Sightings Articles
Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist Philosophy: Converting to Multiculturalism
Once we examine the roots of “Buddhaphobia” in philosophical education, we can get easily beyond it....
March 29, 2024
On ChatGPT: A Letter to My Students
The rapid development of AI-generated content has led to something of a crisis in higher education. ...
April 6, 2023
Public Education as Cultural Battleground
Attacks on public schools cannot be extricated today or historically from the use of religion as a unifying source of grievance and a particular vision of the nation fueled by an intense fear about cultural change....
March 16, 2023
Banning Books; Banning Brains
Neglect of commitments to education has profound social and political implications....
March 2, 2023
Catholic Schools Tomorrow
“The then-U.S. Office of Education wrote in a 1903 report that the system of Catholic free parochial schools was the most impressive religious fact in the country at that time.” I sighted this quote in a review of Parish School: A History of American...
February 11, 2019
Of Islam and the Public Square: The Role of the Classroom
An opinion poll showing 31% of Americans feel safer because of the travel ban placed on seven Muslim-majority countries (since reduced to six)—with another 41% expressing no particular opinion—is reflective of the obscure, if not fearsome, image of I...
March 16, 2017
Children on Christian or Secular Swings?
Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley is a grabbing lawsuit name for those of us who do “sightings” of religion in American public life. It features in a story in The Kansas City Star (see “Resources” below). The suit has to do with whether c...
October 24, 2016
Missing From Conversations About San Bernardino Attack—The Main Point: Education!
Amid the shrieks and din of presidential candidates like Donald Trump calling for a moratorium on the immigration of Muslim to our shores, ISIS’ ranting about apocalyptic warfare between Islam and non-Muslims in the West, and President Obama assuring...