Weird Religion

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…