Sightings Articles
"God Decides Who Goes to Heaven, Not George W. Bush" -- Martin E. Marty
Unfair! That is what we would have to say in response to a July 21 column by Michael Kinsley, who writes for (and edits) SLATE, the Internet magazine of opinion. Eric Greenberg, of the JEWISH WEEKLY, called it to our attention and asked for comment...
August 2, 1999
Considering Candidates' Religion: What It Can Mean for the Vote -- Peggy Fletcher Stack
On July 1, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah threw his hat into the already crowded ring of presidential candidates. The four-term Republican is only the third practicing Mormon ever to run for president. Church founder Joseph Smith, feeling that his ...
July 29, 1999
Rites of Mourning and a Grand Narrative -- Martin E. Marty
Discussions continue: Do American citizens share any "grand narrative," any common framework of stories that helps bind them? Did they ever, or should we be content to be "storyless" people, constituted by separate and conflicting stories, each appro...
July 27, 1999
A Public Religion Snapshot -- Martin E. Marty
The concept of public religion can seem abstract, remote, ethereal, and hard to grasp. However anyone who monitors its appearances, as we do, knows that public religion seen up close is concrete, material, and graspable. It appears when humans with n...
July 22, 1999
Who Publishes Religion Books? -- Martin E. Marty
Most "Sightings" deal with events and trends. Now and then we like to helpother "Sighters," as we did recently by calling attention to a book on religion reporting. Today we return to the scene of dissemination and again refer to a book that missed...
July 21, 1999
Unitarians, Mormons, and Southern Baptists: Observations from Salt Lake City -- Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Unitarian Universalists, who were in Salt Lake City recently for their annual meeting, could not have presented a more distinct counterpoint to the state's dominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the ...
July 19, 1999
Pluralism in the Military -- Martin E. Marty
"Well, if you're not Catholic, or Protestant, or Hebrew, what in blazes are you?" an army sergeant barked to "some theologically precise recruit (probably a high-church Episcopalian) who insisted he was neither Catholic or Protestant or Jewish." So r...
July 15, 1999
Religion Reporting How To -- Martin E. Marty
Many hundreds of the many thousands who receive "Sightings" are themselves "sighters." That is, as talk show hosts, editors, reporters, writers, public relationists, advertisers, educators, and more, they let us know that they and we together are w...
July 13, 1999
The Invisible Organization: Religion and Politics in Cyberspace -- Martin E. Marty
The World Church of the Creator, the white supremacist movement that helped impel Benjamin Smith to go on a hate-crime murdering spree, propagated itself online. Like many other hate groups, it has had a Web site, and like so many others, it promotes...
July 9, 1999
A New Temple or a Vacant Lot? Mormons Consider Symbols of the Past -- Peggy Fletcher Stack
On Easter Sunday, Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley announced to an astonished crowd of believers in Salt Lake City and thousands more watching via satellite that the church was going to rebuild a temple in Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo is now a sleepy ...