world of religion, though one might not know it this season—let's turn our sights to the world of non-religion, or anti-religion, or at least a-theism and anti-theism. That is what writer ...
May 28, 2002
Headlines as Headlines -- Martin E. Marty
Belaboring the theme that R. Scott Appleby treated with his typical sense of balance in Sightings last week, let me return to the topic of how media treat clerical abuse scandals. I look forward to the day when we can move beyond this urgent theme. ...
May 20, 2002
Taxing Situations -- Martin E. Marty
Motivated by panic over the Goldwater presidential campaign, the editors of The Christian Century briefly in 1964 supported Lyndon B. Johnson, and said so on their cover. Roughshod-riding evangelist Billy James Hargis then sicced the IRS on the magaz...
May 13, 2002
Bad Timing, Worse Deeds -- Martin E. Marty
These ought to be good days for "institutional religion." Signs in many directions point to fresh curiosities about religion. The Religion and Ethics News Weekly television people and U. S. News and World Report in April released poll data whose bott...
May 6, 2002
Out of Bounds -- Martin E. Marty
Only two months ago William A. Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights listed "The Ten Worst Anti-Catholic Atrocities of 2002" in America (February 18). Some examples certainly were atrocious, e.g. a Time Out New York listing of...