Sightings Articles
The Armageddon-Minded — Martin E. Marty
"At Christian Rally for Israel, Robertson Pitches 'Messiah'," banners the Jewish weekly newspaper Forward (October 8). At a Succoth rally designed to show evangelical support of Israel, the televangelist "Pat Robertson opened his mouth and uncorked a...
October 25, 2004
Motivating a Movement? — Jon Pahl
It was a beautiful fall Sunday morning when the "Call to Renewal Rolling to Overcome Poverty" tour bus came to Media (PA) Presbyterian Church. It was the last stop on a fifteen city, twelve-day tour. I looked forward to hearing the Rev. Jim Wallis pr...
October 21, 2004
Estate Tax: Repelling the Repeal — Martin E. Marty
November is approaching, which, in the Protestant/Evangelical half of America, is often "Stewardship Month." For those whose charities' fiscal year begins in January, it is also the month for budget-setting. As a former pastor of a congregation, I re...
October 18, 2004
Black Churches: Liberation or Prosperity? — Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Does Christianity encourage or discourage political activism among African-Americans? Part of the answer lies in how black Christians understand the political implications of their relationship to Jesus Christ. Two traditions of black ministry, liber...
October 14, 2004
African-American Marriage — Martin E. Marty
Robert M. Franklin, Jr., Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, is emerging as a leader of the middle generation of African-American clergy. He is a former student and sometime col...
October 11, 2004
Campolo's Evangelical Critique — James L. Evans
Tony Campolo, professor and Christian preacher, believes evangelicalism has been hijacked. He makes his case in a provocative new book entitled Speaking My Mind. Campolo argues that evangelicals became captive to an alien agenda when they allowed out...
October 7, 2004
Human Rights Bedfellows — Martin E. Marty
David Neff, in October's Christianity Today, acknowledges that evangelicals, the front-liners in nineteenth and twentieth century Protestant missions, were slow to advance religious freedom in the places they served. Knowing that they needed to maint...
October 4, 2004
Presbyterians and Jews: Tensions and Opportunity — William A. Gralnick
Presbyterians have swatted a bit of a wasp's nest at the Church's recent General Assembly in Richmond, Virginia, and Jewish groups are the ones being stung. What's going on here? Seemingly out of the blue, the Assembly was presented with two resol...
September 30, 2004
A Canadian Perspective — Sharon Mattila
From a Canadian perspective, the arbitrary banning of Swiss Muslim Professor Tariq Ramadan from the U.S. reported in Martin Marty's recent Sightings column ("Learning from Tariq Ramadan," September 13) was light treatment. By this, I do not mean t...
September 23, 2004
Editorializing — Martin E. Marty
Sightings editor Elizabeth Alvarez consulted with Professor Wendy Doniger, director of the Martin Marty Center, our host, and myself, Sightings' Monday guest, about editorial topics and tone between now and November 2. The conversation provides me a...