Sightings Articles
Religion and Other Animals — Paul Waldau
A March 2008 news item from the BBC, "'Praying' dog at Japanese temple," opened with the lines, "Attendance at a Buddhist temple in Japan has increased since the temple's pet, a two-year-old dog, has joined in the daily prayers. Conan, a Chihuahua, s...
May 29, 2008
Differentism — Martin E. Marty
"Women Blaze an Interfaith Trail: Two teachers become first Jewish female and first Muslim female to receive advanced degrees from Catholic Theological Union," and "She's First Jewish Graduate of Catholic Theological Union" were headlines in The Chic...
May 26, 2008
When Prosecutors Grapple with Prayer — Shawn F. Peters
In recent months, prosecutors in both Oregon and Wisconsin have been confronted with a complex problem: Should parents who choose to treat their children's illnesses with prayer rather than medicine be charged with abuse, neglect, or even manslaughte...
May 22, 2008
On the IRS — Martin E. Marty
Billy James Hargis, a now forgotten but once towering figure on the not yet couth religious right, built a radio ministry and developed an anti-Communist front that has to be remembered as rabid. The preacher of righteousness was so overtly political...
May 19, 2008
The Legal Challenges of Religious Polygamy — John Witte, Jr.
A century and a half ago, Mormons made national headlines by claiming a First Amendment right to practice polygamy, despite criminal laws against it. In four cases from 1879 to 1890, the United States Supreme Court firmly rejected their claim, and th...
May 15, 2008
Manifesto — Martin E. Marty
A week from Sunday we will join millions of worshipers in many lands and churches in dusting off the ancient church's Athanasian Creed in a Trinity Sunday ritual. As a boy I would join in confessing incomprehensibly that "the Father [is] incomprehens...
May 12, 2008
The Persistence of Eliade's Memory — Jeremy Biles
Released this week on DVD, Francis Ford Coppola's film Youth Without Youth, based on the novella of the same name by celebrated historian of religions Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), opens with a montage of clocks woozily stretching and bending. These flu...
May 8, 2008
The Russian Orthodox Scene — Martin E. Marty
Conflicts over religion in American politics and among forces of "the religions" and the threats these pose (e.g. Muslim/Hindu) are so preoccupying, so headline- and primetime-grabbing, that many tense subjects of great import get overlooked. Thanks ...
May 5, 2008
Voodoo's Quest for Respect — Spencer Dew
Headlines early last month, announcing the enthronement of what the New York Times called "Voodoo's Pope," drew attention to one of the world's most misunderstood and frequently maligned religions. The official title of the newly-created position is ...
May 1, 2008
Decline — Martin E. Marty
Papal trips, presidential campaigns, polygamist-raids, and other events that warrant billboard-sized headlines are easy enough to sight for Sightings, but they block out the vision of smaller-appearing events that, taken together, add up to portentou...