Sightings Articles
Good for the Gander? The Iraqi Constitution and American Democracy -- Brett T. Wilmot
Whether you are liberal or conservative, believe that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was justified or not, most of us probably can agree that the establishment of a democratic government in Baghdad would represent a significant improvement over the pre...
August 3, 2006
Civic Pedagogy and Violence — Martin E. Marty
Readers of Sightings through most of a decade may have noticed that the concept driving it is "pedagogy," not "ideology." What José Ortega y Gasset called being a "civic pedagogue" is appealing as a vocation. Some subscribers, to most of whom we cann...
July 31, 2006
Going the Way of Masonry — Martin E. Marty
Summer travels off the interstate highways and onto byways, where vestiges of earlier American civilization(s) linger, often lead to passing visions of neglected, boarded-up, or refashioned Masonic Lodge buildings. Just as numberless Catholic church ...
July 24, 2006
New World Blood Libel — Spencer Dew
Last month in Tampa, Florida, a grave was robbed. The body of a six-year-old boy killed by a car in 1975 was stolen. Police immediately speculated, publicly, that this crime was "more" than vandalism: "We are just leaning toward it being cult related...
July 20, 2006
The Joy of Stewardship — Martin E. Marty
Religious commentators have had much to say (as well they should) over the recent philanthropic moves of Warren Buffett and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Among the critics, one offers theological and logical emphases that bear examination. J...
July 17, 2006
Knitting Ministries — Terren Ilana Wein
Knitting — that domestic art that most of us associate with our grandmothers — is experiencing a public renaissance. Coffee shops are frequented by knitters and their portable paraphernalia (sometimes part of a "knit and bitch" group); blogs and comm...
July 13, 2006
OT, NT, and QT — Martin E. Marty
I don't know whether this is making a mountain out of a mountain or only a bigger molehill out of a little molehill: It's a tiny item in a brisk and enjoyable local column, one that trades on a syndrome evidenced in our daily readings having to do wi...
July 10, 2006
Parental Guidance in Matters of Faith — James L. Evans
In the latest clash between fundamentalist Christianity and the rest of the world, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently assigned a PG rating to an explicitly Christian film. The movie, Facing the Giants, is the story of a footbal...
July 6, 2006
"Religiosecular" Revisited — Martin E. Marty
No, it has not been a slow week, and yes, there were plenty of religion-in-culture events on which to focus our "sightings." However, we have some catch-up work left over from when, two weeks ago, I asked, "Any takers?" ("Religiosecular Meditations,"...
July 3, 2006
Jesusless: The Church of Conservatism — Robert S. McElvaine
Editor's Note: Today's issue of Sightings contains two articles, by Jerome Eric Copulsky and by Robert S. McElvaine, treating Ann Coulter's best-selling book Godless: The Church of Liberalism. As always, the opinions expressed in these articles ar...