Sightings Articles
Interfaith Louisville -- Martin E. Marty
Sighting interfaith groups and movements nationally serves one kind of purpose. But just as "all politics is local" (and the local is the national/global), interfaith endeavors witnessed up close, in particular locales, are especially revealing. ...
November 25, 2002
Religious Voices in Foreign Policy -- Edward LeRoy Long, Jr.
Martin Marty's report of PBS's "America in the World" and the conversations at the Wye Plantation (November 11) raised some significant issues. I was particularly struck by the report of Nathan Baxter's assertion that religious communities are among ...
November 21, 2002
Bishops' Press -- Martin E. Marty
Chicago's Cardinal Francis George wryly but very sadly told the press at the Catholic bishops' meeting in Washington, "At this moment you probably have more credibility than I have. They'll believe you rather than believe me, so I would ask you to co...
November 18, 2002
Carter's Civil Christianity -- Jon Pahl
George Will's recent, crabbed critique of Jimmy Carter's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, in Newsweek (October 28, 2002) contrasts remarkably with the agenda of Carter's own civil Christianity -- and thus ironically highlights how worthy Carter is...
November 14, 2002
By the People -- Martin E. Marty
"By the People," a sixteen-month initiative from MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, is designed to encourage citizen involvement in a conversation on "America in the World." Preparing for a National Issues Convention of randomly-chosen citizen-delegates, Ro...
November 11, 2002
Judging Rightly -- James L. Evans
Judge Myron Thompson of the U.S. Middle District Court of Alabama may have one of the trickiest jobs in America right now. This federal judge has the unenviable task of presiding over a law suit filed by the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of C...
November 7, 2002
Who's Counting? -- Martin E. Marty
Who's counting? Answer: the United Jewish Communities, through the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01, which has been counting Jews and measuring Judaism in the United States. Sponsors and commentators use superlatives: largest, most detailed,...
November 4, 2002
Niebuhr and U.S. Restraint -- Dan Malotky
Reinhold Niebuhr, the great American theologian, had many and varied things to say about the use of military force. A pacifist early in his life, he supported our involvement in World War I, became a pacifist again in response to Versailles, and late...
October 31, 2002
The USA and Your Chevrolet -- Martin E. Marty
Thursday's Sightings by John P. Crossley (October 24, 2002) reviewed well the status of debates on how courts handle "under God" clauses and other issues on the frontline of "church-state" issues. Reading it called to mind the fact that whiners about...
October 28, 2002
Under God -- John P. Crossley
If the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the decision of its three-judge panel regarding the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, I believe the Supreme Court would do the nation a favor by refusing to hear the inevitable appeal. Th...