Sightings Articles
The Reagan Mantle — Martin E. Marty
Friday at 4:44, four papers on our porch sometimes provide editorial-opinion texts for Sightings on deadline day. This past Friday (June 11), President Reagan's funeral gave a theme to several, but not all. In the Chicago Tribune, Richard Norton S...
June 14, 2004
Rainbow Communion — Courtney S. Wilder
Traditionally, Christian observation of Pentecost has recalled and celebrated the conversion of diverse peoples. The apostles preached to "devout Jews from every nation under heaven," and "each one heard them speaking in the native language of each" ...
June 10, 2004
Defenders of the Creed — Martin E. Marty
In Cappadocia, Istanbul, and Ephesus two weeks ago, we visited the sites (ancient "Asia Minor") where Christian creeds were shaped. On a pleasure trip with friends, I did not work hard enough to claim a tax deduction, but I did work some. Having had ...
June 7, 2004
Prayer Accountability — Martin E. Marty
Those of us who find intercession ("prayer for others") to be a high point in worship have something new about which to be concerned. Lifting up the names of service people in danger, collegians away from home, and people traveling is an act that usu...
June 1, 2004
Georgetown Pluralism — Martin E. Marty
Where are the Muslim moderates, abroad and at home? Let's leave the problem of the hidden Muslim moderate in Egypt or Indonesia or, for that matter, Iraq for another day. Complaints are regularly made that spokespersons for moderates in our domestic ...
May 27, 2004
The Prayerful Spirit — J. Andrew Daugherty
As we have formally done every year since 1952 (and informally before that), our country recently observed a National Day of Prayer. Permanently slated for the first Thursday in May during the Reagan administration, this day is set aside to acknowled...
May 20, 2004
Catholic Elections — Martin E. Marty
Sightings likes to be current. Most frequently we comment on what we find in our scope of the week's news coverage. This week's news, while the basis for today's column, has also prompted us to revisit coverage of an older story -- 44 years old in fa...
May 17, 2004
Hyper- and Havoc in Hindu Studies — Martin E. Marty
On December 27, 1986 Arthur Hertzberg, Yvonne Haddad, and I were asked by the American Historical Association (AHA) to lead a plenary session on militant fundamentalisms in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. That was the first time I dealt with the su...
May 10, 2004
Internet and Ignorance — Ellen Haskell
In the weeks before Passover and Easter, a search on the word "Jew" at the popular Internet search engine Google returned a vehemently anti-Jewish site, JewWatch.com, as the first link. "Jewish Mind Control," "Jewish Power Lords," and "Jewish-Run Org...
May 6, 2004
Save Your Breath — Martin E. Marty
"We have written previously to you voicing our concerns … about protecting God's gift of air .... We now request an opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss our concerns." This request ranks at the top in the annals of "Exercises in Futil...