Sightings Articles
MainlineDecline, Decline-Talk, and Decline-ism -- Martin E. Marty
Published in late 1959, my first book, The New Shape of American Religion, cited several mainstream commentators and spotted numerous trends to suggest that the then-much-noticed “revival of interest” in religion had crested in 1958. It’s bad manners...
July 22, 2013
Religion in Canada: De-Christianization Continues Apace -- John Stackhouse
The 2011 Canadian census data regarding religion was recently released by Statistics Canada, the federal agency that tells us Canadians, and interested others, what to make of the decennial censuses taken by the government. The main plotline is t...
July 18, 2013
Black Churches Divided Over Same-Sex Marriage -- Martin E. Marty
Two weeks ago Sightings picked up on some lines written by the influential Evangelical-oriented author, Eric Metaxas. “Not so fast,” he wisely enough cautioned those who consider legalized, same-sex marriage to be inevitable. And yet, hours after he ...
July 15, 2013
Is Violence Antithetical to Religion?
Against the backdrop of the recently reignited and widely publicized violence in Egypt, violence that has included calls forjihadagainst President Mohamed Morsi’s opponents, I was struck by a thought-provoking article in Time (July 1, 2013) that deta...
July 11, 2013
Competing Independence Day Ads About Religion Are Both Misleading -- Martin E. Marty
Sociologist Rodney Stark’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “The Myth of Unreligious America,” is his well-stated rejoinder to other sociologists, demographers, and religious leaders who imply that the “game is all over” for religion and religious...
July 8, 2013
This Flag Is Presented on Behalf of a Grateful Nation -- Jeanne Bishop
The Fourth of July is a good day to remember the Rev. John Boyle, warrior turned healer, who left this world not long ago....
July 4, 2013
Religious Expectations of the Presidency -- Martin E. Marty
The two front-runners for the Republican and Democratic nominations to be president get scrutinized daily for their attitudes toward and comments on religion. So do the two front-runners-up. All this is happening a year early. Come convention time ...
July 2, 2013
Epic? Epochal? The Furor Over Same-Sex Marriage -- Martin E. Marty
True to our title-metaphor “Sightings,” we regularly write about seeing, seeking, squinting, and finding evidences of religion in public life. The month of June provided many opportunities (some of them almost blinding!) to recognize religion’s role ...
July 1, 2013
Evangelical Ministry to Gays and Lesbians Admits It Caused Harm -- Martin E. Marty
Notice the tenses in Wikipedia’s entry on “Exodus International” posted only a day or two after events necessitated a change from the word “is” to “was”. Quote: “Exodus International was a non-profit interdenominational ex-gay Christian organization ...