Sightings Articles
Hispanic Muslims? An In-depth Look at a Little Known but Growing U.S. Minority — Ken Chitwood
In the early 1990s, the media took notice of the estimated 40,000-200,000 Hispanic Muslims living in the U.S. and started to chronicle their stories and their “reversions” (the preferred term of Hispanic Muslims who view conversion as a return to His...
October 31, 2013
Evangelical Pullback/Retreat - Martin E. Marty
The public is getting used to headlines like these: “Evangelical Leader Preaches Pullback from Culture Wars” and “Southern Baptists Sounding Full-scale Retreat in Culture War?” The former is from The Wall Street Journal and the latter from Renew Amer...
October 28, 2013
Christian or Not, Ghanaians Continue to Rely on Traditional Healers - Alice Brown
Ghana is a predominately Christian country, with only a small fraction of the population following “traditional” religious practices. According to a 2010 census, 71 percent of Ghana’s 25 million people identify themselves as Christian, while only 5 p...
October 24, 2013
Thanksgiving and Secularization — Martin E. Marty
Having had enough of talk about Congress and the Affordable Care Act and “default,” let’s look ahead, not back. I propose a glance at the calendar, with Thanksgiving Day several weeks off. It is in the news already because Macy’s stores, one of which...
October 21, 2013
Do Evangelicals Really Like Our Planet? - Noah Toly
This past summer, evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll made headlines for his comments at the Catalyst Conference in Dallas, where he reportedly said, “I know who made the environment. He’s coming back and he’s going to burn it all up. So yes, I drive an...
October 17, 2013
In Surprise Move, Evangelical Moody Bible Institute Drops Its Alcohol Ban - Martin E. Marty
The Moody Bible Institute made national news last week when it dropped the ban on drinking of wine on the part of faculty members and staff. Born on Dwight L. Moody’s birthday, able to keep an eye on the Moody Bible Institute from my apartment’s w...
October 14, 2013
Will D. Campbell: An Unconventional Approach to Racial Reconciliation — Jeff Jay
Several events this past summer brutally reminded everyone that race is still a volatile issue in America fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Tense conflicts followed one after another: food-show host Paula Deen's ...
October 10, 2013
Census: Many U.S. Jews Are Cultural Not Religious — Martin E. Marty
There are more Lutherans (5.5 million) in Tanzania than there are Jews (5.4 million) in the United States. There are more Southern Baptists in the United States than there are Jews in the whole world. While religions are by no means to be valued on t...
October 7, 2013
Is Male Model Posing on Bed Sexy? Not If He's a Hasid! — Sarah Imhoff
Hasidim are not known for their affinity for social media, so it came as a surprise to see photographs of the 32-year old Hasidic Jew, Satmar Hasid Yoel Weisshaus, appear in a series of American Apparel ads posted on the photo-blogging site, Tumblr. ...
October 3, 2013
Billy Graham Taught Christians New Ways of Being in the World -- Martin E. Marty
Billy Graham was feted in a conference at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, September 26-28, 2013. The Institute for the Study of Evangelicals planned and hosted the event, which featured a dozen substantial in-process chapters ...