Weird Religion

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/