Sightings Articles

cartoon

political partisanship | political parties | political religion

Party On, America?

The concept of loyalty offers hope for our democracy—but only a loyalty that transcends party spirit...

November 23, 2020
visser't hooft

WW II | Christian Right | political religion | Holocaust

Is Reconciliation Possible in our Religiously Polarized Moment?

History shows that the damage done by Christian Nationalism cannot be repaired from within a religious framework alone...

November 19, 2020
Pope Francis

Pope Francis | Catholicism | social justice | conservatism

Catholicism and its Disconnects

The most recent Papal encyclical highlights longstanding fault lines in contemporary Catholicism...

November 16, 2020
statue of khan

Sufism | Coronavirus | WW II

Solitary Refinement

What a Sufi spy from WWII can teach us about pandemic isolation ...

November 12, 2020
BTS

pop culture | music

A Professor of Religion in a Time of Pop Power

An academic reflects on her analysis of a boy band, their fans' reactions to it, and the hazards of professional expertise...

November 9, 2020
Earthquake

Coronavirus | ethics

Faith and Disaster

A Kantian reflection on the disconnect between the world of facts and our actions...

November 5, 2020
Dante addressing Nicholas III

Medieval Christianity | church leadership | politics | sin

The Road to Hell: Dantes Inferno and the Undermining of Trust

A late-medieval view of institutional sin...

November 2, 2020
ACB

Catholicism | U.S. Supreme Court | Christian Right | political religion

The Problem with Calling Amy Coney Barrett Too Catholic

The tendentious historical origins of American Catholic Conservatism...

October 29, 2020
soul of the nation campaign bus

political religion | 2020 Presidential Election | first amendment | freedom of expression

The Soul of the Nation?

A campaign slogan raises interesting questions about what, exactly, we're all fighting for...

October 26, 2020
Plant growing in rocks

Smart Museum of Art | Coronavirus | health care | art

The Precariousness of Care

Attending to each other and our communities is costly, messy, exhausting — and vital...

October 22, 2020