ReligionForBreakfast

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Uploaded 16-07-20

Is Mario religious? If so, what is his religion? In this video, we explore the State Religion of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Thanks to @Linkums for some of the video footage used here. You can watch our blindfolded run of Super Mario World here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K3UyxpSUSw

The redditor Marhiin has a ton of research on this aspect of Mario Lore: https://www.reddit.com/r/Marioverse/comments/4xts9p/theory_religions_in_the_mushroom_kingdom_star/

Source for the Mario 64 transition screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQDXIleq36I



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Join our Patreon community!: https://patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
One-time donations here!: https://www.paypal.me/religionforbreakfast

Uploaded 05-04-19

Religion is a social thing. It involves beliefs and practices passed on from generation to generation as an integral part of culture. But is there a biological default to religion hardwired in the brain of homo sapiens?

For religious studies book recommendations, see: https://amazon.com/shop/religionforbr...

Follow me on:
Twitter @andrewmarkhenry
www.facebook.com/religionforbreakfast

Bibliography:

Science on Religion: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2013/12/is-religion-anthropomorphism/

Patrican and Burris, “Am I the Stone? Overattribution of Agency and Religious Orientation,” Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2012, Vol 4, No. 4, 312-323.

Harris and Fiske: https://sites.duke.edu/flaubertsbrain/files/2012/08/Harris-and-Fiske-The-Brooms-in-Fantasia.pdf

Steven Mithen, "Prehistory of the Mind," 2002.

Justin Barrett, Cognitive Science Religion and Theology: From Human Minds to Divine Minds, Templeton Press, 2011.

Marc Andersen:
https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2017.1378709
“Learned Faith: The influence of evolved cultural learning mechanisms on belief in Gods. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(4), 327-335.

Lanman, J. A., and Buhrmester, M. D. (2017). Religious actions speak louder than words: Exposure to credibility-enhancing
displays predicts theism. Religion, Brain and Behavior, 7(1), 3–16.

Willard, A. K., and Cingl, L. (2017). Testing theories of secularization and religious belief in the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(5), 604–615.

Jonathan Lanman, “On The Nature and Future of Agency Detection and Religion,” Religion Brain and Behavior, 2018.

Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, 2001



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Go to https://brilliant.org/ReligionForBreakfast to get a 30-day free trial + the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription.

Uploaded 28-04-23

Join our Patreon community!: https://www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
One-time donations here!: https://www.paypal.me/religionforbreakfast
Check out my favorite religious studies books by following this affiliate link to my Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/shop/religionforbreakfast

What happens when the lines between ancient prophecies and modern technology blur? In this video, we explore the striking similarities between religious apocalyptic literature and the predictions surrounding artificial intelligence and the Singularity. Discover how scholars like Robert Geraci and Beth Singler have identified the echoes of ancient apocalyptic narratives in the works of AI theorists like Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec.

Further reading:
Beth Singler, 2019 “An Ethnographic Discussion of Existential Hope and Despair in AI Apocalypticism”, in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, vol 54, issue 1; https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12494

Beth Singler, 2022 “Left Behind? Religion as a Vestige in ‘The Rapture of the Nerds’ and Other AI Singularity Literature”, in Science and Religion in Western Literature: Critical and Theological Studies, ed Michael Fuller, Routledge.

Robert Geraci, 2010. Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Robert Geraci, 2010. “Popular Appeal of Apocalyptic AI.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 45(4): 1003-1020.

Robert Geraci, 2008. “Apocalyptic AI: Religion and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76(1): 138-166.





00:00 Intro
2:17 Part 1: Apocalypticism, not Doomerism
7:55 Part 2: Divine Intervention
10:24 Part 3: Alienated by Biology
15:41 Part 4: Repent, the Singularity is at Hand

Select footage and images courtesy of Getty



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Join Dr. Travis Proctor’s guided reading, walking through ancient resurrection accounts, including lesser-known texts like the Gospel of Peter!:
https://www.religiondepartment.com/resurrection

Uploaded 30-03-26

If you enjoyed this conversation, check out Dr. Travis Proctor’s work at www.traviswproctor.com
where he’s launching a new blog this summer on The Haunted Bible.

Did early Christians think Jesus was a ghost? I talk with scholar Travis Proctor about resurrection narratives, ancient ideas of bodies and spirits, and why the story of Jesus sometimes resembles ancient ghost stories.



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A bachelors degree in Religious Studies. Is it a useful degree? Maybe, maybe not. But these three famous people majored in it!

Uploaded 30-08-16

Patreon: www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
Facebook: www.facebook.com/religionforbreakfast
Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry
Blog: www.religionforbreakfast.com

Thanks so much to our Patreon Patrons!:
Brian B.
Daniel D.
Kalei W.
Alex B.
John M.
Wilson
Cain D.
Manny
Mark H.
Alice C.

Bibliography:

Good news for Humanities majors: http://www.aacu.org/leap/liberal-education-nation-blog/new-reports-offer-good-news-arts-and-humanities

Humanities median salary: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/17/positive-reports-humanities-earnings-art-school-job-prospects

Rashida Jones Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tgM6ixi1hc

Justin Vernon Interview: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/gds7n9/the-colbert-report-justin-vernon

Interview with Vernon's Professor: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/on-wisconsin-in-eau-claire-justin-vernon-s-roots-run/article_3d3bad28-60aa-11e1-9172-001871e3ce6c.html

Crashcourse: https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse

John Green Interview: http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/828.John_Green

John Green commencement address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AriZhzeHbA



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Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/religionforbreakfast

Uploaded 27-07-23

Watch City Beautiful’s video on Cairo on Nebula!: https://nebula.tv/videos/citybeautiful-cairos-history-roman-fortress-to-modern-megacity?ref=religionforbreakfast

Join our Patreon community!: https://www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
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Check out my favorite religious studies books by following this affiliate link to my Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/shop/religionforbreakfast

Akhenaten was an Egyptian Pharaoh back in the 1300s BCE who upended the religious landscape of ancient Egypt. Within years of ascending the throne, he turned away from traditional Egyptian polytheism to the worship of a single god: The Aten. Was this an early form of monotheism?

Select footage and images courtesy of Getty



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Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/religionforbreakfast
Watch Archaeology Quest here!: https://nebula.tv/videos/realscience-pottery?ref=religionforbreakfast

Uploaded 18-01-24

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The Nephilim are a mysterious group of beings mentioned in the book of Genesis. But who were they thought to be? Giants? Fallen angels?

Bibliography:
-Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Myth of Rebellious Angels: Studies in Second Temple Judaism and New Testament Texts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017).
-Adrienne Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2023).
-Wojciech Kosior, “The Fallen (Or) Giants? The Gigantic Qualities of the Nefilim in the Hebrew Bible,” in Magdalena Waligórska and Tara Kohn, eds., Jewish Translation, Translating Jewishness (Boston: De Gruyter, 2018).
-Ronald Hendel, The Landscape of Memory: Giants and the Conquest of Canaan,” "From the book Collective Memory and Collective Identity."
-Ronald Hendel, "The Nephilim were on the Earth," in The Fall of the Angels, pages 11-34.
-Robin Routledge, "The Nephilim: A Tall Story?" Tyndale Bulletin 66.1 (2015), 19-40.
-Annette Yoshiko Reed, "Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature," 2005.

00:00 Introduction
1:31 Ancient Context of Genesis 6
4:00 Ancient Canaanite Giants?
7:18 The Hellenistic Interpretation of Nephilim
9:00 Fallen Angel Interpretation
10:30 Rabbinic Jewish and later Christian Interpretations

Select images courtesy of Getty



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Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Avoid algorithms. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your subscription by going to https://ground.news/religionforbreakfast

Uploaded 17-04-25

Join our Patreon community! https://www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters



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The Gospel of Thomas. It is a famous text, but what do we really know about it? And why didn't it make it into the New Testament canon?

Uploaded 02-08-16

Andrew's religious studies book recommendations: http://amazon.com/shop/religionforbreakfast
Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry
Blog: www.religionforbreakfast.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/religionforbreakfast
Patreon: www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast

Andrew's religious studies book recommendations: http://amazon.com/shop/religionforbreakfast

Thanks to our Patreon supporters!:
Brian
Dan
Alex
Wilson
Cain
Mark



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Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Avoid algorithms. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your subscription by going to https://ground.news/religionforbreakfast

Uploaded 22-08-25

Why do fictional religions feel so fake? This video explores what fantasy and sci-fi often miss about real-world religion—like ritual, syncretism, and lived practice—and how adding these elements can make your worldbuilding feel more authentic and alive.

Join our Patreon community! https://www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters

00:00 Intro
3:00 Syncretism
6:45 Ritualization
11:08 Religious Materiality
13:26 Lived Religion



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