Pod Only Knows

If you've been feeling a little off lately, it's probably because FEMA recently tested a new emergency alert system and it activated the nanotech in your covid vaccine and now you're a zombie.

As least, that's what a disturbing number of people on the right thought would happen.

And maybe some of them still think it DID happen?

You can find all about that in Matt Shuham's piece in the Huffington Post here:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fema-wireless-emergency-alerts-system-test-conspiracy-theories-zombies-5g_n_651c71bfe4b00623d35ea98f

So this weekend, we're asking, first of all, "why?" - and trying to make sense of the timing and implications of this particularly loopy conspiracy theory and what it says about the state of right-wing endtimes conspiracism.

Horror would be nothing without Catholic horror. From crucifixes to demon possession, from Dante's "Inferno" to the "The Nun II", Catholic imagery and imagination have shaped horror for centuries.

But the intersection of Catholicism and horror has a dark real-world connection, as well. The Hero Priest trope at once masks and alludes to a hidden legacy of clerical sexual abuse, and the threat of hell lingers in the imagination of so many believers.

This week, we talk to our friend Matthew J. Cressler, a scholar of Catholicism and longtime fan of William Friedkin's 1973 classic "The Exorcist", about Catholicism's influence on horror as well as horror's influence on the Catholic imagination.

You can find more about Matt and his work here: https://matthewjcressler.com/

In this Weekend Chit-Chat, we discuss:

How the Klan of 1920s used mainstream acceptance and the mantle of Christianity to push their agenda in the center of American life, and we ask how the descendants of that group, like the Proud Boys, have altered those tactics in ways that seem radically different on the surface but maybe aren't so different after all.

We talk absurd memes, the "it's just a joke!" defense, and tapping into pop culture references to appeal to the modern mainstream.

But, hey, soccer! Soccer's good!

If you happen to fall within a certain (fairly broad) age range, there is a very good chance that somewhere, at some point, you have encountered Chick Tracts.

Jack Chick's horrific, over-the-top, feverish warnings about what happens if you don't accept Christ before you DIE!!!! have literally littered city streets and coffee shop tabletops for decades.

Chick Tracts are outlandish and, if you don't happen to be an ultra fundamentalist end times Christian, deeply offensive. But they are also interesting and, from an artistic perspective, clever and accomplished. In fact, purely in terms of how many eyes have seen his work, Jack Chick is one of the most successful artists ever.

American Hysteria host Chelsey Weber-Smith recently released an in-depth, thoughtful, and thorough look at Chick's life and work, including his use of urban legend and horror tropes, and she joined us to talk about what made Chick tick, his theology, and why he's so beloved and despised (at the same time) by horror fans.

You can find AH and Chelsey on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/

For many, Labor Day is not much more than the end of summer movie season, a reason to have a cookout, or the symbolic beginning of the school year. It's the holiday we talk least about, in large part because the labor movement is one of the most underexamined areas of American history.

So in honor of Labor Day, Kelly and John talked to Dr. Heath Carter, who has written extensively about the sometimes helpful, sometimes hostile role religion has played in driving the labor movement.

Heath is an associate professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned a BA in English and Theology from Georgetown University in 2003, an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2005, and a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame in 2012.

And he is the author of Union Made: Working People and the Rise of Social Christianity in Chicago, which was the runner up for the American Society of Church History’s 2015 Brewer Prize, as well as the co-editor of three books: The Pew and the Picket Line: Christianity and the American Working Class, Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism, and A Documentary History of Religion in America, 4th Ed.

He is currently working on a new book entitled On Earth as it is in Heaven: Social Christians and the Fight to End American Inequality, which retells the story of the American social gospel.

You can find more about him at his website: https://heathwcarter.com/

Did you know A.I is not just the title of one of the best movies of the 21st century - it's a also a thing that's making a lot of news??

Well, we did, because we're very young and hip and with it.

In this episode, we consider the implication of some of the emerging areas of A.I. - like ChatGPT - on religion.

First, Kelly spent some time chatting with Jesus on two different platforms - a text based interface where users can ask Jesus questions and get text message responses (and can also ask the Devil questions...for a price!! *cue ominous music*)

Second, John takes a look at the now defunct Way of the Future upstart religion, which had the goal of forming a benevolent relationship with our omniscient cyber overlords before they decide to go all SkyNet on us.

We consider whether A.I. Jesus may replace tradition religious experiences, like prayer, and what religious movements that emerge around emerging technology, like Scientology and Heaven's Gate, tell us about religion itself.

It's Kelly's birthday (John's was yesterday...) and so we decided to talk to one of her favorites - Solomon Missouri, known to those in the know as Twitter's Pastor.

In his own words, Rev. Solomon Missouri's ministry focuses on sexuality and spirituality outside and beyond church walls. We talk about how he stumbled into his role as Twitter's favorite spiritual leader, where Christianity is going, how he ministers to atheists who are still looking for community and support.

You can find out more about his on his website here: https://www.solomonmissouri.com/

Rev. Missouri is also on all the social medias of note, including, of course (we still call it) Twitter @solomonmissouri

Dr. Bradley Onishi is the author of the recent Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next as well as the co-host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus, which focuses on the the state of Christian Nationalism from a variety of angles.

He joined John and Kelly to talk about his book, his experience growing up in California and converting to evangelical Christianity (which he would later go on to leave), and where exactly we are in the fight for a secular democracy in America.

You can find out more about Brad, his books, and the podcast at his website: https://www.bradonishi.com/

On this chit-chat, we try to define what we mean when we say "authentic", what is "the true self", and we are all so prone to dividing religion into "real" and "fake".

Also - fitness cults, the console wars, Coke and Pepsi, and Haruki Murakami.

For this episode, we looked at work by Chrissy Stroop (https://religiondispatches.org/christian-nationalism-is-authentically-christian-and-according-to-a-new-poll-most-white-evangelicals-are-supporters/), Jessica Grose (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/opinion/religion-fitness.html), and David Chidester (https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520242807/authentic-fakes)

Shreena Gandhi is a part of the Religious Studies Department at Michigan State University, where is primarily teaches classes on religion and race in the Americas.

She is currently finishing up edits on a manuscript, A Cultural History of Yoga in the United States, which looks at the impacts of race, gender and class on how yoga is practiced and commodified in religious and secular spaces.

And she is working on two other projects: one on religious seeking in the colonial and post-colonial global south, which uses her grandfather’s writings and books as primary evidence, as well as the writings of other colonial and post-colonial religious seekers.

And the other is a collaborative project on how to transform U.S. religious history into an anti-racist, anti-colonial and anti-sexist discipline which helps move forward the goals of decolonization.

She joined Kelly and John to talk about the history of yoga in the United States, how the story of colonialism and white supremacy cannot be separated from the popularity of yoga in the west, and what can and should be done about it. She also shared her thoughts on the past and future of the caste system.