Sightings Articles
#JeSuisCharlie: Blasphemy in Hinduism and Censorship in India
Free speech, under attack in France, is also contested in India, where violence ignited by videos or messages deemed “blasphemous” or “insulting” by orthodox Hindus has long been a reality. In 2014 alone, eighty-five religion-related attacks on the m...
January 22, 2015
Ending Female Genital Cutting: Is Political Correctness Getting in the Way?
Discussions about female genital cutting have been controversial because they are embedded in moral universalist and cultural relativist positions...
January 15, 2015
Blasphemy and Freedom -- Martin E. Marty
The Charlie Hebdo incident: we cannot not sight it and refrain from all comment. ...
January 12, 2015
In 2014, Marriage and Contraception Dominated US Religion News
marriage and contraception dominated 2014’s domestic religion news headlines. ...
January 8, 2015
Handel's Messiah: A Christmas Oratorio? -- Emily C. Hoyler
The Christian season of Advent abounds with traditions that have been upheld, invented, and reimagined over the centuries. In the West, one such tradition is attending Handel’s oratorio, Messiah (1741), with its famed “Hallelujah” chorus. Every Decem...
December 25, 2014
Post-War on Christmas -- Martin E. Marty
Now that the “War on Christmas” is over—its publicist, Fox News Bill O’Reilly, announced this finding last week—we can survey the post-war terrain. We consider it to be one episode in the ongoing unfolding of what Sightings keeps citing as a “religio...
December 22, 2014
The Bioethics of Euthanasia in India: Past and Present
Hinduism’s response to the question of euthanasia...