Sightings Articles
Critique of Normalcy — Jeremy Biles
Those who partake of the lonely occupation of listening to late-night radio know that this sector of American media can be rather squalid. Much of what occupies the AM airwaves during those hours when normal people are sleeping is divided between dro...
March 25, 2004
Emergent — Martin E. Marty
"This is not your usual kind of venue, is it?" "Are you going to write it up?" Questions about "it" by some participants move me to report on the Emergent Convention and National Pastors Convention in San Diego, sponsored by Youth Specialties and ...
March 22, 2004
Quiet Agnosticism, Mild Disdain — Richard L. Baker, Jr.
Martin Marty argues that self-proclaimed “free-thinkers” in America have been small in number and marginal in influence -- largely bogeymen conjured by religious groups to tar their enemies and fill their coffers ("Tracking the Nones," Sightings, 2/1...
March 18, 2004
Sandfly Witness — Martin E. Marty
Where are the protesting and dissenting voices of the church? We often hear that question asked, sometimes tauntingly, sometimes plaintively. Decades ago, Catholic, Jewish, Mainline, and sometimes Evangelical religious leaders were up front in demons...
March 15, 2004
Special Gibson
Is Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, anti-Semitic? Can any account of the death of Jesus which is based on the gospels not be? The four canonical gospels are "more or less" anti-Judaistic (a more precise term for this context, where o...
March 11, 2004
Faith in Practice — Martin E. Marty
"Problematize" is not in my dictionary and is inelegant, but you can figure out what it means and might know that theologians sometimes use it. Example: they/we have problematized "narrative" and "conversation." An old cartoon in the New Yorker shows...
March 8, 2004
Baptist Unity in Diversity? — Richard V. Pierard
Founded in 1905, the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), like other Christian World Communions (CWC), functions as an alternative to conciliar ecumenism in the maintenance of international denominational links. Through it, Baptist church bodies from around...
March 4, 2004
The Hard Middle — Martin E. Marty
"Sensible Center Is Lost in Gay Marriage Debate" headlines a column by Cokie and Steven Roberts, who have the misfortune of not having been born or having developed as ideologues. Their approach is rare in these days when politically the fire-power a...
March 1, 2004
Marriage Matters — Arthur E. Farnsley II
Several mainline Christian denominations are worried about gay marriage. Should the church bless a union between adults of the same gender? Can the church bless a union that the government does not recognize? President Bush is also worried about g...
February 26, 2004
Habitat for Humanity — Martin E. Marty
Someone once suggested that the two greatest inventions in American history are Alcoholics Anonymous and ice cream cones. As half-serious as that proposer must have been, I'd add Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). Ordinarily we do our sightin...