Sightings Articles
Puerto Rican Artists Shine Light on American Carnage
For two years Puerto Rico was illuminated from within. A curious work of art, located deep inside a limestone cave, deserved to be considered “religious” for multiple reasons. Reframing a remote rock formation rich with traces of indigenous history a...
May 10, 2018
Prayer Rattles Speaker Ryan, but House Chaplain Gets to Stay in Politics
Yawn, if you will. A chaplain, usually seen as a quiet fixture in the house—in this case, the House, whose occupants legislate in Washington—was mentioned in headlines last week. Easily overlooked in his clerical gear, he usually stays out of the new...
May 7, 2018
Why White Evangelicals Are Wrong About Obamacare
Editor's Note: This essay responds to the "Three Reasons White Evangelicals Hate Obamacare" critically analyzed by Myriam Renaud in her April 12 article for Sightings. It is reasonable to think that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (...
May 3, 2018
Apologies to Native People
One would expect a headline beginning “A Pope Given to Apologies…” to be followed by a journalistic story which is likely to quicken the interest of readers. Pope Francis has made many headlines over stories which focus on the recipients of such apol...
April 30, 2018
Douglas John Hall, Celebrating Ninety Years
The year 1928 was a good one for theologians. In addition to the esteemed Professor Marty, the Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall celebrated his ninetieth birthday on March 23. Hall was born in Ingersoll, Ontario; attended high school and business...
April 26, 2018
Our Latino Neighbors
Who is my neighbor? That question is asked of Jesus in the Gospels. “Neighbor” can mean someone who lives nearby, and this question about physical proximities and distances gets answered first by demographers. Television in our city, Chicago, once up...
April 23, 2018
What Trump's "Lies" Have to Do with (Political) Religion
president-as-crime-boss analogy...
April 19, 2018
Papal Polarities
“Will Pope Francis Cause a Schism in the Catholic Church?” That headline in The New Yorker (April 16) is subheaded: “In his new book, ‘To Change the Church,’ the Times columnist Ross Douthat critiques the Pontiff.” Such an opener requires some backgr...
April 16, 2018
Three Reasons White Evangelicals Hate Obamacare
Last year, Republican lawmakers—with the support of many white evangelical Christians—found ways to undermine Obamacare. In Iowa, where evangelicals are a potent force, the governor recently approved legislation allowing insurers to sell cheaper plan...
April 12, 2018
Mormon Moves
Newspaper or magazine editors who headline items with words like “General Conference” or “Synod” or “Annual Meeting” know they have to fight for readers’ attention. Too bad, since much that can be of significance to nonmembers of denominations does o...