Sightings Articles
Hindu-Muslim Dispute Over Holy Site
Last week a high court in India announced its verdict on a disputed holy site in the city of Ayodhya. There is perhaps no place in India that better symbolizes contemporary Hindu-Muslim tension. Many Hindus believe Lord Ram, the hero of the Rama...
October 7, 2010
Religious Illiteracy in America — Martin E. Marty
The least surprising surprise—but the most commented-on—in the “U. S. Religious Knowledge Survey” issued by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life last Tuesday was picked up at once by Laurie Goodstein in The New York Times. As polls showed that t...
October 4, 2010
Reading the Bible in South Africa -- James Hoke
The 2010 FIFA World Cup demonstrated the unity and capability of the new South Africa. Despite doubts and negative press from around the world, South Africa rose to the occasion by producing stunning new soccer stadiums, making its streets safe and a...
September 30, 2010
America's Decline in Church Attendance by Martin E. Marty
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed grave concern over the decline of church participation in Western Europe. His trip to the UK last week provided opportunities for him to address it. Most commentators in religious and secular communications found almos...
September 26, 2010
The Success of this Passion by Peter A. Petitt
I participated this May in a script review of the Oberammergau Passion Play, and in late June saw the production. There the script opened more of its elegance to me, and I found several dimensions of theatricality that make the production’s impact si...
September 23, 2010
Stephen Hawking and the Religion versus Science Debate by Colin Bossen
Despite the long-standing decline in church attendance and an increasing number of people who identify as "spiritual but not religious," stirring up controversy about, or defending, the existence of God remains an excellent way to sell books. The Gra...
September 23, 2010
Until There are Churches in Saudi Arabia by Martin E. Marty
The tantrum—let’s call it what it is—against government, taxes, Muslims, and moderates continues to rage, and will through November and perhaps long after. A child in a tantrum eventually stops stomping and rejoins the family, where speaking and hear...
September 20, 2010
Scholars Recommend Rewrite of 400-Year-Old Passion Play by Eric J. Greenberg
This spring ten scholars came together to discuss the removal of anti-semitic elements from the world’s oldest Passion Play produced by the village of Oberammergau, Germany. The review of the play was part of a joint collaboration between the Anti-De...
September 16, 2010
Franklin Graham on Islam and Violence by Martin E. Marty
Aestas horribilis, Queen Elizabeth might call the summer just past, or those who care about civility in religious discourse and interfaith relations might judge it to have been. While Sightings took August off, forces, agencies, and voices of prejudi...
September 13, 2010
Sovereign Citizenship, Religion, and Law: The Case of Moorish Science by Spencer Dew
Over the past few weeks, a strange crime played out in Hampton, Virginia, as men unloaded trucks of furniture and belongings into an empty house still up for sale. The squatters eventually changed the locks, and took out a newspaper ad and posted fl...