The Harvard Religion Beat

Sixty years ago on Good Friday, a famous experiment took place at Boston University's Marsh Chapel conducted by Harvard Divinity School student Walter Pahnke, where he tried to answer the question: Do psychedelic drugs occasioned mystical experiences?

In 2022, conversations about the connections between psychedelics, science and medicine, and spirituality are again top of mind, from Harvard and the academy to research hospitals and beyond.

In this episode, Harvard Divinity School student Paul Gillis-Smith speaks to scholar J. Christian Greer about the impact of the “Marsh Chapel Miracle,” what role psychedelics might play in the future of religion, and why, he says, there’s potential for great harm, but reasons to be hopeful, too.

Vladimir Putin's invasion and war on Ukraine is a crisis. It's a crisis that is unfolding before our very eyes across social media and cable and online news, and it's more than just a political crisis, though that's likely what most of us are hearing about. Putin's war is crisis of humanity. It's a crisis of conscience … and it's a crisis with deep religious ties.

I'm Jonathan Beasley, and in today's episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, I'm speaking with Sean Eriksen about the religious connection to Putin's war on Ukraine. Sean is a graduate student at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, specializing in contemporary Russian national identity and regime ideology. Sean is originally from Australia. He holds degrees in law and international relations, and he's lived in Kyiv, Ukraine, and has travelled throughout the former Soviet Union.

Did you know that Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts from 1659 to 1681, and anyone caught celebrating the holiday would be subject to a fine of 5 shillings?

And who was responsible for canceling Christmas? Was it pagans, or liberal policymakers, or the anti-religious? Nope, it was one of the most pious groups of people at the time: the Puritans.

"Puritans abided by what's sometimes been called the regulative principle of Biblicism, which is that not only do you need to do what the Bible enjoins you to do, but you should avoid establishing, as practices of spiritual significance, things that the Bible does not expressly endorse," says HDS Professor David F. Holland. “And so the absence of Christmas in scripture was the primary source of the kind of Puritan concern about it and condemnation of it.”

But there was also another big reason for the ban, namely that Christmas had a tradition of being a time of social disorder, similar to Carnival. And that disorder, drunkenness, irreverence, and often sexual licentiousness, was something Puritans found unacceptable.

Even though anti-Christmas sentiment and culture was still very much prevalent in New England until the mid-nineteenth century, Christmas became a national holiday in 1870 thanks to one particular phenomenon. “What really kind of gives Christmas it's propriety or its legitimacy in the culture of New England is the rise of a kind of cult of domesticity in the early nineteenth century and what some scholars have referred to as the birth of childhood,” says Holland, “the recognition of childhood as a distinctive stage of human development that deserves a certain kind of indulgence and a certain kind of happiness.”

Dune. The Matrix. Blade Runner. Star Wars. We know that fantasy and sci-fi use religion, but do they change actual religion in the process? Do they impact how we believe, what we believe, and even the nature of belief itself?

Today we're speaking with HDS Professor Charles Stang, who teaches the binge-worthy course, “Aliens, Artificial Intelligence, and Apocalypse: Ancient Mythology and Contemporary Film." We investigate why fantasy and sci-fi use religious elements in storytelling and even create full religions of their own. Do they appropriate or appreciate, respect or denigrate?

For Earth Day 2021, we speak with author and climate activist Terry Tempest Williams about the spiritual implications of climate change and how we can still find beauty despite the chaos and destruction that surrounds us.

Examining religion's role in past pandemics, the responsibility faith leaders have during a health crisis, and how religious practice has been changed by the Coronavirus.

A conversation with pastor, professor, and policy influencer Quardricos Driskell about whether Black History Month has taken on new significance in 2021. We also chat about avoiding complacency around racial justice issues now that the Trump presidency is over, how the Black Lives Matter movement can continue its momentum by working across generational divides, and why Democrats running for political office should talk more openly about their faith.

In this special pop-up episode of Harvard Religion Beat, we speak with journalist, author, and political commentator E. J. Dionne to get his insight into how Joe Biden’s Catholicism will shape the way he governs as president, and how his faith will serve as a road map for how his administration will tackle economic injustices, equal rights, religious freedom, and racial justice—all while trying to heal a very divided nation.

Today, mindfulness meditation courses can be found everywhere from schools to prisons to sports teams. So why has mindfulness meditation suddenly become so popular? For starters, recent studies show benefits against an array of conditions both physical and mental, including helping to counter stress, chronic pain, and other ailments such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. But are there possible downsides to mindfulness being embraced by the mainstream?

Hate crimes committed on the basis of religious identity have surged 23 percent, the biggest annual increase since 9/11. In this episode of the Harvard Religion Beat, we examine the rise of hate crimes in the U.S., taking a closer look at white nationalism, the rhetoric of President Trump, and the role of the FBI.