Sightings Articles
Do Evangelicals Really Like Our Planet? - Noah Toly
This past summer, evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll made headlines for his comments at the Catalyst Conference in Dallas, where he reportedly said, “I know who made the environment. He’s coming back and he’s going to burn it all up. So yes, I drive an...
October 17, 2013
In Surprise Move, Evangelical Moody Bible Institute Drops Its Alcohol Ban - Martin E. Marty
The Moody Bible Institute made national news last week when it dropped the ban on drinking of wine on the part of faculty members and staff. Born on Dwight L. Moody’s birthday, able to keep an eye on the Moody Bible Institute from my apartment’s w...
October 14, 2013
Will D. Campbell: An Unconventional Approach to Racial Reconciliation — Jeff Jay
Several events this past summer brutally reminded everyone that race is still a volatile issue in America fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Tense conflicts followed one after another: food-show host Paula Deen's ...
October 10, 2013
Census: Many U.S. Jews Are Cultural Not Religious — Martin E. Marty
There are more Lutherans (5.5 million) in Tanzania than there are Jews (5.4 million) in the United States. There are more Southern Baptists in the United States than there are Jews in the whole world. While religions are by no means to be valued on t...
October 7, 2013
Is Male Model Posing on Bed Sexy? Not If He's a Hasid! — Sarah Imhoff
Hasidim are not known for their affinity for social media, so it came as a surprise to see photographs of the 32-year old Hasidic Jew, Satmar Hasid Yoel Weisshaus, appear in a series of American Apparel ads posted on the photo-blogging site, Tumblr. ...
October 3, 2013
Billy Graham Taught Christians New Ways of Being in the World -- Martin E. Marty
Billy Graham was feted in a conference at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, September 26-28, 2013. The Institute for the Study of Evangelicals planned and hosted the event, which featured a dozen substantial in-process chapters ...
September 30, 2013
Strange Bedfellows Scapegoat Russia's Gays
It's been a busy few months for anyone paying attention to issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia....
September 26, 2013
Pope Broadens Agenda to Include, Shock, the Gospel -- Martin E. Marty
On Pope Francis, Stephen Pope (no relation) of Boston College spoke wisely. According to many analysts, the Pope seemed, in his interview published September 19, 2013, to chide U.S. Catholic bishops for having focused too much on cultural or “social"...
September 23, 2013
Preach It, Putin! -- William Schweiker
As readers of Sightings know, these columns often bring to light expressions of religion hidden in public life as it engages current events. But sometimes truths are concealed even in religion’s appearance. Consider Syria: the use of chemical we...
September 19, 2013
Syria's Christians: A Population at Risk -- Martin E. Marty
“Buridan’s Ass” comes to mind as citizens ponder what to think and what to favor in the Syrian civil war. Look it up: this is the dilemma of Buridan’s ass (named after philosopher John Buridan). Poised equidistantly between two equally attractive bal...