Sightings Articles
Midnight Mass and the Spectre of Terror
A generation has grown up under the shadow of post-9/11 preoccupation with Islam and Muslims: Midnight Mass presents something far more interesting
January 21, 2022
Tangled in Apocalyptic Thought
President Donald Trump had a historic day on August 21, 2019. In less than twenty-four hours, he was declared “like the King of Israel” by conservative commentator (and Jewish convert to Christianity) Wayne Allen Root, and declared himself, in an ent...
September 2, 2019
Not Wishy-Washy
“Watered-down,” “characterless,” “irresolute,” “sapless,” “bland,” “namby-pamby,” and “diluted,” are some synonyms for “wishy-washy,” a word some critics say I use too often when I write about or discuss what is unproductive in interfaith (and other ...
March 27, 2017
Religion in Global Affairs
When in the 1980s Scott Appleby and I were first chartered to deal with one particular public expression of religion, the complex of militant fundamentalisms, we were confronted with a global scene for which we were not prepared. We soon found out al...
May 2, 2016
Fate of Orthodox Christianity's Great and Holy Council Hangs in the Balance
During the meeting of Christian Orthodox Primates (heads of local Orthodox churches), which begins today in Switzerland, the participants will show the world whether the unity of the Orthodox Church is more important than their particular agendas. ...
January 21, 2016
Culture Wars About Culture Wars
“The Next Culture War,” a New York Times op-ed (June 30) by David Brooks, set off one of the high-level debates of this summer, and will be in the news for some time to come. Brooks models a civil approach to controversy in his Friday night, on-c...
July 20, 2015
Blasphemy and Freedom -- Martin E. Marty
The Charlie Hebdo incident: we cannot not sight it and refrain from all comment. It would be redundant to revisit here the obvious aspects of the incident. Thus, obviously, the murderers at the office of the French satirical magazine were simply e...
January 12, 2015
Religion Unites and Divides -- Martin E. Marty
“ISIS CRISIS.” . . . “EBOLA CRISIS” . . . “ECONOMIC WORRIES” . . . Headlines about these and others point to realities which often have religious dimensions. One of them is posed in a featured interview with Jodi Picoult, the novelist author of Leavi...