Sightings Articles
Saved by Zero? -- Jon Pahl
Connections between religion and advertising are mutual and frequent in American public life. Yet the post-September television advertisements of two major automobile companies seem to have crossed a troubling threshold. Like most people, I d...
December 20, 2001
A Conventional Clean-Up? -- Martin E. Marty
Every time the Southern Baptist Convention does something "in-your-face," the organs that its defenders call "the media" swoop in on them. Sometimes comprehendingly and sometimes uncomprehendingly, they criticize the assumptions and pronouncements of...
December 17, 2001
Statistically Speaking --Martin E. Marty
Last Thursday the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released data on a sure-to-be-noticed-poll. It assesses American attitudes to matters religious after September eleventh. To the degree that one trusts such polls, on...
December 10, 2001
Searching in Vain for an Essence -- Jonathan Gold
George W. Bush has taken a stand on the true nature of Islam, calling it, for instance, a "religion of peace." As strange as this is to hear from the president of the United States, Bush's declarations have given rise to a good deal of useful public ...
December 6, 2001
December Belongings -- Martin E. Marty
"Islam Gets Spot for the Holidays," headlined the November seventeenth issue of The Chicago Tribune. The subhead read: "Minaret to Join Manger, Menorah." Similar headlines appear in newspapers across the country. On one side, the negative, they repre...
December 3, 2001
No, There Is NOT a Holy Roller Coaster -- R. Jonathan Moore
In Florida, Orange County property appraiser William Donegan wants to tax Christ's tomb. One can only assume that his position is not an elected one. Donegan is seeking to generate revenue not just from Jesus' tomb, but also from the city of ...
November 29, 2001
Pilgrims' Progress? -- Martin E. Marty
What or who killed the Pilgrims? I don't mean what literally killed them. Disease, want, and the perils of the wilderness -- not the Native Americans -- claimed many during the seasons "before Thanksgiving" after the Mayflower landed. I mean "what" a...
November 26, 2001
A Country to be Grateful For -- Edward M. Gaffney, Jr.
After the events of September eleventh, it is both harder and more necessary than ever before to renew the sense of gratitude associated with the Thanksgiving holiday. The feast is often associated with the seventeenth- century Pilgrims at Plymouth, ...
November 22, 2001
Numbers Games: Handle With Care -- Martin E. Marty
"How many Muslims (or Jews or Mormons or Christians) live in the United States?" For decades the Census has not been allowed to count noses to determine who is what religiously. So observers of American religion are left to their own devices to asses...
November 19, 2001
Territory Is Not Mind -- Jonathan H. Ebel
As if to remind us that in every victory there is also defeat, another airplane fell from the sky on Monday, killing all on board, and an undetermined number on the ground. Pushed from largest-font status in the headlines Tuesday morning was what cou...