Sightings Articles
Religion and the American Myth -- Martin E. Marty
When librarians seek to catalog a new book entitled Something in the Soil: Legacies and Reckonings in the New West, religion is probably not the first category that will spring to mind. But in a recent issue of the Times Literary Supplement, Ronald W...
June 18, 2001
Homosexual Unions: The Fire This Time, and Every Time -- Martin E. Marty
A nineteenth-century sermon illustration told of the time a town's church was burning. At the head of the bucket brigade was the village atheist. Why show up now? "Because when the church is on fire is the only time anything exciting is going on." ...
June 11, 2001
Are Theological Schools an Asset to Civic Life? -- W. Clark Gilpin
American citizens -- even those actively involved in churches and synagogues -- are largely unaware of seminaries and divinity schools in their own cities and regions. They seldom think of theological schools as part of "the civic mix" of newspapers,...
June 8, 2001
Revelations from The Prayer -- Martin E. Marty
Though debates over prayer in school have turned out to be very much a public affair, in historic reckoning the practice of prayer has usually belonged to "private religion" in America. But, now and then, prayer itself becomes a public presence. The ...
June 4, 2001
Is Alpha the Omega? -- R. Jonathan Moore
Having recently concluded its second season, CBS's "Survivor" has insinuated itself so seamlessly into the American mind that even those of us willfully ignorant of the show know what it means to be "voted off the island." The wild success of this so...
May 24, 2001
Polygamy and "Christian" Civilization -- Martin E. Marty
"We are supposed to write a paper defending a spoken-against position," said one of my sons during a phone call from college. "I chose polygamy. The professor challenged me. Can you help me? Many of those heroes we were taught to admire in the Bible ...
May 21, 2001
Proselytizing -- Martin E. Marty
Public religion in the American setting poses the issue of proselytizing, especially with respect to providing government funds to faith-based organizations that might use that money to convert the people served. Arguments about this subject rage dai...
May 14, 2001
Sports as Religion -- Martin E. Marty
Sooner or later, talk about "public religion" in America must focus on its popular manifestations. None is more public or more popular than the world of sports. In a new book, From Season to Season: Sports as American Religion, Joseph L. Pric...
May 7, 2001
Unfunny Funnies? "B.C." and Religious Sensibilities -- Martin E. Marty
Johnny Hart draws "B.C.," a decent enough comic strip. He frequently injects Christian witness themes into it. Sometimes newspapers will then drop "B.C." for a day; some say Hart has no business witnessing there. They are wrong. He has a righ...
April 23, 2001
The Death Penalty and (Un)Conventional Wisdom -- Martin E. Marty
The forthcoming execution of Timothy McVeigh has agitated the nation and, within it and not least of all, its religious communities. We will skip comment on the event and go straight to the background of the religious debate. "Everyone knows"...