Weird Religion: Recent Episodes
Brian Doak and Leah Payne
Weird Religion is a podcast for people who think religion is weird but love it anyway. Your hosts, Leah Payne and Brian Doak, are both professors, authors, and pop culture aficionados, whose interests range from archaeology and history and linguistics to LARPing and The Walking Dead. Episodes tackle some piece of media highlighting the wonderful weirdness of religious experience—a documentary, a television show, a Twitter scandal—and use that as a "thread" on which to hang reflections on a wide variety of topics. Cults. The perils of fame within the evangelical world. Church attendance. Atheism. Gamer communities. Millennials and avocado toast. It's all here.
Let us discuss a DANGEROUS TV SHOW. And of course, we’re talking about a very family friendly Jesus TV show—The Chosen. What is the state of the evangelical search for validation, for legitimacy, in the American religious landscape today? Has Christian TV arrived? Can we tell who is an “evangelical” by what they purchase, what they consume?
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/
Artifact: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-chosen-dallas-jenkins-interview-season-4-1235909988/
Dallas Jenkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Jenkins
Ronald Numbers, The Creationists: https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3TI5njXfIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
“Name it and Frame It” Phony Doctorates in the Church: https://www.apologeticsindex.org/2794-name-it-and-frame-it-phony-doctorates-in-the-church
The National Association of Evangelicals: https://www.nae.org/
The “Bebbington Quadrilateral”: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481314435/the-evangelical-quadrilateral/
Leah Payne, “‘Sound of Freedom’ and the Media Fueling Belief in America’s ‘Special Role’ in Human History”: https://www.prri.org/spotlight/sound-of-freedom-and-the-media-fueling-belief-in-americas-special-role-in-human-history/
The “Holiness Movement”: https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/timelines/entry?etype=3&eid=13
Randall J. Stephens, The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674046856
We celebrate the religious aesthetic—and mourn the loss—of Precious Moments creator Sam Butcher. A pastel-colored, Christian-infused aesthetic embodied by Precious Moments may of course prompt a reaction: like the “Precious Mutation” of Keith Busher. Did evangelical art (and theology) ever grow up?
How can this couple have been married 25 years when they are children: https://www.preciousmoments.com/twenty-five-happy-years-together-figurine
Jesus said: “wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove”: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2010%3A16
Daniel Silliman obituary of Sam Butcher: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/05/sam-butcher-precious-moments-art-artist-chapel-obit/
The Sam Butcher story on the Precious Moments website: https://www.preciousmoments.com/butcher-story/
Keith Busher, the “Precious Mutator” (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/preciousmutator/?hl=en; (Etsy): https://www.etsy.com/shop/PreciousMutations
Precious Mutations story: https://www.today.com/home/precious-mutants-are-terrifying-version-precious-moments-figurines-t161577
Thomas Kincaid, “The Painter of Light”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade
The “Precious Moments Chapel” mural: https://www.preciousmoments.com/blog/history-of-precious-moments-chapel-hallelujah-square
Later Sam Butcher paintings of nude bodies: https://x.com/danielsilliman/status/1795890318853767351
Garbage Pail Kids example: https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/120329100954-garbage-pail-kids-leaky-lindsay.jpg?q=w_1248,h_1732,x_0,y_0,c_fill
Today we’re discussing a book by religion and philosophy professor Jeffrey Kripal (Rice University), called How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (University of Chicago Press, 2024). He seems to be suggesting…that we should believe…in impossible things. Miracles. Levitation. UFOs. Archetypes. And many other things Leah and Brian were told not to believe in during their time in secular graduate programs, of the type that Kripal himself would seem to teach in. What is happening here? We explore. Join us.
“Authentic” was the 2023 Merriam-Webster word of year: https://www.georgefamilyfoundation.org/news/blog-post-title-three-x9s6e-h4jbh#:~:text=Merriam-Webster
Leah Payne, award winner, for God Gave Rock and Roll to You: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/12/christianity-today-book-awards-2024/?
Here is the book on the publisher’s website, Jeffrey Kripal’s, How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo216049049.html
“dual aspect monism” // double-aspect theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-aspect_theory
Jeffrey J. Kripal: https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/jeffrey-j-kripal
Jonathan Z. Smith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Z._Smith
Jonathan Z. Smith, “Religion, Religions, Religious”: https://womrel.sitehost.iu.edu/Rel433%20Readings/SearchableTextFiles/Smith_ReligionReligionsReligious.pdf
Jonathan Z. Smith, “In Comparison a Magic Dwells”: https://classics.osu.edu/sites/classics.osu.edu/files/Magic_Dwells.pdf
Russel McCutcheon, Critics Not Caretakers: https://www.routledge.com/Critics-Not-Caretakers-Redescribing-the-Public-Study-of-Religion/McCutcheon/p/book/9781032467924
Mircea Eliade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade
The Nietzsche book Brian was trying to remember: The Birth of Tragedy: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51356/51356-h/51356-h.htm
Book Leah mentioned, that she taught this past semester: Charles Freeman, Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe: https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bones-Dust-History-Medieval/dp/0300184301
Carlos Eire, They Flew: A History of the Impossible: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300280074/they-flew/
The mystery of where socks go in the washer: https://youtube.com/shorts/lh64cnjDsWg?si=P15MsWcO3Op2eC3t
The Coach bag Brian is describing, note outer side pocket, and there is an identical one on the other side: https://photos-us.bazaarvoice.com/photo/2/cGhvdG86bWFjeXM/0f759b29-68af-5b3c-85e7-cc3983a4cd24
Feeling spiritually vulnerable while you are in an airport? You are not alone. Looking for a Popeye horror film? You are not alone. Naming your child Muhammed in the UK this year? You are not alone. Flocking to Orthodoxy as a young man? You are not alone. Committing acts of microfeminism? You are not alone.
Portland airport Beni the Therapy Llama: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/03/nx-s1-5173755/therapy-animals-portland-airport-llama-alpaca
The new most popular baby name in the UK: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/most-popular-100-baby-names-34251941
The Late Great Hal Lindsey: https://religionnews.com/2024/12/05/the-late-great-hal-lindsey/
Young men flock to Orthodoxy: https://nypost.com/2024/12/03/us-news/young-men-are-converting-to-orthodox-christianity-in-droves/
The two heads of St. Thomas: https://religionnews.com/2024/12/05/when-it-comes-to-venerating-st-thomas-aquinas-are-two-heads-better-than-one/
Are you a microfeminist: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/04/g-s1-36686/microfeminism-ashley-chaney-sexism
12 acts of microfeminism (image on cover) from: https://www.instagram.com/micahlarsen_/
Book mentioned, We Have Never Been Woke: https://www.city-journal.org/article/review-of-we-have-never-been-woke-by-musa-al-gharbi
Popeye horror film: https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/gruesome-popeye-horror-film-trailer-sees-classic-character-brutally-murder-helpless-victims/ar-AA1uO0tq
When, and why, did Catholics stop saying “and also with you” in response to “The Lord be with you,” and instead start saying, “and with your spirit”? And how would you respond to the ecstatic worship practice of “running the aisles”? We discuss the aesthetic we’d want—in heaven. Brian gaslights himself and all academics about “change.” Leah sings several times and claims to be a “pilgrim.” Some very serious talk about the communion ritual. And craniosacral therapy.
And with you vs. And with your spirit: https://www.npr.org/2008/08/11/93419478/catholics-will-no-longer-recite-and-also-with-you
Let Google google for you!! https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/
Matthew 8:8: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%208%3A8&version=NIV
“Running the Aisles” as an ecstatic worship practice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_the_aisles
Cy Twombly, Leaving Paphos: https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2009/cy-twombly-leaving-paphos-ringed-with-waves/
Craniosacral therapy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy
The Swiss have created a new way to confess sins. Brian does something he vowed he would never do. Digital oligarchs will rule our future. A mysterious man passes by outside dressed like a priest of the Pacific Northwest.
The Film Her (2013): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/
“Hey Alexa, Are You Sexist?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/alexa-bots-female-voice.html
Oligarch for Sort Of Post-Evangelicals Peter Enns: https://www.eastern.edu/peter-enns
AI Jesus hears confessions (Vice article): https://www.vice.com/en/article/ai-jesus-is-now-taking-confessions-at-a-church-in-switzerland/
AI Jesus hears confessions in Switzerland (video we played): https://www.dw.com/en/switzerlands-ai-jesus-answers-questions-of-faith/video-70737962
Checking on the term “double dog dare”: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-origins-of-the-term-double-dog-dare
One of the biggest religious storylines of 2023 has been: the huge number of people leaving their faith communities. Because Christianity is the #1 by volume religion in America, the loss has been felt heaviest there. Why has this been happening? And how many have left? A new book shares the latest research, and the data may shock you (= clickbait)!!! We review and comment and teach.
The Great Dechurching (new book): https://www.amazon.com/Great-Dechurching-Leaving-Going-Bring/dp/0310147433
Ryan Burge, PhD: http://ryanburge.net/
Ryan Burge substack, “Graphs About Religion”: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/
“Good Faith” podcast interview with Great Dechurching author Michael Graham: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-great-dechurching-with-david-french-and-michael-graham/id1594454747?i=1000631285992
Peter’s Choi’s book on George Whitefield: https://www.amazon.com/George-Whitefield-Evangelist-Religious-Biography/dp/0802875491
Buck Williams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Williams
Beware, lest ye try to convict others in court, that ye have never sinned! We review some recent weird religious news with an eye toward non-obvious stories. From dreams of living forever to Taylor Swift promoting witchcraft: while away this thirty minutes with us.
Lori Vallow statement, opens with “he who is without sin throw the first stone”: https://youtu.be/uJ4nFtSsa3U
On the woman caught in adultery story: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/passages/main-articles/the-woman-caught-in-adultery-john-81-11/
Bonus story: Natalee Hollaway’s murderer claims to have changed his ways, to born again Christianity: https://www.christianpost.com/news/joran-van-der-sloot-claims-hes-now-born-again-christian.html
The man who thinks he can live forever: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11679715/Tech-tycoon-45-spends-2-million-year-team-doctors-regain-teenage-body.html
The longevity industrial complex: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/24/longevity-podcasts-huberman-rogan-science
Pastor locks himself into cage with lions to show divine protection: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/pastor-goes-cage-full-lions-31066685
Historian Mary Beard on men getting obsessed with the Roman Empire: https://time.com/6317735/men-roman-empire-mary-beard-history/
Church buildings going empty: https://slate.com/business/2023/07/church-real-estate-development-west-park-presbyterian.html
Taylor Swift promotes witchcraft: https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/taylor-swift-promotes-witchcraft-on-tour-in-willow-performance.html
Religious Group Shinzo Abe assassination: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/10/shinzo-abe-assassination-japan-unification-church-moonies/675114/
We prepare to engage in the yearly ritual of scholars in our field: the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), abbreviated AAR-SBL…or is it SBL-AAR? The order makes all the difference. Quality tips are shared to survive an academic conference of this type. Brian shares the tale of his first panic attack, and leaks crucial details from one of his conference presentations—about the Puritan leader Cotton Mather and his belief that the bones of biblical giants had been uncovered in America.
The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL): https://www.sbl-site.org/
The American Academy of Religion (AAR): https://aarweb.org/
The annual meeting online program book (you can search presentations by last name and keyword): https://sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_ProgramBook.aspx?MeetingId=43
Cotton Mather: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Mather
Bozeman, To Live Ancient Lives: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807896273/to-live-ancient-lives
Bryce Traister: https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/contact/bryce-traister/
The text of Cotton Mather’s first letter to the Royal Society about the giant bones: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936986?origin=crossref&seq=1
Gather ‘round for an episode recorded in front of a LIVE AUDIENCE in Portland, Oregon! We take a piece of listener (e)mail and answer the call: to talk about books that have been deeply impactful for our lives and research—books that anyone could read and learn a lot. From classics in the early history of sociology to ritual to women in the church to child sacrifice, it’s a magic carpet ride of books.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elementary_Forms_of_the_Religious_Life
Gianni Vattimo, ideas in this book about the incarnation Brian mentioned: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-future-of-religion/9780231134941
On the “deep incarnation” idea: https://inters.org/gregersen-incarnation
Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ritual-theory-ritual-practice-9780199733620
Jon Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300065114/the-death-and-resurrection-of-the-beloved-son
Anthea Butler, Women in the Church of God in Christ: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858080/women-in-the-church-of-god-in-christ/
Brian’s third book that we didn’t have time to talk about! Mark Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-origins-of-biblical-monotheism-9780195134803
The aftermath of the July 2023 Congressional UFO hearing has been fascinating, infuriating, mysterious, and ominous. We get you caught up, and present a chilling conspiracy theory about what has become already one of the most famous airplane disappearances of the past several decades—Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in 2014.
The Congressional UFO hearing on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/KQ7Dw-739VY?si=7iKLViEo9ZS-iy8_
Wikipedia page for the whistleblower (David Grusch) claims: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Grusch_UFO_whistleblower_claims
NPR summary of the UFO hearing: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190390376/ufo-hearing-non-human-biologics-uaps
The Hill article puts the situation accurately in Brian’s opinion: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4134891-a-monumental-ufo-scandal-is-looming/
Jesse Michels interview with David Grusch: https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=lu69_M0SlBdCh9qE
Joe Rogan interview with Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04gQ8km0XhEitU1Vz4lA3j
Malaysian Air (MH370) mystery on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370
Netflix show about MH370: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDg0m2Q3H8c
The orbs video where the orbs take the plane: https://youtu.be/iZPHGJHXNXg?si=45OdsZWDvCA0_Q81
Reddit threads on the orbs video are wild: https://reddit.com/r/UFOs/s/drEbOTTmDD
Some have compared this conspiracy to the Netflix show “Manifest”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8421350/
Seems maybe the orbs video has been debunked…but you can always go double conspiracy on it! https://twitter.com/528vibes/status/1693008013278302498?s=20
Article Leah mentioned: “Prophetic Failure and Chiliastic Identity: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2776152
Let Halloween feelings shower over you as you listen to this, our Halloween episode. One of us loves the horror genre on TV and movies, and the other absolutely does not. One of us can barely handle even watching the trailer for one of these films.
Children of the Corn (1984): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087050/
The Satanic double scene in The Passion of the Christ: https://youtu.be/YgwXF60RTik?si=vEv3anusf4rTpoI7
The TV version of Stephen King’s IT: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/
The original Scream, 1996 (opening scene clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn5SkCvPEYo
Signs (2002): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/
The Village, 2004 (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTGyhwvdY6k
Arrival, 2016 (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMo3UJ4B4g
Smile (2022 film) (the trailer we played part of): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDK7lkzzsU
The Black Phone: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7144666/
Brandon Grafius, Reading the Bible with Horror: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Bible-Horror-Scripture/dp/1978701683
NOPE (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8fuzj3gck
The Haunting of Hill House (TV): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6763664/
Midnight Mass (TV trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UV8vmWXlY
The Cabin in the Woods (2011): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/
Using liking scary movies romantic compatibility: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2582872/Do-like-horror-movies-surprising-questions-tell-relationship-likely-last.html
What would it be like to grow up in a household guided by the principles of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy? We talk to Things Not Seen radio host Dr. David Dault, of Loyola University Chicago, about being expoed to the ideology of Ayn Rand at a young age. If you’ve ever wanted to know about Rand’s “Objectivist” idea but were too afraid to ask, we’ll take you there. Along the way, Brian mispronounces Ayn’s name, David shares several fascinating and vulnerable personal stories, and we review the dystopian novella Anthem, ending with the hard question: Are these principles of radical self-interest compatible with Christianity?
David Dault: https://www.luc.edu/ips/about/faculty/daviddaultphd.shtml
Things Not Seen Radio: https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/
Ayn Rand on the pronunciation of her first name: https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/1015/Six-things-you-probably-didn-t-know-about-Ayn-Rand/The-name-s-not-Ann
The Ayn Rand Institute: https://aynrand.org/
Max Stirner: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/max-stirner/
Ayn Rand’s Anthem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella)
“Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand” (Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/what-ayn-rand-says-about-paul-ryan/2012/08/13/fd40d574-e56d-11e1-8741-940e3f6dbf48_blog.html
Matthew Sitman, Know Your Enemy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434
Jordan Peterson on Ayn Rand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9aHYj93xJY
As longtime Weirdo Listeners know, we don’t always have guests—but when we do, they win awards. Or they should. New York Times contributor Sam Kestenbaum won a 2023 Wilbur Award this past spring and now an AAR Journalism Award for a captivating article on Kathryn Krick—a Christian social media celebrity and charismatic preacher who frequents parks in the Los Angeles area to perform healings and exorcisms. The article is called “Demontime: How a former actress-turned-Christian EDM singer from small-town New York became a Pentecostal faith healer for the TikTok era”: https://thelandmag.com/krick-ministry-faith-healer/.
—> In honor of the awards, we’re rebroadcasting this, one of our most popular eps from 2022! In which we talk with Sam about the article and the person behind it.
Updated Notes: Kathryn is still going strong…
Kathryn Krick on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ApostleKathrynKrick [[where the majority of her activity seems to be now?]]
Kathryn Krick on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_apostlekathrynkrick [[she seems to have stopped posting new material here??]]
Sam Kestenbaum on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skestenbaum
Kathryn Krick’s church webpage: https://5fchurch.org/leadership
Interview with Sam Kestenbaum: https://therevealer.org/insights-from-a-religion-reporter/
Sam’s website: https://samkestenbaum.com/
Sam’s Wilbur Award: https://religionnews.com/2023/03/28/religion-communicators-council-names-2023-wilbur-awardees/
Sam’s AAR award: https://aarweb.org/AARMBR/Publications-and-News-/Newsroom-/News-/2023/2023-Journalism-Awards.aspx
Rebroadcasting a popular season finale from several years ago. Aliens are the quintessential sci-fi topic. Leah admits she used to watch Alf. Brian watched Alf too! We all did. Was The History Channel ever really respectable? The true utopian technology prophets will tell us when everything has been illuminated at the same time. Is it possible that…
UPDATED SHOW NOTES
Ancient Aliens is doing live shows now, on tour: https://bit.ly/46rjfsE
Ancient Aliens on the History Channel: https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens
To celebrate what appears to be a departure of people of some amount from “Twitter” (now “X”?!), we run to the new “Threads” app and find dueling weird religious stories to share: (1) Leah finds a joke that leads to rumination on “premillennial dispensationalism” (2) and Brian offers an engaging TikTok sermon by “Real Talk Kim.”
Threads has lost 80% of its daily users: https://gizmodo.com/threads-has-lost-more-than-80-of-daily-active-users-1850707329
Musk erodes Twitter’s brand with X thing: https://time.com/6297303/twitter-x-rebrand-cost/
Leah’s rapture joke Thread: https://www.threads.net/@drleahpayne/post/Cvca3OrACHj/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
One third of pastors share end-times theology of “Left Behind” (in 2016): https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/april/sorry-left-behind-pastors-end-times-rapture-antichrist.html
Premillennial dispensationalism: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003463730910600105
Brian’s Real Talk Kim Thread: https://www.threads.net/@realtalkkim/post/CvFP7Vuv_5m?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D; if the Thread link doesn’t work, it’s here on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realtalkkim/video/7257640531201625390?lang=en
Real Talk Kim: https://realtalkkim.com/
Real Talk Kim talking about her life: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=309314860357378
Rebroadcasting because we are jonesing for a new season of Stranger Things. Monsters, the 1980s, neon clothes, loaded memories of teenage drama, and a time when malls ruled supreme over the lives of adolescents. We talk about the Cold War and the child abduction fear craze in the 1980s and wonder: Why are we looking back on this era with fondness, exactly?
UPDATED SHOW NOTE
Stranger Things Season 5 (the final season) updates: https://www.popbuzz.com/tv-film/stranger-things/season-5-release-date-cast-plot-trailer/ (Terminator legend Linda Hamilton joins the cast in an undisclosed role; production suspended currently due to strike; was scheduled to begin filming in June 2023; S5E1 titled “The Crawl”; S5 storyline will take place entirely in Hawkins, with Will Byers as the main focus…)
HEY. Tune in for musings on the definition of a mustache, a profound application of 1 Corinthians 6:12, and a note on our episode rhythm during what’s left of July and on into August and September. In short: we’ve worked to create content this summer around travel and so on, and we’ll continue to be a little every-other-week-ish until maybe September, when we’ll get back into an every-week-new-content rhythm for the school year. And we’ll rebroadcast some “classics” in the gaps. We love you.
1 Corinthians ch. 6: http://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/1COR+6.html
Does a beard include a mustache? https://www.quora.com/Does-the-word-beard-include-moustache-too
This week we’re reviewing recent religion news in order to: explore the location of falling gold dust of God’s presence…discuss the latest UFO surprises…get specific how about AI will kill us…be shocked that Silicon Valley is trying to build God and control humanity…and understand “Seven Mountains Theology.” Read these stories along with us, or listen to us tell you about them:
Aspen Ideas Festival spirituality: https://www.axios.com/2023/07/01/aspen-ideas-festival-2023-postcard
UFO under a building? https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/ufo-hunter-claims-spaceship-too-30477150
Government to make UFOs public? https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4097653-senators-to-offer-amendment-to-require-government-to-make-ufo-records-public/
7 AI human extinction scenarios: https://inews.co.uk/news/science/ai-humans-extinct-seven-deadly-scenarios-how-likely-2376633?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Restaurant hires fake priest to spy on employees: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254594/california-restaurant-had-a-fake-priest-hear-workers-confessions-labor-department-says
Bethel Church tries to take over California town: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/how-bethel-megachurch-conquered-redding-18170873.php
“The Woman Who Bought a Mountain for God” (Atlantic), Seven Mountains theology: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/christian-movement-new-apostolic-reformation-politics-trump/674320/
Leah Payne with PRRI on popularity of charismatics: https://www.prri.org/spotlight/the-future-of-born-again-evangelicalism-is-charismatic-and-pentecostal/
“Silicon Valley’s Quest to Build God and Control Humanity”: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/silicon-valley-artificial-intelligence/
Mysterious creature in Illinois: https://www.theintelligencer.com/opinion/article/mysterious-creature-reported-downtown-alton-18167740.php
Mormons try to save Great Salt Lake from drying up: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-promised-land-drying-mormon-church-works-to-save-the-great-salt-lake/ar-AA1d0p0G
This rebroadcast revisits an unfortunately still-timely topic. We begin with a throwback to the Cold War of the 1970s and quickly arrive at the current war instigated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What are the demographics of religion in Russia today? What is the relationship between Church and State in Russia? How does Ukraine function as “spiritual space” in the Russian imagination? Is this a “religious war”? Check out the sources we’re discussing:
UPDATED LINKS
The Guardian’s Ukraine news page (updated): https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine
The so-called “Wagner Uprising” in Russia (attempted coup?): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/25/prigozhins-march-on-moscow-chronology-of-an-attempted-coup
The Late Great Planet Earth (Hal Lindsey): https://www.amazon.com/Late-Great-Planet-Earth/dp/B000GT1GUS
US State Dept. on Russian religious affiliation (see Section I: Religious Demography): https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/russia/
Putin’s spiritual destiny: https://unherd.com/2022/02/putins-spiritual-destiny/
Between Two Fires (Joshua Yaffa): https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Fires-Ambition-Compromise/dp/1524760595
A critique of Levada’s “Soviet Man”: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/rip-soviet-man-scrapping-homo-sovieticus-the-spirit-yuri-levada
Understanding Putin’s narrative: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/23/putin-narrative-ukraine-master-key-crisis-nato-expansionism-frozen-conflict?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Putin wants religious soul of Ukraine: https://religionnews.com/2022/02/24/putin-is-after-more-than-land-he-wants-the-religious-soul-of-ukraine/
What do we know, based on social scientific data, about what it takes for children to carry on with the faith of their parents? We dive into a new book by two noted authors on the topic. The results are strange, shocking, exciting, depressing, and intriguing. Worth thinking about as a bigger story of what religion has become for us in the 21st century. This might be a part 1 of a 2 part thing. So watch for part 2 later maybe.
Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation (Oxford, 2021): https://www.amazon.com/Handing-Down-Faith-Religion-Generation/dp/0190093323
Fig. 2.3 from the book about faith retention 10 years later based on parenting styles (showing remarkably little difference in church attendance, across all parenting styles, for kids of parents who placed a “high importance” on religion): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZAb_kYpIRxnQ_Jlbx1_V-Mx91Pdz8Bv-/view?usp=sharing; we partly misspoke here in the podcast about what we were seeing—it is parents with “authoritative” style (i.e., the “good” style), not “authoritarian,” who saw the highest rate of kids reporting they NEVER attending religious services, but only for those “authoritative” parents who placed a very low value on religion. It’s a complicated set of data. Have at it.
Example review of the book, by Clara Gerhardt, Samford University: https://christianscholars.com/handing-down-the-faith-how-parents-pass-their-religion-on-to-the-next-generation-2/
David Brooks, in The Atlantic (March 2020): “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-mistake/605536/
The Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga movie is called A Star is Born (sorry everyone).
Bradley Cooper on his faith and his father: https://aleteia.org/2021/06/04/covid-reveals-actor-bradley-coopers-devotion-to-his-mom/
Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible: https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Made-Impossible-Biblicism-Evangelical/dp/158743329X
Do we have a more favorite topic than the definition of a “cult”? Hardly. This is part two of a two-part episode swap with our friends at Saved by the City. They interview award-winning religion writer Sam Kestenbaum about a crucial question: When does a “church” become a “cult”? And did you know: haunted houses may have “staff sociologists.” Listen, and know. It’s a little bit of Halloween in the summer. And support us by listening or re-listening to some great and recent Weird Religion over on their feed!
Saved by the City: https://religionnews.com/saved-by-the-city/
Sam Kestenbaum: is a religion reporter who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, RNS and many other outlets about fringe and fascinating religious groups.
Has the rise of the personality test replaced traditional faith narratives as a way to explain our own lives? How does one pronounce the word “Enneagram”? We investigate. With a powerful excursus into the purpose of work meetings (= to control people).
Origins and history of the Enneagram: https://bit.ly/3qLGpK3
Jackie Hill Perry warns Christians against the demonic Enneagram: https://www.christianpost.com/news/jackie-hill-perry-warns-christians-not-to-use-demonic-enneagram.html
Enneagram popularity soars: https://religionnews.com/2022/06/02/as-enneagrams-popularity-soars-having-an-experienced-teacher-is-more-important-than-ever/
Enneagram of your fav Bible character: http://blog.baysideonline.com/2018/02/the-enneagram-according-to-your-favorite-bible-characters/
Saved by the City’s Personality Test Extravaganza: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/25/a-personality-test-extravaganza/
This week, Weird Religion presents: an “episode swap” with a pod we think you’ll love called “Saved by the City.” We’re playing two of their episodes on our feed this month, and they’re playing two of ours. They are kindred spirits. And they have a superstar guest in this episode. It’s all too much. Support us by giving them a listen. [[PRAYER HANDS]]
Grab your leopard print blazer, roll down your windows and get ready to be all up in your feels. It’s been 30 years since Amy Grant released Heart in Motion – the chart-topping album that marked the musician’s crossover from contemporary Christian artist to mainstream pop icon. Katelyn and Roxy catch up with the artist at her Nashville farm and talk to their childhood icon about living life in the public eye — through all its ups and downs.
The hosts also reflect on the expectations put on women — especially Christian women — who have achieved fame. And how the pressure to live their lives on display places even our most beloved women stars at the mercy of the mob.
GUEST: Amy Grant is a singer songwriter and so much more. She is celebrating the 30 year anniversary of her album “Heart in Motion,” which was certified platinum 5 times, making it the best selling Christian album of all time. It spent weeks on the Billboard top 10, as did a number of its songs. Including the classic “Baby Baby” which reached no 1 on Billboard.
Several songs from Amy Grant’s Heart in Motion are featured on the episode.
We’re here this week to discuss potentially shocking revelations in the UFO “disclosure” community, and get you fully caught up on what has been said recently about aliens and such things. Brian went to a UFO festival and heard a specialist talk about “UFO Experiencers” for MUFON (yes, the same MUFON as referenced on the X Files!). Leah attended the free parade. A new government whistleblower claims we are in possession of multiple and even full “crafts” of non-human origin. Garry Nolan, scientist at Stanford, says that he is “100%” certain extraterrestrials are here. And respected Australian journalist Ross Coulthart has some…disturbing theories.
Bob Lazar, who is he: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar
MUFON (Mutual UFO Network): https://mufon.com/
Earl Grey Anderson: https://ufofest.com/earl-grey-anderson-2/
NYT 2017 article that started this era: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html
Article out: new whistleblower, with unassailable credentials (?), says we have craft: https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
Sample article on Assyrian propoganda: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1535132
Garry Nolan, Stanford: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/garry-nolan
Garry Nolan bombshell interview at SALT Conference: https://twitter.com/UAPJames/status/1659299977762308098?s=20
Reflection on the NASA UFO hearing and how people get angry about this topic, harass NASA scientists online and in person: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/06/nasa-ufos-conspiracy-theories/674259/
Ross Coulthart commenting on Elizondo’s “somber” comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM3kxeU_oDE&t=9301
The News Roundup is back: bringing back the dead, briefly; robbing a piece of hair from your fav celeb to have a baby with them; Elizabeth Holmes is finally in jail; Silicon Valley woo; and the Pope’s exorcist.
A brief interaction with your deceased loved one: https://futurism.com/ai-seance
Tag-on story: Having a designer baby with a celebrity??!! https://www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1178103188/scientists-near-a-breakthrough-that-could-revolutionize-human-reproduction
Soul Boom by Dwight Schrute // Rainn Wilson: https://sojo.net/articles/rainn-wilson-office-wants-spiritual-revolution
Elizabeth Holmes reports to 11 year prison sentence: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/30/tech/elizabeth-holmes-prison/index.html
Film about the Camino pilgrimage: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/15/the-way-emilio-estevezs-film-about-the-camino-returns-to-theaters-as-pilgrimage-picks-up-post-covid/
Why a Silicon Valley culture that was once obsessed with reason is going woo: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/rational-magic
“An American Tail” is now a musical: https://www.jta.org/2023/04/17/culture/an-american-tail-musical-adaptation-bets-the-storys-jewish-immigration-story-will-resonate-in-2023
Only 16% of Americans say religion is most important: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176206568/less-important-religion-in-lives-of-americans-shrinking-report
Pope’s exorcist is a fan of horror films: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/05/the-real-priest-behind-the-popes-exorcist-was-a-fan-of-hollywood-horror-films/
Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda thing, full of religion: https://zelda-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Christianity
We’re rebroadcasting an early episode this week—to us, a classic, and perhaps as good as new to newer listeners. What happens when a movie series becomes not just your favorite or your religion, but literally forms the basis for all of your thinking and imagination and everything for your entire life? Such is the power of the Star Wars franchise. We dive into the murky depths of Star Wars fandom through the documentary The People Vs. George Lucas to think about authorial intent, the biblical canon, who owns our imaginations, and what it means to truly love fictional characters.
Updated Notes
The People vs. George Lucas: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325014/
“10 Harsh Realities of Being a Star Wars Fan”: https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-fan-negatives-downsides/#the-original-movies-keep-changing
“Star Wars Fans and Their Collections,” The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/12/star-wars-fans-and-their-collections/420561/
We give in-the-moment commentary on a surprising spoken word track on Lana del Rey’s new album. The material is delivered by the famous and hip Churchome pastor Judah Smith. With Lana del Rey cooing in the background. Some deep moments, some weird moments.
Roomful of Teeth, “Pasacaglia”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LlE41gvNcw&list=PLEwLYWjsY88Wj84zSQ0dkiFgFjJpIG4Y2
Jennifer Garner’s Methodist Church ties: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jennifer-garner-miracles-from-heaven_n_56cca718e4b0ec6725e42004
Judah Smith bio: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/judah-smith
Lana del Rey, “Judah Smith Interlude” (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y-vMgLEXo4
DC Talk with Billy Graham: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTANlTnpeo
Jeremiah’s letter to exiles, seek the welfare of your city: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%3A1-13&version=ESV
Jimmy Swaggart preaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKE-9qVGJa4
It’s the end of the semester, which means it’s time for a chance hallway encounter that leads to a strange memory and then to reflections on the theological meaning of the proliferation of the codex (i.e., our modern physical book form).
Matchbox Twenty, “Downfall” (2002): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aQWA_fAu8M
Walmart, “Bible Highlighters and Pens”: https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/bible-highlighters-and-pens
The orchestral piece Brian mentioned that brought a jaded chapel audience roaring to its feet at the end: Wojciech Kilar, “Orawa” (with Kristjan Järvi): https://youtu.be/h_Cluwghn_8
The Stephen Prothero book Leah mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/American-Bible-Divide-Define-Nation/dp/0062123432
The Timothy Beal book Brian read from: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Bible-Timothy-Beal/dp/0547737343
TikToker justnaysha on highlighting in your Bible: https://www.tiktok.com/@justnaysha/video/7130356206597705002
The paperclipsalypse has arrived, as AI comes to destroy or save the world. Was AI there all along and we just now “discovered” its weird and eternal life?
The “paperclip maximizer” thought experiment: https://nickbostrom.com/ethics/ai
Eliezar Yudkowsky in TIME magazine, “Shut it Down”: https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/
Scott Aaronson, Shtetl-Optimized: https://scottaaronson.blog/
Drake + The Weeknd AI hit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Kafnm0eKQ
AI Beer commercial: https://www.tiktok.com/@realwholesomechannel/video/7227965471683775771
What if the AI was already there? https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin/status/1637449677028093953?s=20
Jacques Vallée on UFOs: https://www.wired.com/story/jacques-vallee-still-doesnt-know-what-ufos-are/
AI (2001 movie) scene: “The Flesh Fair”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMbAmqD_tn0
Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. To solemnly mark the end of this reporting dynasty, we rebroadcast one of our TOP 10 most popular Weird Religion episodes of all time: The 2020 election and inauguration came and went, leaving the predictions of the QAnon prophets…hanging in the air. What happens to a religious movement when its key prophecies fail to come true in real time? Are adherents disappointed? Is/was Q a “religion”? And did the biblical prophet Ezekiel make a false prediction—and then try to correct it?
UPDATED NOTES
Think this story is old news? A February 2022 PRRI poll shows that nearly 20% (!!??) of all Americans still believe in the core QAnon message: https://www.prri.org/research/the-persistence-of-qanon-in-the-post-trump-era-an-analysis-of-who-believes-the-conspiracies/
Tucker out at Fox: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1171641969/fox-news-fires-tucker-carlson-in-stunning-move-a-week-after-787-million-settleme
Chris Bader, “When Prophecy Passes Unnoticed”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387588?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Dr. Christopher Bader: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/christopher-bader
Cat Transcendence - limitless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmeH6Rnj2E
“The QAnon ‘Storm’ Never Struck”: https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958907699/the-qanon-storm-never-struck-some-supporters-are-wavering-others-steadfast
Clips of Q adherents from: CNN reporting from 2018 at a Trump rally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGVXmuLmEM )
Clips from “Satanic Panic” reporting from: CBC/Radio-Canada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEImKEIRm8)
Leah and Brian try the no-dunking challenge to talk about some weirdly religious videos by William Tapley, AKA “The Third Eagle of the Apocalypse.” First up: The Eagle uncovers Satanic messages in Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Then, other things are REVEALED.
William Tapley, AKA “The Third Eagle of the Apocalypse” in YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thirdeaglebooks
Some background on the obscure William Tapley: http://www.jnordstrom.ca/blog-ideas-and-updates/bill-tapley-third-eagle-of-the-apocalypse-and-co-prophet-of-the-end-times
William Tapley’s description of himself on his own website: https://www.thirdeaglemedia.com/about-me
CORRECTION: Apparently William Tapley is not against the current pope, sort of: https://www.thirdeaglemedia.com/pope-watch
The Third Eagle Takes on “Call Me Maybe”: https://twitter.com/LloydLegalist/status/1646633539645980673?s=20
The Third Eagle’s “It’s Prophesied” re: Obama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLT66yJBYbA&t=44s
The Third Eagle’s “Doom & Gloom”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5PLf-2FYIM
Belief in modern day prophets (statistics): https://religioninpublic.blog/2023/04/10/how-many-americans-believe-in-modern-day-prophets-what-does-that-entail/
Megan Goodwin’s Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions: https://www.amazon.com/Abusing-Religion-Literary-Persecution-Religions/dp/1978807783
Jason C. Bivins, Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Contemporary Evangelicalism: https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Fear-Politics-Conservative-Evangelicalism/dp/B008SLEH48
A rebroadcast of one of the top five most popular Weird Religion episodes of all time: on the embattled former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her attempt to create—or rather, fake having created—a futuristic blood-testing system. We end up having a gender smackdown conversation about women-on-women violence in the workplace, discussing ancient female fertility figurines and matriarchal societies, and musing on whether Holmes intentionally tried to dress like a religious leader. Longtime listeners can remember our older format and theme music; newer listeners can go back in time and hear how we were doing it in the summer of 2019 (this was S3 of the show).
UPDATED NOTES:
Holmes seems to be losing her appeals, and, barring future developments, is set to report to prison for 11 years on April 27, 2023: https://apnews.com/article/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-fraud-prison-sentence-754b44bc47eb200f032b75f45969cb07
Holmes has had two children during her trial, and since we first recorded this episode; many have criticized her for this, suspecting that she is using the babies to try to avoid jailtime: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-03-01/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-cites-baby-reason-avoid-prison
You’re flipping through the channels. On your old cable TV. You see Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade playing on a random channel. It’s in the middle of the movie. Do you select and watch? You do and you know it. Here we invoke a major debate over Dr. Elsa Schneider’s motives in the climactic grail-choosing scene, and daydream about the contents of a new book on Indiana Jones and philosophy. Join us.
Choosing the grail scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0TalLrtZ24
Dr. Elsa Schneider: https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Elsa_Schneider
Marion Ravenwood: https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Marion_Ravenwood
Contested objects at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection
New book on Indiana Jones and Philosophy: https://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Philosophy-Archaeology-Adventure/dp/1119740150
Indiana Jones theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog
Nietzsche on “God is dead…”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead
When you put religion on TV, you have to get religion consultants. Why even bother being accurate? Does Jesus look at someone to be healed with compassion—or anger? We end with a conversation about the term “minoritized” (vs. “minority”).
Review of Brian’s appearance on a Travel Channel show debunking a Phoenician inscription: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-america-unearthed-s04e05-phoenicians-in-america
“Horror Shows Like Mayfair Witches Hire Occult Consultant”: https://religionnews.com/2023/03/07/horror-shows-like-mayfair-witches-hire-occult-consultants-to-cast-their-spells/
Supernatural S2E18: https://www.netflix.com/watch/70223069
The Chosen: “Jesus Heals at the Pool” (clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMj1ggINLe4
Jesus’s anger problem in Mark 1:41 (for the opposite argument re: what Brian said): http://bit.ly/3TxyKJE
lectio difficilior: https://www.livius.org/articles/theory/lectio-difficilior-potior/
Jesus the Exorcist: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Exorcist-Contribution-Study-Historical/dp/1610970608
“Sister Alice” and Aimee Semple McPherson on HBO’s Perry Mason: https://slate.com/culture/2020/06/perry-mason-sister-alice-aimee-semple-mcpherson.html
On the language of “minoritized” vs. “minority”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26894228
This is possibly the weirdest religious moment of the year so far: Buried within a legal brief about an election fraud scandal are the contents of an email someone sent to Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s lawyers, in 2020. The email makes claims about how someone might receive information about a stolen election. Those claims are surprising.
The Dominion Voting Systems vs. Fox News defamation suit: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/22/1150647042/dominion-voting-systems-1-6-billion-defamation-suit-against-fox-news-goes-to-tri
Who is Sidney Powell?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Powell
What evidence is now coming out about where Sidney Powell got some of her information:
https://www.businessinsider.com/sidney-powell-voter-fraud-claims-headless-time-travel-dominion-fox-2023-2
and
https://www.salon.com/2023/02/17/trumpworld-conspiracy-theory-stemmed-from-email-by-internally-decapitated-ghost-filing/
Documents for Dominion Case vs. Fox News (see pp. 37-38 on the email about time travel):
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/redacted-documents-in-dominion-fox-news-case/dca5e3880422426f/full.pdf
056 THE BUFFALO (Jake Angeli, QAnon, apocalypse, epiphany, and the iconography of insurrection):
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/056-the-buffalo-jake-angeli-qanon-apocalypse-epiphany/id1428037534?i=1000504839007
Sidney Powell’s website appearance request form:
https://www.sidneypowell.com/speaker-invite-form
Moses sings a song that takes us…deep into the problem of Christian nationalism. Come for the most secretly controversial passage in the Bible; stay for Leah trying to be a therapist for Brian on the problem of hating Christian nationalism but fearing that we need it for social cohesion. And a scholarly theory on the evolution from polytheism to monotheism in ancient Israel.
Deuteronomy ch. 32: sons of Israel, or sons of GODS?! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2032&version=NIV
The new survey, showing 50% of Republicans like Christian Nationalism: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/14/1156642544/more-than-half-of-republicans-support-christian-nationalism-according-to-a-new-s
The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover (book): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175119/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover
Kristen Kobes du Mez: https://kristindumez.com/
A past episode, 018 THE WAR: Professor James Byrd on war and social cohesion: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/018-the-war-ken-burns-vietnam-documentary-professor/id1428037534?i=1000425540100
Psalm 82, many gods? https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+82&version=NIV
Mark Smith, Princeton Seminary, on the Origins of Biblical Monotheism: https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Biblical-Monotheism-Polytheistic-Background/dp/0195167686
Here witness the thematic collision between a dustup over a now-deleted Gospel Coalition article about sex and a new Christian dating site for men and women who want to be in what they think are biblically-traditional relationships.
The Gospel Coalition’s apology for the article / book excerpt, “Sex Won’t Save You–But it Points to the One Who Will”: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sex-wont-save-you/
NT Professor Michael Bird’s response to the “Sex Won’t Save You” article, with many links etc.: https://michaelfbird.substack.com/p/tgc-sex-and-christ
NT Professor Esau McCaulley on “Sex Won’t Save You”: https://twitter.com/esaumccaulley/status/1631380537892806669?s=20
On New Christian Dating Apps: https://religionnews.com/2022/09/27/new-dating-apps-and-in-person-mixers-target-religious-and-political-niches/
Dominion Dating member requirements: https://dominiondating.com/member-requirements/
Read the opening three chapters of Genesis, ye heathens: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201-3&version=NIV
Trad Wives on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tradwife?lang=en
Despite not being known fundamentalist or evangelical influencer royalty, Brian scored an invitation to the 2023 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. We discuss the sights, sounds, beliefs, dress code, costs, content, scandal, and music of the event. Was Brian inducted into The Family? We reveal.
Axios article on the new Prayer Breakfast format: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/29/national-prayer-breakfast-congress-leadership
Slate on the National Prayer Breakfast schism: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/02/national-prayer-breakfast-family-fellowship-gathering.html
Netflix documentary: The Family: https://www.netflix.com/title/80063867
Kenyan Civil War avoided through staged hug, facilitated by “The Family”? https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/kenya/b136-after-kenyas-leaders-reconcile-tough-path-ahead
Leaked emails on the Family’s continued involvement in the Prayer Breakfast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrAtS4sjYY
Donald Trump’s “non-traditional” prayerful address to the Prayer Breakfast in 2020: https://youtu.be/XuE2Tgg0qFE
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy’s live video address to the Prayer Breakfast: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/videos/mayemo-zrobiti-vse-shob-nastupnogo-roku-mi-zmogli-pomolitisy-4129
Cathy McMorris Rodgers: CORRECTION: She initially said she would not certify the election, then* changed her mind after the January 6th riot and did vote to certify (she did not think the Capitol Riot was “great,” apparently; but she didn’t think Trump was to blame at all; see the following links): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_McMorris_Rodgers#Donald_Trump; https://www.krem.com/article/news/investigations/mcmorris-rodgers-says-trump-didnt-give-rioters-direction-to-storm-the-capitol/293-6052edac-09fc-433f-8694-c4390a265e15; https://www.khq.com/news/mcmorris-rodgers-asks-protesters-to-stop-attacks-on-capitol-police/article_3b5f0246-5058-11eb-9496-4b48f26ee63c.html
In February of 2023 students at Asbury University—a Christian college in Kentucky—started a revival, which has gone on for weeks (the “public” phase of the revival ended around Feb. 19th). Professional revival seekers flocked in to participate. We explain what a “revival” is and talk about how observers are thinking about the pros and cons of spiritual revival on this particular college campus. Fox News also used one of Leah’s tweets on the topic (!), so we discuss that as well.
Basic info on the revival: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/asbury-university-revival-college-kentucky-going-viral-tiktok-rcna70686
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_revival
Leah’s Twitter thread, picked up by Fox News: https://twitter.com/drleahpayne/status/1624507669238419456?s=20
Scenes from the Asbury revival: https://youtube.com/shorts/NNhuxCFjZ00?feature=share
Demon at Asbury shrieks out: https://youtube.com/shorts/FQ4qDYfZsdA?feature=share
Faith leaders push back (?): https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/church-faith-leaders-push-back-on-asbury-revival-criticism/
Medieval dancing craze for hundreds of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania
An epic thematic bombardment: Living again with Scientology, the fall of man and the curse reversed by avocados, the Black National Anthem, erasing your mistakes on the new Google phone, and Rihanna
Live again…with Scientology: https://www.scientology.tv/you-can-live-again/?utm_content=LiveAgain&utm_source=redirect
Adam and Eve and the avocado reverses the curse: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/02/12/garden-of-eden-avocados-from-mexico-super-bowl-ad-commercial-anna-faris
He Gets Us, part 49: https://hegetsus.com/en/featured-videos
Google Pixel 7 and erasing your mistakes: https://www.justjared.com/2023/02/12/google-pixel-7-phone-super-bowl-commercial-2023-amy-schumer-erases-exes-plus-more-celeb-cameos/
Lift Every Voice and Sing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/02/12/super-bowl-sheryl-lee-ralph-abbott-elementary/
Lauren Boebert on how there is only one national anthem: https://twitter.com/laurenboebert/status/1624827803609841666?s=20&t=Wvg37P6aNwsDtxglKYhG9w
Rihanna halftime show: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a42843643/watch-rihanna-super-bowl-2023-half-time-show/
Who are “the Nephilim,” you ask, and why did they create the Federal Reserve? We are so glad you asked and we’re going to tell you—by way of reviewing a most ambiguous Bible story and tracing some of the surprising ways this story is being received today.
Genesis 6:1–4 (NRSVue): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A1-4&version=NRSVUE
Numbers 13:31–33: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+13%3A31-33&version=NRSVUE
1 Enoch (see esp. ch. 15): https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM
Book: The Roots of the Federal Reserve: Tracing the Nephilim from Noah to the US Dollar: https://www.amazon.com/Roots-Federal-Reserve-Tracing-Nephilim/dp/1942790198
Beautiful Jekyll Island, Georgia, where Nephilim may infect the soil today: https://www.southernliving.com/travel/georgia/jekyll-island
Popular book on Amazon in the category “Christian Mystical Spirituality”: Judgment of the Nephilim: https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Nephilim-Ryan-Pitterson/dp/0999208306
Richard Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”: https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/
Gary Wayne, The Genesis 6 Conspiracy: How Secret Societies and the Descendants of Giants Plan to Enslave Humankind: https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Conspiracy-Societies-Descendants-Humankind/dp/1632692902
We take a dive into a strange corner of YouTube, featuring videos purporting to show hitherto unknown or under-appreciated evidence that giant humans lived in the past and their bones have been hidden or covered up by the Smithsonian.
Pew Research on YouTube: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/
Heidi Campbell, researcher on digital religion: https://digitalreligion.tamu.edu/users/heidi-campbell
“Giant of Japan military parade”: https://youtu.be/-uigLE6EI1g
Big Man Japan (2007): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997147/
“20 Shocking Discoveries of Giants You Won’t Believe Exist”: https://youtu.be/Mf3_PWprFS8
“Giants Emerging Everywhere – They Can’t Hide This”: https://youtu.be/sVmOnwng6gs
History Channel’s Search for Lost Giants: https://youtu.be/JzlSWzg-FkY
Karen Douglas, on defining conspiracies: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721417718261
1 Enoch online (see ch. 15): https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM
Van Prooijen, et al., “The entertainment value of conspiracy theories”: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjop.12522
Birds Aren’t Real: https://birdsarentreal.com/
Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz%E2%80%93Zodiac_Killer_meme
Does voting count as a religious act—especially if you go behind a curtain to do it? We discuss a candidate’s wife recently declaring that she and her husband “love Israel more than a lot of Jews do,” and the authoritative, beguiling voice of the possibly-once-Buddhist Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Civil Religion: http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm
Oregon Mail Voting: https://www.multco.us/elections/brief-history-vote-mail-oregon
054 THE HEX (Anti-Trump Witches vs. Paula White and angels from Africa): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FbVST1Cj30XBxE0Sq3lNJ; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/054-the-curse-witches-hex-trump-paul-white-cain/id1428037534?i=1000498344437
Brazil election as holy war: https://religionnews.com/2022/10/28/presidential-standoff-becomes-a-holy-war-in-brazil/
Doug & Rebbie Mastriano: https://twitter.com/jacobkornbluh/status/1586520983036481536
Charismatics & the Shofar: https://politicaltheology.com/the-trump-shall-sound-politics-pentecostals-and-the-shofar-at-the-capitol-riots/
Kari Lake was a Buddhist? https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/obama-backing-arizona-news-anchor-became-trumps-pick-governor-rcna38985
Kari Lake disputes that she was ever a Buddhist: https://youtu.be/mmA2mXbkzrs
Veering wildly between reflections on death and bodies in the contemporary world, jokes about professional wrestling, ambulances passing by, rumination on how ancient people thought about burial and the afterlife, and with a major and free idea for others for a publication (hint: where do people who attend megachurches get buried?)—this is what you need for Halloween. Or any time. We’re back for the 8th season and 4th year of new podcast episodes from Weird Religion.
The skulls we’re talking about have their own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastered_human_skulls
Some more on the skulls: https://www.ashmolean.org/jericho-skull
Archaeologist Dr. Karina Croucher: https://www.bradford.ac.uk/staff/kcroucher; https://twitter.com/karinaktc
Paul Bearer (WWF/WWE): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bearer
Brian’s paper on the buried infant at Ashkelon: https://bit.ly/3DnEiil
Happy summer to everyone! We’ll be back in the fall of 2022 regularly, and possibly with a one-off here or there before then. Stay cool weirdos.
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In late 2021, the soap opera Days of Our Lives revived its most iconic and beloved and controversial storyline: the possession of Marlena, aka the Mardevil. We review, with memories of childhood summers, wild Days plotlines, a debate in the comment section, and a sociological theory of possession.
Highlights from the 1994–1995 Mardevil plot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOhSYgDMLmw
John Black casts the devil out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sToK0mCv3DU&t=1556s
Days bringing back the possession story, with a vibrant user comments section: https://ew.com/tv/days-of-our-lives-binging-back-possession-storyline/
The Devil comes back for Marlena after 25 years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F11iqh7_eDc&list=PLNmiY2SJ3AKOFk7ULhfHITURjKNIFsHL5
The second exorcism of Marlena (2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q9N3m6nSTQ; https://youtu.be/bnIEjymVdUM
An update on the recent Mardevil plot revival: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/days-of-our-lives-weekly-recap-mardevil-coming-get-his-due.html/
Further updates on the current Mardevil plot revival: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/days-of-our-lives-sneak-peek-mar-devil-overplays-her-hand-ben-ciara.html/
Deidre Hall brings holy water to set: https://people.com/tv/days-of-our-lives-deidre-hall-uses-holy-water-filming-scenes-where-character-is-possessed/
Marlena Evans on fandom.com: https://daysofourlives.fandom.com/wiki/Marlena_Evans
The Deidre Hall website: https://deidrehall.com/
Notorious and ridiculous Days plotlines from which we quote: https://bit.ly/3eGO8jm; https://bit.ly/3zcVJiQ
Book review on possession: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0048721X.2021.2024744?needAccess=true
When you need a compelling authority figure character on TV or movie screen, you get a priest—or a professor. We reveal four of our favorite professors on screen, and chat with a special guest whose scholarly speciality is analyzing the way professors are depicted in movies.
Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR7Kh77aNnU
David Duchovny )as himself) and Ji-Yoon (Sandra Oh) in Netflix’s The Chair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRBm2tYvr84
Larry Gopnik, A Serious Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJqPZ-KmZs
Professor Walsh on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Maggie_Walsh
Runner up: Professor confrontation in God’s Not Dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFcZS8ra6gk
John C. Fitch III on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7266946/
Dissertation: “The Cinematic College Professor: Conceptions and Representations”: https://bit.ly/3I7tQxr
Article: “Making a College Professor Film: A Case Study”: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0973258619866353
Podcast drama series: “The Lowest Deep”: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1997958
It’s time for a news round up: Come to hear about AI coming to life, as a child; stay to hear about the Army’s new recruitment video with ghost and witch vibes. Stay longer for the Mithradites of Fond du Lac, Disney religion, and the apocalypse happening on TV on the dystopian show “Masked Singer.”
Google engineer thinks AI came to life: https://twitter.com/tomgara/status/1535716256585859073?s=21&t=OsDxk60bIKY5XQd_vff-4A; https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/
The Mithradites of Fond du Lac: https://thebeliever.net/mithradites-of-fond-du-lac/
Fly American for faith accommodations for employees and passengers alike: https://religionnews.com/2022/05/23/american-airlines-dubbed-most-faith-friendly-fortune-500-company/
The Apocalypse will happen and has happened on TV: https://www.theringer.com/tv/2022/6/3/23152399/apocalyptic-reality-tv-masked-singer-circle-floor-is-lava
Scripture wheel of emotions: https://twitter.com/rharrisphdmom/status/1530367715415826432?s=21&t=_cThy_0Or0iAgqIksyB88A
Weird Army recruitment video with witch vibes: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/unsettling-fort-bragg-recruitment-video-ignites-debate-over-its-mysterious-intent/ar-AAXkQJk; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uNPZKJqbE8
Sheltered kid goes to college: https://youtu.be/ckgGbVrW5DE
AI writes nine stories about a sister’s death: https://thebeliever.net/ghosts/
Bitcoin like a religion because: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VveLNyHjLqg&t=76s
Disney like a religion: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/11/1104056661/disney-adults; https://t.co/tbYvi2RwFt
Few things can rile the Christian faithful like a new Bible translation (see, e.g., John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, etc.). The scholarly and ecumenical translation of choice, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), got a haircut of sorts; it’s called the NRSVue (ue = “updated edition”). We give a review.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
NRSVue in full on Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-Revised-Standard-Version-Updated-Edition-NRSVue-Bible
List of the major changes: https://guides.library.yale.edu/newtestament/nrsvue
Some people who don’t like it: https://juicyecumenism.com/2022/01/19/liberal-nrsvue-bible-translation-update/
Interview with committee member Dr. Abraham Smith: https://blog.smu.edu/perkins/nrsv-updated-edition/
Brian has a confession that will shock the world of the News Roundup. Leah offers absolution. Give us a shout on Twitter if you finished this ep and we will celebrate you.
STORIES DISCUSSED (yes actually)
Mythical root axe: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/13/1098545920/kansas-man-finds-ax-tree-root-handle-reddit-thor
Far Right American Christians converting to Orthodoxy: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1096741988/orthodox-christian-churches-are-drawing-in-far-right-american-converts
Spilling blood in fake tiger fighting for rain: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220508-mexican-tiger-fight-ritual-draws-blood-to-bring-rain
Exorcisms have gone mainstream: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/exorcism-is-something-we-cant-quite-quit/ar-AAX12Wr
Quasi-religious ceremonies for crypto creation https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2022/04/27/edward-snowden-revealed-as-key-participant-in-mysterious-ceremony-creating-2-billion-anonymous-cryptocurrency/?sh=3ae4c1803b24
Surprising reason why Christians help migrants: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/church-satan-marjorie-taylor-greene_n_6269c72fe4b04a9ff8974f2d
Wine loving nun is the oldest: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/worlds-oldest-person-french-nun-sister-andre
Eve Frank, the first female Jewish messiah: https://daily.jstor.org/meet-eva-frank-the-first-jewish-female-messiah/
We’re calling everything a “hellscape” now: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/why-were-calling-everything-a-hellscape/629565/
Crucifying Jesus in front of Five Guys: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/u4dpc3/warm_enough_to_crucify_the_bishop_today_in_front/
A theory of why we’re all going nuts online: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/something-happened-by-us-a-demonology
Mercury extra retrograde has people changing their lives: https://www.wsj.com/articles/astrology-fans-feel-the-dread-mercury-is-in-retrograde-an-extra-time-this-year-11650292198
Catholicism declines in Latin America: https://www.axios.com/catholic-decline-latin-america-evangelicals-dd2bab11-6a22-48cc-b65a-554578c7a62e.html
Zuck on life’s meaning: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/news/inside-mark-zuckerbergs-plan-cure-26358289
Evangelicals starting to have a political mind of their own: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/trump-fails-to-turn-evangelicals-against-gop-governor-he-scorns
Trapping people in your guitar worship service at 30,000 feet: https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/u4yroc/wanna_get_away/
Near death experiences are not hallucinations: https://www.braintomorrow.com/2022/04/08/near-death-brain-activity/
Pastors flipping properties: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/miami-church-real-estate-first-presbyterian
Christian sect burning shed and Colorado fire: https://www.thedailybeast.com/christian-sect-burning-shed-focus-of-deadly-colorado-fire-investigation
Catholic conspiracy theory: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/pope-francis-consecration-ukraine-russia-fatima-conspiracy-theories.html
Not Satanic Chair: https://twitter.com/skestenbaum/status/1507339305911562249?s=20&t=pIGZblxvEPLN0i-BCB7ExA
Misunderstanding the book of Job in the face of the apocalypse: https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/03/job-torah-story-despair-alternative-war-democracy-climate-apocalypse.html
The last Covid story we’ll ever do pls? https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ricky-schroder-mask-meltdown_n_62257790e4b012a2628cb4b5
Poem, “Welcome to the Age of Beautiful Weirdos”: https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/03/friday-poem-290.html
Priest helps families at no cost: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1083451577/philippines-drug-war-victims-burial
Really stretching the “religion” angle here but Remember King of Kong? https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/king-kong-monkey-bashed-seagull-26422015
Pat Robertson going strong: https://twitter.com/RealAmVoice/status/1495114363648163843?s=20&t=1ad1MdgQeC3wWjUsC6imJQ
Pat Robertson says God made Putin do it: https://www.salon.com/2022/03/01/pat-robertson-putin-is-being-compelled-by-god-to-invade-ukraine-and-fulfill-biblical-prophecy_partner/
Doomsday Plane flies yayyy: https://inews.co.uk/news/us-doomsday-plane-boeing-flight-putin-nuclear-weapons-threat-russia-ukraine-1491543
Teaching evals for Professor Jesus Christ: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/selected-negative-teaching-evaluations-of-jesus-christ
Celeb couples turning vampiric: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxbna/why-are-celebrities-so-obsessed-with-blood-right-now-machine-gun-kelly-megan-fox
Nephilim documentary: https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-696572
A lot of humans wish they were never born (saw in Salem on way to Bend): https://images.app.goo.gl/1d36kqNSW18tseWV6
Astrologers predict new things for America based on 2s: https://nypost.com/2022/02/21/astrologers-explain-power-shift-significance-of-2-22-22/
Clergy shortage forces laypeople into roles: https://www.wsj.com/articles/houses-of-worship-face-clergy-shortage-as-many-resign-during-pandemic-11645452000
Facts and Myths about Being Wrong About Things: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.34.3.220
After school Satanism: https://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article257283327.html
People like lady robots better: https://www.studyfinds.org/humans-female-robots/
Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/opinion/church-online-services-covid.html?referringSource=articleShare
Surge of digital church membership: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/virtual-reality-church-worshipping-in-the-metaverse
Canadian doctors can prescribe nature walks: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079356799/a-new-program-in-canada-gives-doctors-the-option-of-prescribing-national-park-vi
Worship the beast: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/rare-calf-born-three-eyes-25969723
Sunday lunch crowd meme: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/sfohsc/thee_worst_in_the_rogues_gallery_of_shit_people/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Attempt to kill the Antichrist: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-biden-antichrist-assassination-attempt-secret-service-20220129-q4to7j27v5d6tkye5eeh5kzwfi-story.html
Guru: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/style/alex-ebert-bad-guru.html
The Theologian who warned of American Christian facism in the 1980s: https://mitchellglennfrommichigan.medium.com/this-theologian-warned-of-american-christian-fascism-back-in-the-80s-1a790bff13b3
Zoommunion (?): https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/21-january/news/uk/holy-communion-online-is-valid-and-effective-says-burridge
Faith healer nails nail in woman’s head: https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/11/faith-healer-hammered-nail-into-pregnant-womans-head-so-shed-have-baby-boy-16088206/
Non-believer groups in Ohio: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/01/28/8-greater-columbus-groups-atheists-and-nonbelievers/6581283001/
Christian flag reaches the Supreme Court: https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/01/christian-flag-case-reaches-supreme-court-is-the-nazi-flag-next.html
Rise of sneaker-preacher-influencers: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/29/pastor-michael-todd-spit-preacher-influencer
Drowning Man Parable and Vaccines: https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/10/christian-drowning-man-parable-covid-vaccine.html
QAnon shuts down national butterfly center: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/national-butterfly-center-closed-sex-trafficking-qanon/
JFK disguised as you know who: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/qanon-donald-trump-jfk_n_61e5e64be4b05645a6eb0912
Mystical letters spell the real culprit: https://www.reddit.com/r/terriblefacebookmemes/comments/rxuk74/god_damn_media_spreddin_rona_round/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
QAnon Shaman was trying to calm the crowd: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/qanon-shaman-riot-claim_n_61d68fd2e4b061afe3aedb25
Western Wall future and shaky Israeli government: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-religion-jerusalem-israel-prayer-04a68f9f0baafa813fb0dfab3485e896
New doc puts women at center: https://religionnews.com/2021/12/15/new-documentary-daughters-of-eve-dismantle-christian-patriarchy-zanah-thirus-bible-feminism/
Islamic comic book finds audience: https://religionnews.com/2021/12/29/islamic-friendly-comic-book-content-finds-a-growing-audience/
Noah’s Ark doomsday bunker: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/noahs-ark-underground-doomsday-bunker-25852569
Nonbelief channel at Patheos drama: https://religionnews.com/2022/01/04/what-happened-to-the-nonbelief-channel-at-patheos/
This week, we tell the strange tale, via Twitter thread, of a man who brings his childhood imaginary friend back to life…through AI. The friend happens to be a microwave, who is also a WWI veteran. What could go wrong? (So many things.)
Lucas Rizzotto’s Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/_LucasRizzotto/status/1516205625662836739
The video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1G5b_2PYj0
Open AI and GPT-3: https://openai.com/api/
A working class supper from the 1800s reenactment video: https://youtu.be/K3DgRm9N3zU
Star Wars talking to your kids PSA: https://youtu.be/pCjMGOvMghY
Nazarene congregation vibes: https://bit.ly/39edCVK
Vestel Goodman: https://youtu.be/XxlI1ZRunu0
A news desk special report! We’re talking about Kathryn Krick, a Christian social media celebrity and charismatic preacher who frequents parks in the Los Angeles area to perform healings and exorcisms. We’re joined by award-winning religion journalist and New York Times contributor Sam Kestenbaum—read his new article on Kathryn Krick called “Demontime: How a former actress-turned-Christian EDM singer from small-town New York became a Pentecostal faith healer for the TikTok era”: https://thelandmag.com/krick-ministry-faith-healer/
Kathryn Krick on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_apostlekathrynkrick
Sam Kestenbaum on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skestenbaum
Kathryn Krick’s church webpage: https://5fchurch.org/leadership
Interview with Sam Kestenbaum: https://therevealer.org/insights-from-a-religion-reporter/
Sam’s website: https://samkestenbaum.com/
With Brian having finally finished BSG, it is now time for Leah to guide him through thinking about its meaning and weird religious implications. Along the way, we’re offering a sampler of highlights from the world of religion and pop culture scholarship engaging with the show. We consider the gritty political context of the BSG universe and the show’s spiritual messages, and we ponder the fate of polytheism as a concept.
SOURCES CITED AND TO ENJOY
Professor Juli Gittinger: https://www.gcsu.edu/artsandsciences/philosophy/faculty-staff-department-of-philosophy-religion-and-liberal-studies
Dr. Shayna Sheinfeld: https://twitter.com/ShaynaSheinfeld
Zuleyha Çetiner-Oktem, “The Eternal Return, Gnosticism and Battlestar Galactica”: https://www.academia.edu/36062177/The_Eternal_Return_Gnosticism_and_Battlestar_Galactica
Barry Buzan, “America in Space: The International Relations of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica”: https://bit.ly/3J9f7Bo
Jay Twomey, “The Five That Remain: Versions of the Messianic in Battlestar Galactica”: https://bit.ly/3J9f7Bo
Van Leavenworth, “Making Starbuck Monstrous: The Poetics of Othering in Battlestar Galactica”: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12156
Chris Klassen, “Research Note: Rejecting Monotheism? Polytheism, Pluralism, and Battlestar Galactica”: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537900802373205
A recent weird religion news roundup: unfortunately, an ancient killing stone has been cracked open; the Devil has attacked at our highest moments; animal heads in a bag; and the world’s most boring person is revealed at last—and it is all of us.
Denzel’s Pentecostal Words to Will: https://www.today.com/popculture/awards/will-smith-appears-wipe-tears-talks-bradley-cooper-denzel-washington-o-rcna21792
Mel Gibson’s sequel to the Passion of the Christ: The Resurrection: https://movieweb.com/the-passion-of-the-christ-resurrection-what-to-expect/
Satanic Essential Oils: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/young-living-essential-oils-satanic
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1501216568222666756
The world’s most boring person according to research: https://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2022/03/18/the-most-boring-person-in-the-world-discovered-by-researchers
Mystical Thing with Bad Vegan: https://people.com/food/sarma-melngailis-used-money-from-bad-vegan-to-repay-former-employees-i-did-not-get-paid-otherwise/
QAnon is growing!!?? https://www.vice.com/en/article/93bg5a/qanon-conspiracy-theory-prri-poll
Mystical Killing Stone Cracked Open: https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1501216568222666756
A bag of animal sacrifice heads: https://apnews.com/article/religion-rhode-island-animal-welfare-a69457139e63d6140f1757152de9b3d3
Who whispers seductive dreams of warfare into the ears of kings? Ares? A lying spirit? A gang of 400 prophets? Gather ‘round for a reading of an odd biblical tale.
SOURCES:
Movie clip: https://youtu.be/K8A9UAqA4Ks
Politico interview with Fiona Hill: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340
Pascal on how origins reveal lack of justice: https://libquotes.com/blaise-pascal/quote/lbx9o6o
Jill Lepore, The Secret History of Wonder Woman: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-Wonder-Woman/dp/0804173400
1 Kings 22: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+22&version=NRSV
We begin with a throwback to the Cold War of the 1970s and quickly arrive at the war today instigated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What are the demographics of religion in Russia today? What is the relationship between Church and State in Russia? How does Ukraine function as “spiritual space” in the Russian imagination? Is this a “religious war”? Check out the sources we’re discussing:
The Late Great Planet Earth (Hal Lindsey): https://www.amazon.com/Late-Great-Planet-Earth/dp/B000GT1GUS
US State Dept. on Russian religious affiliation (see Section I: Religious Demography): https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/russia/
Putin’s spiritual destiny: https://unherd.com/2022/02/putins-spiritual-destiny/
Between Two Fires (Joshua Yaffa): https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Fires-Ambition-Compromise/dp/1524760595
A critique of Levada’s “Soviet Man”: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/rip-soviet-man-scrapping-homo-sovieticus-the-spirit-yuri-levada
Understanding Putin’s narrative: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/23/putin-narrative-ukraine-master-key-crisis-nato-expansionism-frozen-conflict?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Put wants religious soul of Ukraine: https://religionnews.com/2022/02/24/putin-is-after-more-than-land-he-wants-the-religious-soul-of-ukraine/
In our first news roundup of 2022, we’re brimming with stories for the weird religious headlines trading game: Marxist hoodies, God being dope on the hoodie, side comments on the Super Bowl halftime show, we’ll get there inshallah, someone is ready to sell your prayers, a somewhat confusing ad about Jesus. And and and. Join us.
Is God dope though? https://twitter.com/BryanBanksPhD/status/1489221666702086145
Robert Jones at PRRI: https://www.prri.org/staff/robert-p-jones-ph-d/
He Gets Us Jesus ad: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/qW2v/he-gets-us-struggles
He Gets Us website: https://hegetsus.com/
Tax info for “The Servant Foundation”: https://www.open990.org/org/431890105/servant-foundation/
Religion in schools on new Serial podcast: https://bit.ly/3JtSurl
Inshallah: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/magazine/inshallah.html
Let’s collect and sell your prayers: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/apps-selling-your-prayers
“Call of the Void”: https://www.livescience.com/what-is-call-of-the-void
Heckling the Pope: https://bit.ly/3gQKDrq
AI Worship Pastor! https://bit.ly/3LFIA7K
This person does not exist: https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
Eric Clapton claims he was mind controlled: https://nypost.com/2022/01/24/eric-clapton-people-vaccinated-against-covid-under-hypnosis/
Neil Young fights covid misinfo: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/30/opinions/neil-young-covid-battle-lines-column-galant/index.html
Calvinist obscene professor rant: https://www.rawstory.com/professor-barry-mehler-viral-video/
Connect the dots: Blink-182; “exotic materials”; Trump vs. Hilary 2016; Abraham and Isaac and the frustration and allure of faith. In this episode we’re talking about some wild claims made by Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge and early research into the brains of those who claim to have seen UFOs. Why does a particular religious idea appeal to some but not others? How might the structure of our bodies condition us for certain beliefs or religious experience?
SOURCES FOR YOU
“The Vindication of Tom DeLonge”: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a37532754/tom-delonge-interview-2021/
“Inside Tom DeLonge’s UFO Obsession, Blink-182 Turmoil”: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/inside-tom-delonges-ufo-obsession-blink-182-turmoil-50572/
Four-hour Tom DeLonge interview on Coast to Coast AM: https://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2014-11-30-show/
Tom DeLonge interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ybsXdWAtxqLBdRByLb2YG
To the Stars Academy: https://home.tothestarsacademy.com/
Stanford Professor Garry Nolan is Analyzing Anomalous Materials from UFO Crashes: https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7nzkq/stanford-professor-garry-nolan-analyzing-anomalous-materials-from-ufo-crashes?utm_source=reddit.com
Garry Nolan video interview on AMERICAN ALCHEMY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzTZbSNsKV8
Ross Coulthart, In Plain Sight (pp. 164–210): https://www.amazon.com/Plain-Sight-investigation-impossible-science-ebook/dp/B08VYR4DZ6
Basic Tom DeLonge facts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLonge
Trump asks Russia on TV to hack Hilary’s emails: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-asked-russia-to-find-clintons-emails-on-or-around-the-same-day-russians-targeted-her-accounts
Wikileaks shares DeLonge and Podesta emails: https://bit.ly/3ycKlDi
We’re back! Starting next week, on Wednesday February 2nd, we’re releasing new material. Two innovations: (1) We’re going to do a “news roundup” style thing every other episode, and a more classic, scripted-ish, pop-culture artifact commentary sort of thing every other episode. (2) And to make sure we have time to make these and put the requisite effort into it, we’re going to an every-other-week release schedule. Every other Wednesday morning. Right off the bat, we’ll be talking about Blink-182…UFOs…demon possession…soap operas…
Blessings abound as we round up some of the weirdest and most wonderful and most horrible stories from the end of 2021. Baptist women try to lead, small green children will grow up on Mars and turn feeble, you will find $600,000 in a megachurch bathroom, and you will protest our Nazi government in a Cheesecake Factory.
And here are links to the stories, in no particular order:
Speaking Babylonian in Marvel: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/whats-the-babylonian-for-thank-you-trinity-academic-provides-ancient-babylonian-translations-for-marvel-studios-eternals/
Future world will suck: https://futurism.com/the-byte/ar-pioneer-warns-metaverse
Mars mutant children with photo of green child: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4044467/elon-musk-mars-children-mutations-skin-bones/
Southern Baptist Women Lead: https://apnews.com/article/religion-baptist-6c5ea89af77883048855b41e4bc30963
Bendroth book Leah referenced: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-Present-Margaret-Lamberts-Bendroth/dp/0300068646
WSJ reports: people leaving religion during pandemic: https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-americans-left-religion-during-the-pandemic-11639494003
Satanic theories about concert deaths: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/09/astroworld-disaster-fuels-wave-of-satanic-conspiracy-theories-on-tiktok
New religion on the internet https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22832827/manifesting-tiktok-astroworld-conspiracy-qanon-religion
$600,000 in the church bathroom walls: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/plumber-finds-cash-checks-loose-toilet-wall-joel-osteens-lakewood-chur-rcna7512
City buried beneath Iowa: https://religiondispatches.org/mormon-group-digging-for-scriptural-city-of-zarahemla-in-iowa-is-a-portrait-of-religious-nationalism/; https://iowastartingline.com/2021/12/06/archeological-search-underway-in-se-iowa-for-ancient-morman-city/
Love Has Won: https://www.westword.com/news/silver-colloidal-treatment-love-has-won-cult-leader-death-update-12974120
JFK: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-dallas-conspiracy-theorist-jfk-still-there-1264953/
Cult of We: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2021/12/16/authors-of-new-book-on-wework-discuss-the-cult-of-we
Optimal Business: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/workaholic-work-life-balance-employees-office-workers-hybrid-working-employment-2383521
Cheesecake Factory: https://twitter.com/l2ftv/status/1470993160939712512?s=21
"Cult fave" : https://www.bustle.com/life/33-cult-favorite-products-on-amazon-that-actually-live-up-to-the-hype-8334906
Unfortunately posed inflatable Santa: https://www.newsweek.com/womans-obscene-santa-display-goes-viral-hoa-lady-just-had-stroke-1654648
Geraldo Rivera opens a safe: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78842/oral-history-30-years-ago-geraldo-rivera-opened-al-capones-vault
Jesus applies for VP of Student Success: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/jesus-christ-applies-for-vp-of-student-success
An age-old historical and theological question: Why was Jesus crucified? We explore a shocking theory, as Leah engages in a rare (for her) ambush session on Brian with an unexpected twist.
The 19-second sermon clip: https://youtu.be/0fVt7eR1o_w
Steven Furtick’s controversial tweet: https://images.app.goo.gl/rUotpKingcWMtUgw5
WEIRDOS: peeking our heads into your life with a substantive check-in on these things:
(1) Brian is still watching Battlestar Galactica, and the last ep (S4E11) was bananas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIV5UqIV0a0&t=248s)
(2) Many of us are still wounded by the ending of Lost (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0DigVw1bA)
(3) Leo DiCaprio in talks to play Jim Jones (https://ew.com/movies/leonardo-dicaprio-jim-jones-biopic-movie/)
(4) QAnon thought JFK Jr. was coming back (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/02/qanon-jfk-jr-dallas/)
(5) If you enjoy the show, or even if you don’t, give us a review on Apple podcasts, and/or follow us on Twitter, Insta, and Facebook (or “META” LOL):
https://twitter.com/weirdreligion
https://www.instagram.com/weirdreligionpodcast
https://www.facebook.com/weirdreligion
A quick joke about Popeye and a philosophical theory of humor that couldn’t be included in one of the S6 eps for some reason.
The Popeye joke, by Jack Handey: https://bit.ly/3u55ehF
As we finish S6 on the show and approach 70,000 downloads, we take a stroll down memory lane, thanking people in vague ways, singing The Killers and Imagine Dragons, conducting a miniature news roundup on Leah's new article, and strategizing about having the Third Eagle of the Apocalypse on the pod.
Tammy Faye, a double whammy of Christian love, wins in the end: https://religionnews.com/2021/09/17/tammy-faye-column/
William Tapley, AKA The Third Eagle of the Apocalypse, "IT'S PROPHESIED (END TIMES ANTHEM)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLT66yJBYbA
We’re talking with award-winning film writer and director Chris White about his new feature Electric Jesus, chronicling the rise and fall of a Christian heavy metal band in the summer of 1986 and the pastor’s daughter who runs away from home to join them. Adorableness, personal memories, and deep commentary about Christian music then and now ensue. Join us.
Chris White, filmmaker: http://chriswhitehq.com/
Electric Jesus on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8666022/
Review of Electric Jesus on Mashable: https://in.mashable.com/entertainment/17936/scad-savannah-film-festival-electric-jesus-review-a-light-hearted-film-on-the-world-of-christian-roc
The soundtrack from the film: https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/products/electric-jesus
Michael W. Smith, “Friends are Friends Forever”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbPKaIozS-c
Michael W. Smith’s alleged satanism on someone’s blog: https://aubreeblogpage.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/michael-w-smith-wolves-in-sheeps-clothing/
Christian metal band Stryper: http://www.stryper.com/
Facebook has gathered church leaders for a conference to ask how they can have church on Facebook. It’s all about “connection.” Peanut allergies and Netflix’s new dating show Sexy Beast and Brian not having a son are discussed, as well as theories of brand dilution and holiness. And the revelation: We speculate about how Facebook is promoting a particular version of the internet and its new product idea through this effort.
“Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience” (New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/facebook-church.html
“Facebook decided faith groups are good for business” (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebook-decided-faith-groups-are-good-business-now-it-wants-your-prayers-2021-07-22/
Neflix’s Sexy Beasts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJO5m6EFL6A
Elevation Church on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevationchurch.org/
Timothy Beals on the Bible and “brand dilution”: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Bible-Timothy-Beal/dp/0547737343
Spiritual destinations in Second Life: https://secondlife.com/destinations/belief
Mark Zuckerberg bets on the “Metaverse”: https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview
Terry Eagleton, After Theory: https://www.amazon.com/After-Theory-Terry-Eagleton/dp/0465017746
We’re at our local coffee shop for an all-lightning round version of this week in weird religion news. Advice: If you’re writing a Christian romance novel, steer clear of genocide. Here are the stories we’re tracking:
Get your daily prophecy: https://www.elijahlist.com/index.php
Biden compares troops to prophets: https://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/in-an-address-to-the-nation-biden-used-the-book-of-isaiah-to-compare-u-s-troops-to-prophets/
What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban: https://medium.com/the-atlantic/what-i-learned-while-eavesdropping-on-the-taliban-72c8e2acec9d
Sister magic: https://thesistersenchanted.com/
The Empty Religions of Instagram: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/opinion/influencers-glennon-doyle-instagram.html?referringSource=articleShare
Christian romance novel dabbles in genocide: https://religionnews.com/2021/08/02/christian-romance-novel-draws-criticism-for-romanticized-genocide-of-native-americans/
The Matrix 4 Title Revealed During Presentation at CinemaCon: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-matrix-4-matrix-resurrections-cinemacon-trailer-reveal-warner-bros
BONUS PIECE (that we didn’t discuss): Sacred Pregnancy in the Age of the “Nones”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ann-duncan-goucher-college-sacred-pregnancy-in-the/id1060078714?i=1000532965301 (a short podcast ep)
AND: We wanted to comment on this one, but it turns out it’s satire, but it’s still funny: “Jim Bakker says God cannot hear prayers through masks”: https://www.politicalflare.com/2021/08/televangelist-jim-bakker-complains-that-god-cannot-hear-prayers-through-masks/
Biblical forgery cases get everyone riled up—here are the two hottest controversies of the moment, covering both Old and New Testaments: “The Shapira Scroll” and the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.” Brian goes off. Come for the juicy details on both documents, and stay for the hard discussion of “history” and meditation on intellectual humility.
The pandemic never ends joke: https://twitter.com/mattbooshell/status/1422589796828987395?s=10
The Rylands Papyrus (which Brian erroneously called the “Rowlands” Papyrus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rylands_Library_Papyrus_P52
New York Times article on the Shapira Scroll controversy: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/arts/bible-deuteronomy-discovery.html
The Shapira Scroll (overview, photos): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapira_Scroll
Idan Dershowitz: https://www.dershowitz.net/
Excerpt from Dershowitz’s new book on the Shapira Scroll: https://www.academia.edu/45450947/The_Valediction_of_Moses_A_Proto_Biblical_Book
Professor Christopher Rollston on the Shapira scrolls: http://www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=896
Ariel Sabar, “the Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’ Wife (The Atlantic): https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/the-unbelievable-tale-of-jesus-wife/485573/
Professor Karen King, Harvard Divinity School: https://hds.harvard.edu/people/karen-l-king
Gospel of Jesus’ Wife on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Jesus%27_Wife
Ariel Sabar, Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife: https://www.amazon.com/Veritas-Harvard-Professor-Gospel-Jesuss/dp/0385542585
Chris Hedges’ review of Ariel Sabar’s book on the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife forgery: https://scheerpost.com/2021/07/29/the-forged-gospel-of-jesuss-wife/
Kellyanne Conway on “alternative facts”: https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/conway-press-secretary-gave-alternative-facts-860142147643
We’re talking with professor and author Natalie Wigg-Stevenson about transgression and devotion in the award-winning TV series Fleabag.
Natalie Wigg-Stevenson profile: https://www.tst.edu/directory/faculty/wigg-stevenson-natalie
Transgressive Devotion: Theology as Performance Art (2021), by Natalie Wigg-Stevenson: https://www.amazon.com/Transgressive-Devotion-Theology-Performance-Art/dp/033405947X
Fleabag on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Fleabag-Season-1/dp/B0875K9Q4P
The weird religion news is on fire as always. This week: Is there a Matt Damon - Ben Affleck curse? Has Britney Spears become Catholic? Is Amanda Knox a philosopher? Can you go beyond yoga?
Britney Spears goes Catholic on Insta, then deletes it: https://www.instagram.com/britneyspears/; https://www.newsweek.com/britney-spears-reveals-shes-now-catholic-she-models-mass-dress-1616859
Britney gets a new ipad (sound clip is from this Insta post, not her post about becoming Catholic): https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/06/entertainment/britney-spears-ipad-conservatorship-intl-scli/index.html
It’s Matt Damon’s turn in the Damon-Affleck curse cycle: https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/matt-damon-ben-affleck-f-slur-curse.html
SNL skit (sound clip), “The Curse”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNno63ZO2Lw
Amanda Knox makes a mystical rant: https://twitter.com/amandaknox/status/1420871392266911746
Hindu extremists attack U.S. scholars of Hinduism: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/07/hindutvas-threat-to-academic-freedom/
Tiktok faith communities: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/27/i-never-had-an-inkling-about-this-how-tiktok-is-fostering-community-among-questioning-christians/
GiveSendGo! making money off of anti-vaxxing: https://slate.com/technology/2021/08/givesendgo-gofundme-vaccine-skeptics-covid-misinformation.html
Fasting and praying against the virus: https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/3319
A new discovery validates the Bible at Mt. Kilimanjaro?! https://bit.ly/2U02vIG
Let’s go...beyond Yoga? https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/levi-strauss-to-buy-yoga-apparel-brand-beyond-yoga-.html
A white version of the holy family in a playset: https://religionnews.com/2021/08/06/christian-group-petitions-toy-company-to-replace-nativity-playset-depicting-holy-family-as-white/
You know how you do that thing where you watch an intriguing trailer for an artsy horror film and then make all your friends watch it? Here we are. In The Lamb, forthcoming this fall, a couple tries to raise a lamb (?) as if it is their own child (?), and the lamb then morphs into something like a human (?), and some difficult things happen when the lamb parents come to reclaim their own (?). With a side discourse on Israel’s experience in the desert with flying snakes.
Watch the trailer and join in our confused glee: The Lamb (2021), https://youtu.be/hnEwJKVWjFM
Reference: the 2000 film Spiral: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244870/
Kafka quote: https://tinycamels.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/found-in-translation-in-the-struggle-between-you-and-the-world/
On flying snakes in Numbers 21: https://www.thetorah.com/article/what-is-the-biblical-flying-serpent
Noomi Rapace: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0636426/
We’re talking with host of Things Not Seen Radio host and professor David Dault about the X-Files. Enough said.
Check out David Dault’s massive and amazing catalogue NOW: https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/
Dr. David Dault at Loyola Chicago: https://www.luc.edu/ips/about/faculty/daviddaultphd.shtml
X-Files on Hulu, S4E14: “Memento Mori”: https://www.hulu.com/watch/f3a2f201-c27e-42bf-a621-45a3a4341f92
New York Times, Meet the Nun who wants you to remember that you will die: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html
Chris Carter on the new UFO government report: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/opinion/chris-carter-aliens-ufo-xfiles.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
In this week’s News Roundup, we’re going to marry God, pronounce on Bible translations on Tiktok, and make a very convoluted analogy to the JEDP Pentateuchal source critical scheme!!
This week’s stories:
A woman marries the Holy Spirit; husband objects: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/04/kenyan-woman-marries-the-holy-spirit-in-anglican-ceremony/
Anthony Bourdain’s voice raised from the dead: https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/anthony-bourdain-fake-voice-roadrunner-documentary-backlash-1235020878/
The JEDP thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis
Are people coming back to church: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/30/millions-skipped-church-during-pandemic-will-they-return/
TikTokers on Bible translations: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/14/three-of-the-most-mistranslated-words-in-scripture-according-to-tiktok-theologians/ (examples in clips: CaptainDadPool on TikTok on hell: https://bit.ly/3xNf495; Lordofbored on TikTok on Lucifer: https://bit.ly/3rflF9E)
A young living goddess: https://aninjusticemag.com/the-young-goddess-whose-feet-never-touch-ground-64f6c40046b5
Homeopathic doctor from CALIFORNIA sells fake Covid immunity cards: https://people.com/crime/homeopathic-doctor-allegedly-sold-fake-covid-vaccine-cards/
The shaming of Amy Grant: https://medium.com/belover/the-shaming-of-amy-grant-3f8327c36803
Religions people consider the ethics of AI: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/16/opinion/ai-ethics-religion.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Franklin Graham ads come down: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/16/british-borough-apologizes-for-removing-bus-ads-promoting-franklin-graham-festival/
Mike Pompeo says don’t let the woke left socialists get you down: https://www.radioiowa.com/2021/07/16/dont-let-the-woke-left-socialists-get-you-down-pompeo-tells-iowa-crowd/
Jeremiah Wright, not “God bless America”: https://youtu.be/Ix-AMYos0Js
Instagram is the new SkyMall! https://debugger.medium.com/instagram-has-become-skymall-68b9f2fbbc30
No beards, Mormons! https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/15/latest-mormon-land-new/
We take a deep breath and watch Darren Arnofsky’s maybe brilliant maybe dumb yet deeply religiously inspired and definitely provocative 2017 film mother! Film critic Joel Mayward joins us for support. Brian tries to ex(man)splain. Leah is not having it. (Warning: this episode contains some disturbing content, and also a heaping of razor sharp film criticism by Dr. Joel Mayward.)
Trailer and other clips from mother!: https://bit.ly/35RV2xE
Darren Arnofsky’s mother! and Cinematic Parables, by Joel Mayward: http://www.transpositions.co.uk/darren-aronofskys-mother-cinematic-parables/
Joel Mayward’s review of mother!: https://cinemayward.com/review/mother/
The Unknown Girl (2017): https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_unknown_girl
Joe’s Mayward’s Cinemayward: https://cinemayward.com/
A very short episode dedicated to our friend Javier Garcia, who died recently. He was 34 years old, a Bonhoeffer scholar, director of an Honors program, a surfer, mountain climber, brother, son, and friend. With the flare-up of a long-brewing and continuing and still bitter disagreement between Brian and Leah about the quality of the show Battlestar Gallactica.
Obituary for Javier Garcia: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BZo3zlxU7itzSDufQgl3RsjPW6WpWBr4/view?usp=sharing
Recovering the Ecumenical Bonhoeffer, by Javier Garcia: https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Ecumenical-Bonhoeffer-Thinking-Tradition/dp/1978700067
YouTube playlist of Javier Garcia talking about great texts (Hannah Arendt, Kierkegaard, Homer, Gandhi, and Augustine): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCPifuu_9CY2FW6f8z8MYvhksWk6b9YNN
We’re talking about the spirituality of the biggest financial scam in history—with the star-creator and director of an award winning and genre-bending new film: A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Alicia Jo Rabins and Alicia J. Rose join us for a conversation about excommunication, success, failure, the artistic process, “cycles,” and mysticism. And UFOs.
A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: https://www.akaddishforberniemadoff.com/
Film trailer: https://vimeo.com/459483146
“What A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff Taught Me About Mourning,” in the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/03/what-kaddish-bernie-madoff-teaches-about-mourning/618315/
Alicia Jo Rabins: https://aliciajo.com/
Alicia J. Rose: https://www.aliciajrose.com/
Conservatives take on Super-Conservatives. Major drama just went down at the annual convention for the nation’s most prominent Protestant “denomination,” the Southern Baptists. Who are “Baptists”? And how did Joe Baptist create the modern Baptist movement? What is happening with Moore and Moore? Brian interviews Leah and if you listen to this, you will have a decent starter kit to understanding Baptists.
Ruth Graham, New York Times, “Southern Baptist Vote Signals Further Fractures in American Evangelicalism”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/us/southern-baptist-convention-evangelicalism.html
Anthea Butler, White Evangelical Racism: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469661179/white-evangelical-racism/
Shout-outs to scholars of Baptists:
Doug Weaver: https://www.baylor.edu/religion/index.php?id=931783
João Chaves: https://www.baylor.edu/religion/index.php?id=944632
Eileen Campbell Reed: https://utsnyc.edu/faculty/eileen-campbell-reed/
Andrew C. Smith: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-Fundraising-Transformation-Southern-Convention/dp/1621902277
James Byrd: https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/people/bio/jimmy-byrd
Beth Moore leaves the Southern Baptists: https://religionnews.com/2021/03/09/bible-teacher-beth-moore-ends-partnership-with-lifeway-i-am-no-longer-a-southern-baptist
Beth Moore apologizes for supporting complimentarianism: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/04/07/beth-moore-women-complementarianism/
Leaked Russel Moore letter: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/02/leaked-russell-moore-letter-blasts-sbc-conservatives-sheds-light-on-his-resignation/
Meet Ed Litton: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2021/06/16/southern-baptist-convention-ed-litton-pastor-new-president-sbc/7713144002/
Back with a full episode next week; for now, we provide a not-ominous-at-all programming note.
Bob Ross: Soothing TV painter, guru to Millennials, and a ghost hawking Mountain Dew. A postmodern capitalism horror show. Purity. Sounds. Avoidance and/or acceptance of darkness. The roaring 20s will lead to a new war.
Bob Ross paints and then drinks a bottle of Mountain Dew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRrWjdO9NVQ
Paula Abdul dances with Gene Kelly for Diet Coke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5O3iXCv88
Alston Ramsay, “Sex, Deceit, and Scandal: The Ugly War Over Bob Ross’ Ghost”: https://yhoo.it/2Sf0Dej
Bob Ross, “Island in the Wilderness”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWEXRAnQd0
Bob Ross, “Secluded Bridge”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrAMRxBB5KI
Thomas Kincaid, The Painter of Light: https://bit.ly/3ikPlQj
Daniel Siedell, “The Dark Light of Thomas Kinkade”: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cultivare/2012/05/the-dark-light-of-thomas-kinkade/
Bob Ross, Have to Have Opposites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTMxjADudbc
A religion in the news roundup with some surprising stories. Mother Theresa a cult leader. Interpreting the Torah. Your face will become a skull. Rachel Hollis is out of touch. Zaprudurian. This UFO thing is not going away and Brian is getting excited. A lot going on. Links below to each story. Some covered more in depth, and some in the lightning round.
Was Mother Theresa a cult leader? https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2021/5/25/another-trial-by-media-in-defense-of-mother-teresa-why-she-is-a-saint-not-a-cult-leader
Rachel Hollis who is something of a guru is saying dumb things: https://aninjusticemag.com/the-rachel-hollis-drama-is-why-i-dont-trust-influencers-586eef3c2a15
White evangelicals, Hispanic Protestants, Mormons most likely to believe in QAnon: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/27/survey-white-evangelicals-hispanic-protestants-and-mormons-most-likely-believe-in-qanon/
The 18 mile secret wire above Manhattan: https://historyofyesterday.com/why-theres-a-secret-tiny-wire-above-manhattan-4dc3f364330e
How pop culture set the stage for coming ufo report: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/how-pop-culture-set-stage-coming-ufo-report-better-or-n1268673
Nun telling us we are goin to die: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html
Mark Driscoll / Mars Hill podcast from CT: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/teaser-trailer-mars-hill-podcast.html
Proud to be an American: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/27/king-james-saves-the-god-bless-the-usa-bible-lee-greenwood-elite-source-kirkpatrick/
Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory (Leah’s choice): https://www.npr.org/2021/05/27/1000780650/every-possible-explanation-for-covid-19-should-be-investigated-expert-saysWuhan lab leak conspiracy (Brian’s choice): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57267729
Remembering the Satanic Panic re: D&D: https://medium.com/belover/the-1980s-hoax-that-dungeons-dragons-killed-kids-d6e155939062
1984 happening in 2024 now: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57122120
Atheist says let’s get rid of BC/AD and BCE/CE: https://ephromjosine.medium.com/atheist-against-c-e-3446e0c05069
Young Evangelicals have changing views on Israel: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/26/survey-young-evangelicals-largely-backed-biden-and-have-shifting-views-on-israel/
God told me to put money down: https://www.wsj.com/articles/god-told-me-to-put-money-into-hertz-how-small-investors-are-upending-wall-street-11622113200
We’re talking about conspiracies: Is the world only what it seems to be on the surface, or is there some theory about what is really happening behind the scenes? Are Americans particularly into conspiracy theories, or do we just think we’re the best at everything? We interview psychologist Dr. Michael Wood (at the time a lecturer at the University of Winchester in the UK) about who has the best conspiracy theories and why people believe in them at all. And in the Kitsch Corner: We elevate the human spirit and aural imagination with a song about how a certain president is the leopard king prophesied in the book of Revelation.
Aliens on 60 Minutes: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-military-intelligence-60-minutes-2021-05-16/
Dr. Michael Wood: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wood-research/?originalSubdomain=uk
QAnon: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/
Hans Wormhat on Why Toucans are FAKE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f--6BBIl7aY
Third Eagle of the Apocalypse: “It’s Prophesied”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLT66yJBYbA
The core of this episode was released on December 3, 2018, as 017 THE CONSPIRACY: https://www.weirdreligion.com/seasonone/2018/12/3/the-conspiracy
The Mark of the Beast strikes again. We break down a 53-second Facebook rant by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in which the claim is made that vaccine passports are Joe Biden’s satanic plot. And we affirm the enduring power of the Book of Revelation.
The video: https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1376900032184586245?s=20
The Late Great Planet Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Late,_Great_Planet_Earth
Marjorie Taylor Greene: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene
A new segment on recent religious-themed stories in the news! Fasting, Foxmania, halal tacos, mummified bodies, Trump worship, exvangelicals, the spiritual weirdness of airports, politics as religion, the Gates divorce, ancient goddesses and emotional men.
Links to our stories:
Orange County mosques, tacos, and vaccinations: https://religionnews.com/2021/04/28/how-a-halal-taco-truck-is-helping-vaccinate-muslims-in-orange-county/
Mummified body in Colorado home: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-carlson-remains-found-love-has-won-colorado-home-arrests/
Lawyer says capitol-rioter client had “Foxmania”: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony-antonio-foxmania-capitol_n_60946e8ee4b0ae3c687c07f1
Chaplains in America: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epnd8e/why-chaplains-are-in-high-demand-in-an-increasingly-secular-america
Secular redemption through politics: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/
Pastors are quitting: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/07/for-some-pastors-the-past-year-was-a-sign-that-it-was-time-to-quit/
Biden communion stories are stupid: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/04/the-biden-communion-stories-are-stupid/
Svengali-like executive coaches: https://hbr.org/2002/06/the-very-real-dangers-of-executive-coaching
John Piper’s son’s exvangelical TikTok: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/abraham-piper-tiktok-exvangelical.html; https://www.tiktok.com/@abrahampiper/video/6932509054828825861
White evangelicals don’t want the vaccine: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/us/covid-vaccine-evangelicals.html
Gates divorce: https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-prenup-settlement.html
Lindsay Graham cannot live without Trump: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-trump-future_n_6094c57ce4b0f73e530b56d0; https://twitter.com/ericswalwell/status/1390486318568726529?s=20
To celebrate the end of the academic year in the university calendar, we discuss student evals, internet review culture, negativity bias, the Iran Contra Affair, depression, and religious authority in an age of reviews.
Footnotes:
(1) Ronald Reagan’s Oval Office address on the Iran Contra Affair: https://youtu.be/rYdvBZxPhLY
(2) Gottman research on magic ratio of good vs. bad interactions between partners (5:1): https://bit.ly/3h6l0UO
(3) Erik Gilbert articles on assessment on the Chronicle: https://www.chronicle.com/author/erik-gilbert
(4) @subparparks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/subparparks/?hl=en
(5) Bad Yelp reviews of churches: https://observer.com/2016/04/bad-yelp-reviews-of-churches-are-as-hilarious-as-youd-expect/
(6) Scene from the BBC show Rev where fashionable young people take over church: https://youtu.be/mGfsd03KZAQ
A Weird Religion mystery: Why does a particular episode of the X-Files, “Beyond the Sea,” have subtitles for a song playing in the background that are actually from a different but similar song? We investigate.
The X-Files, S1E13, “Beyond the Sea”: https://www.hulu.com/watch/17db9bbb-aa0e-4973-8099-b277c2bd1312
Spoiler alert (only read this after listening to our ep!!): Calum Marsh, NYT (23-April-2021), “Why Don’t Some TV Shows Sound the Way They Used To?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/arts/television/tv-soundtracks-dawsons-creek-freaks-and-geeks.html
Here we discuss the Netflix series The Crown (https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678). And: The religious dimensions of monarchy, etiquette rituals, and our social class insecurities.
The Crown, Season 3 finale scene (Queen Elizabeth walks to the carriage): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpUSil0_0zU
Etiquette expert reacts to The Crown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWo6pG9AXQ4
The Kennedys meet Queen Elizabeth (on The Crown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWNXZFvs-w
The 2020 election and the inauguration have come and gone, leaving the predictions of the QAnon prophets…hanging in the air. What happens to a religious movement when its key prophecies fail to come true in real time? Are adherents disappointed? Is/was Q a “religion”? Did they ever care in the first place? And did the biblical prophet Ezekiel make a false prediction, and then try to correct it?
Chris Bader, “When Prophecy Passes Unnoticed”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387588?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Dr. Christopher Bader: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/christopher-bader
Cat Transcendence - limitless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmeH6Rnj2E
NPR, “The QAnon ‘Storm’ Never Struck”: https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958907699/the-qanon-storm-never-struck-some-supporters-are-wavering-others-steadfast
Clips of Q adherents from: CNN reporting from 2018 at a Trump rally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGVXmuLmEM )
Clips from “Satanic Panic” reporting from: CBC/Radio-Canada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEImKEIRm8)
The spirit of Buffalo Man reveals himself as the leader of America at the dais of power.
”Buffalo Man” Jake Angeli
Buffalo Man flexing in the capitol
Viral video of Elizabeth who got maced (the opera version)
We have a crossover episode with the good scholars from "Bioethics for the People" to talk about the Amazon show Upload and a host of related religious and bioethical concerns. It's weird.
What happens behind the scenes at a “men’s retreat”? Sexualized sermons and high-stakes confrontations. Two stories, here at the return of the Kitsch Corner segment. With guest Simon Trautmann. And here is the story about the drug cartel using the men's retreat classic book.
You should totally watch the YouTube cooking show Grandpa Kitchen. Why? A sweet Indian grandpa cooks huge dishes of food for orphans. And when he dies, they make an episode of his funeral. What about this Western gaze upon the food rituals of others, though?
In this episode we begin by discussing the hit TLC series 90 Day Fiancé and meander into topics such as Biblical marriage patterns in the book of Genesis, sexist stereotypes about the attractive lady + the less attractive guy, and how women get exoticized on the show and in real life.
Charismatic pastor Rick Joyner sees militias sprouting up like mushrooms in a dream and tells us we now need to go to war based on that dream
In which Brian suggests a rising career field for his daughters to enter, and Leah comments on how Pentecostal and charismatic churches are handling the pandemic
In which Leah takes on the mantle of dream interpretation and Brian recounts a mysterious saying from Heraclitus.
In which Brian checks in on his first viewing of the TV series Battlestar Galactica and reveals views that leave Leah in total horror
In which we try to talk ourselves into feeling guilty about feeling excited about the apocalypse
As if working wasn’t bad enough—it’s now time to turn your house into your workplace, too!!!!!!!!
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW SEASON OF WEIRD RELIGION. COMING YOUR WAY. TITLE: "WEIRD RELIGION IN THE AGE OF THE VIRUS." Eps rolling out now. They're going to be short. They're going to be frequent and yet also sporadic. They may come in clusters. They're going to be of bootleg quality. And it will be our best season yet. You need this right now and you know it and we know it. So it's happening.
Brian and Leah hit the road to look for Bigfoot. On the way, Brian ambushes Leah in the who-is-more-working-class battle, but Leah strikes back. We discuss the fear of wearing expensive clothing, pastors wearing expenses sneakers, and mean girls, and Leah’s desire for a pair of Jordache jeans
In this episode we talk about the religious angle of conspiracy theories with Anna Merlan – journalist and author of Republic of Lies, a fascinating new book on American conspiracies – what they are, where they come from, and what they mean for the religious landscape of the U.S.A. Along the way we talk conspiracy theory cruises, U.F.O.s and much much more… listen in. We know “THEY” already are!!
wo parents experience their worst nightmare: their daughter is under the control of Kilgrave, a villain who overrides the will of anyone he wishes to control. Who can help them? Enter Jessica Jones, the hard-drinking, super-powered private eye. Can she defeat Kilgrave? Does she have any choice in the matter? Does anyone in the Jessica Jones universe exercise free will or all they all destined or doomed to their fates? We talk with our good friend David Dault, host of Things Not Seen Radio (one of our fave podcasts!) Calvinism, Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates, human agency, physical power, and human desire… AND SO MUCH MORE
THE SEASON 3 FINALE: ANCIENT ALIENS: NEED WE SAY MORE. Leah admits she used to watch Alf. Brian watched Alf too! We all did. Was The History Channel ever really respectable? The true utopian technology prophets will tell us when everything has been illuminated at the same time. Is it possible that…
Would church be better off with no technology? Could Leah be a powerful dictator? Would people return to traditional authoritarian styles of leadership when the grid goes down? WE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE DEFINITIVELY. Charismatic versus inherited authority in the church. The worship leaders versus the pastor. Weberian analysis of the book of Judges.
We watch some episodes from the Jordan-Peele-hosted revival of The Twilight Zone and talk about the old series and the horror of being trapped. We ruminate on creepy doll horror like Talky Tina. Brian tries out the second joke from his stand-up routine. Leah tells the legend of the china doll.
SPECIAL EPISODE: This week we take you on location to the McMinnville UFO festival to watch the premier of the new documentary about Roswell whistleblower Bob Lazar. We talk about belief, how UFO communities are like churches, and the extent to which each of us believes and/or wants to believe. We meet in a dark back alley within the convention hall like Mulder and Scully, and end the day in a less-than-inspiring food tent.
What happens when a movie series becomes not just your favorite or your religion, but literally forms the basis for all of your thinking and imagination and everything for your ENTIRE LIFE! Such is the power of the Star Wars franchise. This week, we dive into the murky depths of Star Wars fandom through the documentary The People Vs. George Lucas to think about authorial intent, the biblical canon, who owns our imaginations, and what it means to truly love fictional characters.
Let’s talk about one of the most popular shows on Netflix: Stranger Things. Monsters, the 1980s, neon clothes, loaded memories of teenage drama, and a time when malls ruled supreme over the lives of adolescents. We talk about the Cold War and the child abduction fear craze in the 1980s and wonder: Why are we looking back on this era with fondness, exactly? Does Stranger Things re-enchant our secular world?
This week we sneakily keep the sci-fi theme going with a topic involving science and fiction: the embattled Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her attempt to create—or rather, fake having created—a futuristic blood-testing system. We end up having a gender smackdown conversation about women-on-women violence in the workplace, discussing ancient female fertility figurines and matriarchal societies, and musing on whether Holmes intentionally tried to dress like a religious leader.
This week we’re going into the surreal world of David Lynch through Twin Peaks. Brian and Leah enter the Black Lodge. We consider why writers/artists would create obtuse art vs. on-the-nose art. We try to explain Twin Peaks. And we discuss unfortunately timely topics such as: Has the cause of good gone backward or forward in the world? Why does evil always make a comeback, making progress seem impossible?
This week we’re talking about the #1 most references TV by religious studies academics: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Leah the expert takes first-time-pilot view Brian through the nuances and rituals of the Buffyverse. We reflect on the notion of being chosen, Buffy’s feminist twists, top Buffy moments, and thinking about cosmic violence in high schools during the age of school shootings.
The Nazis are back, invading other dimensions and confusing us all over again in The Man in the High Castle. We discuss the perils of religious violence, Nazi influences on Biblical scholarship, and the historical Jesus.
We gush over the Netflix series Russian Doll and its themes of mid-life crisis, and discuss why Leah would not want to relive the day before her wedding, and why Brian will not be an NBA player.
Season 3 opens with THE HEAVENS, an exploration of the afterlife with the The Good Place. One woman dies and finds herself in the afterlife wherein “good” people end up in a specially-created place to enjoy with their soulmate. Just one problem. SHE IS TERRIBLE AND SHE KNOWS IT. What should she do? Fortunately, her faux soulmate is a moral philosophy professor and if anyone can make someone good, it should be him. Right? In this episode we talk about heaven, hell, purgatory, and every place in between! JOIN US.
Season 3 of Weird Religion has arrived! We have a normal trailer, but for Twin Peaks fans, we offer this bonus BLACK LODGE version of the trailer. Do not say that we lack options for trailers for Twin Peaks fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-WW8V8nD5E
Season 3 of Weird Religion has arrived! This is the normcore trailer. For fans of Twin Peaks, we also have a BLACK LODGE version. Your choice. Do not say we are a one-size-fits-all podcast.
In THE TEACHER, we welcome “Teacher of the Year,” art professor Tim Timmerman, to talk about creativity, learning to handle criticism, technology, and lapsing into an Irish accent during lectures. Join us!
For our holiday special, we chose two of the wildly popular Hallmark Channel Christmas romance movies and watched them WITH OUR SPOUSES and with a keen eye for messages about the holidays and love. Join us for the hot cocoa filled interview!
In THE FOOD, we interview Dr. Roger Nam, Dean of Portland Seminary and Professor of Biblical Studies, about food in the Hebrew Bible, his culinary adventures, and the power of food to shape identity. Join us!
In THE CONSPIRACY we interview psychologist Dr. Michael Wood at the University of Winchester in the UK about who has the best conspiracy theories and why people believe in them at all. All that, plus The X-Files. Join us!
In THE WAR, we watch Ken Burns’ epic ten-part Vietnam documentary and ask are Americans, in particular, fond of the notion of “holy war”? Catch our interview with Dr. James Byrd, professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School, on the religious imagery of battle and America’s holy war tradition. Join us!
In THE HOUSE, we interviewed a home-buyer featured on a real House Hunters episode. We asked Molly Oberheide to spill about why all of those HGTV shows are so alluring, what it takes to hunt a house, and what really goes on behind the scenes of all of our favorite home improvement and home buying shows. You may or may not want to have House Hunters spoiled for you… listen at your own risk! Join us!
A live check-in, from Leah and Brian, from the Coffee Cat in downtown Newberg, OR. What we’re watching on TV (Siempre Bruja, The Good Place), GenX love, and the death of Kurt Cobain.
In this episode we are watching the award winning and 98%-critically-acclaimed-on-Rotten-Tomatoes documentary Science Fair, a heartwarming look at the lives of lovable teenage geeks trying to change the world through technological innovation. Along the way Brian and Leah reminisce about their own science fair project fails in school, why Americans hate experts, evolution and the Bible, and the power of immigrants to reinvent society for the better. We interview Michigan State bioethicist Devan Stahl, author of Imaging and Imagining Illness, about how liberals and conservatives approach science and quandaries in contemporary bioethics. In the Kitsch Corner, we make a (virtual) visit to the Creation Museum in Petersburg Kentucky and muse about the problem of Lucy the Ape and the “faulty assumptions” we may begin with when we interpret the world.
This week we’re talking about the Bible, and interacting with the 2013 documentary Bible Quiz. Leah takes us back into the world of Bible culture among the Puritans and others in the history of Scripture reading, and Brian gets long-winded about hypocrisy, his feelings about VeggieTales (warning: it’s not positive), and brand dilution among evangelical Bible readers. We invite Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein in as our guest, author of Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2014) and contributor to www.thetorah.com, to talk about Jewish Bible reading strategies and how it could be the case that Moses called up one giant monster frog to infest Egypt during the Exodus story. In the Kitsch Corner, Leah and Brian offer analyses of forms of the Bible marketed to children and teenagers.
This week our topic is the hit ABC TV “reality” show The Bachelor. Leah attempts to convert Brian to the philosophical and cultural merits of the show, and we unpack Bachelor memes and cliches. Our guest is none other than Bachelor Nation fan-favorite Tenley Molzahn, who was a runner-up contestant on the Bachelor, Bachelor Pad, and Bachelor in Paradise, not to mention appearances on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and The Ellen DeGeneres show (and also not to mention her work as a blogger and health expert at Tenley’s Sweet & Free Life!). In the Kitsch Corner we take a glance at the Christian online dating scene, represented by the “Equally Yoked” website and also a video series where churches try to connect their prized singles with singles in fellow churches.
This week we’re all about food, the thing we need to live and be happy. We engage with the Netflix series Ugly Delicious, and talk about how food is a site for cultural exchange and religious ritual (and shame, and conflict). We interview Roger Nam, Dean of Portland Seminary, about his food adventures and his experience growing up eating Korean food in an immigrant family. Brian spuriously claims to have invented things; Leah breaks her foot running after a bag of Cheetos. In the Kitsch Corner, we examine the Daniel Plan/Fast/Diet and the prosperity gospel.
We’re talking about teaching—the movies, the cliches, the fails, Dangerous Minds and Dead Poets Society. Leah and Brian share their classroom fails (and joys), and discuss the role of education in religious settings. In the studio, we welcome a university “Teacher of the Year,” art professor Tim Timmerman, to talk about creativity, learning to handle criticism, technology, and lapsing into an Irish accent during lectures. The Kitsch Corner features a look at contemporary guru culture…thanks, Gwyneth.
We’ve chosen two of the wildly popular Hallmark Channel Christmas romance movies and watched them with a keen eye for messages about the holidays and love. Spoiler alert: ladies, quit your jobs—and start dating a ghost. Leah and Brian divulge shocking details about meeting and courting their spouses. We then invite two extremely special surprise guests (!!) into the studio to talk about dual career marriages, Christmas, and romantic comedies. In the Kitsch Corner, we take a look back at the now-relevant-again-because-it-was-renounced-by-its-author book I Kissed Dating Goodbye.
This week we attempt to watch Ken Burns’ epic ten-part Vietnam documentary, and allow ourselves to get extremely depressed at the futility of war while asking: Is there some sense in which we need war? Are Americans, in particular, fond of the notion of “holy war”? Can there ever be a purely “secular war”? Is America headed for another Civil War? We interview Dr. James Byrd, professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School, on the religious imagery of battle and America’s holy war tradition. In the Kitsch Corner, we vainly attempt to lighten the mood by analyzing a poster that advertises a Rapture-themed paintball game.
We’re talking about conspiracies: is the world only what it seems to be on the surface, or is there some theory about what is really happening beneath it all, behind the scenes? Are Americans particularly into conspiracy theories, or do we just think we’re the best at everything? We talk about the documentary “The Trump Prophecy,” as well as ancient conspiracies, the book of Revelation, QAnon, Plato, aliens, and whether toucans, as a species, are a hoax. Is there something at the heart of religious belief that is “conspiratorial,” fundamentally? We interview psychologist Dr. Michael Wood at the University of Winchester in the UK about who has the best conspiracy theories and why people believe in them at all. And in the Kitsch Corner: We elevate the human spirit and aural imagination with a song about how a certain president is the leopard king prophesied in the book of Revelation.
We're back with the first of the Season Two episodes! Why are all of those HGTV shows so alluring? What do they communicate about the mythology of home buying, the ritual of TV watching, and our deepest desires about fertility and space? Can attractive people be funny? Is anything really real? We're talking about all of this, somehow. And interviewing a home-buyer featured on a real House Hunters episode. And introducing a new segment we're calling "The Kitsch Corner."
We talk about a very weird religious artifact: a flyer advertising a themed paintball contest, based on the idea of the rapture...
Behold: 44 minutes of Brian and Leah making each other cringe and laugh while assessing very weird religious artifacts: Christian bumper stickers.
A special extra shot of Weird Religion as an add-on to Season One: Brian & Leah take on the Rose City Comic Con, reflecting on the victory of geek culture, interviewing artists like Midnight Furies author Jessica Herron, Junior Braves of the Apocalypse authors Greg Smith and Michael Tanner, and more. We also seek out the dark underbelly of the comic-con circuit—WILL WE FIND IT?!
Behold: 43 minutes of meandering material that didn't quite rise to the level of a coherent episode! Classic Brian and Leah! LARPing! Why Leah doesn't LARP! Hidden Satanic symbols in your everyday life! "It's a relationship not a religion!"
Behold: 37 minutes of meandering material that didn't quite rise to the level of a coherent episode! Classic Brian and Leah! The joke of avocado toast! Brian and Leah disagree! Mormons and Bob Jones University and change and revelation! Ridiculing the state of Wisconsin and the IHOP>IHOB name change and Gwyneth Paltrow!
This episode considers the life and spiritual vision of the Rev. Carlton Pearson, subject of a popular This American Life episode as well as the recent Netflix bio-pic Come Sunday. When Rev. Pearson hears God reveal to him a potentially heretical view by way of a special revelation—universal salvation (everyone goes to heaven, and there is no hell)—he risks losing his congregation and jeopardizing his spot as a rising Christian star. How would people know whether God revealed new information by revelation? Along the way we talk about racial division in church, the pros and cons of revelation as a mode of spiritual discourse, and the reasonability of hell.
We’re climbing the mountain in this final episode for season one of the podcast! Why do people climb mountains? What do mountains mean, spiritually? We explore aspects of these questions through the film Meru, documenting three adventurers who attempt to climb a never-before-summited peak in the Himalayas. Brian reveals deep emotional problems, and Leah doubles down on her reluctance to ever climb a mountain while yet promising on tape to climb Mount St. Helens. We’ll glance at some research about why people risk their lives to stand on a snowy peak (see also some newer research here), the rise and fall of a small mountain town, and the legend of Wy’east (Mount Hood).
This episode introduces listeners to the little-known documentary Audience of One. We hear the story of Richard Gazowsky, Pentecostal pastor and amateur filmmaker, who, after watching his first movie at the age of 40, believes God has given him a vision to create the biggest and best film ever made (!?). Along the way we talk about aesthetics in American Pentecostal-Charismatic movements, Christian appropriations of the Shofar, finger streamers and tambourines, Charles Finney and the New Measures, Hamlet and the Lion King, the devil and Pentecostal rockers, Jesus Camp, Rocky IV, and Troll dolls (BURN THEM).
In this episode, we watch King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters, a film documenting the surprisingly engrossing contest over who will be the reigning champion of the 80s classic video game, Donkey Kong. Will it be the self-aggrandizing favorite, restaurateur and hot sauce salesman Billy Mitchell? Or down-on-his luck, everyman challenger Steve Weibe? Come for the epic sports drama. Stay for discussions of David & Goliath and other ancient epics, cheating, virtuosity, masculinity and gender construction in the gaming world, misogyny and the alt-right, and whether or not video games count as religion in this “secular age.”
In this episode, we discuss The Heretic, a documentary about the life and ministry of former megachurch evangelical pastor Rob Bell. We introduce listeners to the (often misunderstood!) subcultures of conservative and progressive American evangelicalism. Along the way, we talk about American revivalism, evangelicalism, the liberal-fundamentalist controversy and its fallout, epic culture wars (and Twitter battles) within middle-class white evangelicalism (from Harry Fosdick vs. Billy Sunday to Rob Bell vs. John Piper), heresy, orthodoxy, universalism, higher criticism and the Bible, and the Westboro Baptists.
In this episode we consider the women in the Hulu adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s stunning dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale (season one only!). Does The Handmaid’s Tale TV series present, religion, race, and gender cynically, or help us understand anything about our lives today? Leah and Brian imagine life in the other gender role; Leah wonders what it would be like to have a traditional wife, and Brian regales the audience with stories of being a stay-at-home dad while writing his dissertation.
In this episode, we talk about Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the new documentary about the legendary creator and star of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Rev. Fred Rogers. Along the way, we talk about Mr. Rogers’ vision of neighborly love, character formation, and TV ethics (for adults as well as kids!), catharsis in ancient theater and 21st century film, screen time (and parenting guilt!!), William Penn, Quentin Tarantino, Phineas & Ferb, Peep and the Big Wide World, and how Mr. Rogers inspires us to be better teachers.
In this episode, we talk about Wild Wild Country, the new documentary from Netflix about enthusiastic enlightenment-seekers who built a commune called Rajneeshpuram in the rugged Central Oregon desert and, during their brief time there, clashed with the residents of the rural town of Antelope. We also explore American religious innovations, the problem with the label of “cult,” “deprivation theory” in apocalyptic biblical communities and in the U.S.A., how racism shapes public understandings of new religious movements, the Jesus Movement, LSD, Never Nudes, the mysterious Rajneesh/Osho and his right-hand woman Ma Anand Sheela, and more.
This episode takes us into the frightening realm of the monster—embodied by the zombies (and some people) in the TV series The Walking Dead (through season three only!). In particular, we examine two episodes concerning the arc of Lori’s pregnancy, “Secrets” (S02E6) and “The Killer Within” (S03E4), and discuss the ethics of childbearing in an ugly world, pop culture’s obsession with monsters and their many symbolic meanings, and how we would fare, personally, in an apocalypse. Prepper communities, gender, monsters in the Psalms, and heroic TV characters as Christ figures make cameos.
In this episode, we tackle life, love, death, and technology in two episodes of the creepy and thought-provoking series Black Mirror: “Be Right Back” (S02E1) and “San Junipero” (S03E4). Is it possible for humans to prevent death with technology? Should humans do such a thing? Other light and cheery and way-too-big-for-one-podcast topics include male and female death rates, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, transhumanism, Wendell Berry, Radiohead, Thomas Hobbes, theodicy, Perpetua & Felicitas, marriage and death and resurrection in the Bible.
The Season One trailer for the Weird Religion podcast. Brian's celebrity crush revealed. The source of Leah's high school popularity revealed. Join us...