Weird Religion

The weird religion news is on fire as always. This week: Is there a Matt Damon - Ben Affleck curse? Has Britney Spears become Catholic? Is Amanda Knox a philosopher? Can you go beyond yoga?

Britney Spears goes Catholic on Insta, then deletes it: https://www.instagram.com/britneyspears/; https://www.newsweek.com/britney-spears-reveals-shes-now-catholic-she-models-mass-dress-1616859

Britney gets a new ipad (sound clip is from this Insta post, not her post about becoming Catholic): https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/06/entertainment/britney-spears-ipad-conservatorship-intl-scli/index.html

It’s Matt Damon’s turn in the Damon-Affleck curse cycle: https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/matt-damon-ben-affleck-f-slur-curse.html

SNL skit (sound clip), “The Curse”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNno63ZO2Lw

Amanda Knox makes a mystical rant: https://twitter.com/amandaknox/status/1420871392266911746

Hindu extremists attack U.S. scholars of Hinduism: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/07/hindutvas-threat-to-academic-freedom/ 

Tiktok faith communities: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/27/i-never-had-an-inkling-about-this-how-tiktok-is-fostering-community-among-questioning-christians/

GiveSendGo! making money off of anti-vaxxing: https://slate.com/technology/2021/08/givesendgo-gofundme-vaccine-skeptics-covid-misinformation.html 

Fasting and praying against the virus: https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/3319

A new discovery validates the Bible at Mt. Kilimanjaro?! https://bit.ly/2U02vIG 

Let’s go...beyond Yoga? https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/levi-strauss-to-buy-yoga-apparel-brand-beyond-yoga-.html

A white version of the holy family in a playset: https://religionnews.com/2021/08/06/christian-group-petitions-toy-company-to-replace-nativity-playset-depicting-holy-family-as-white/

You know how you do that thing where you watch an intriguing trailer for an artsy horror film and then make all your friends watch it? Here we are. In The Lamb, forthcoming this fall, a couple tries to raise a lamb (?) as if it is their own child (?), and the lamb then morphs into something like a human (?), and some difficult things happen when the lamb parents come to reclaim their own (?). With a side discourse on Israel’s experience in the desert with flying snakes.

Watch the trailer and join in our confused glee: The Lamb (2021), https://youtu.be/hnEwJKVWjFM

Reference: the 2000 film Spiral: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244870/

Kafka quote: https://tinycamels.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/found-in-translation-in-the-struggle-between-you-and-the-world/

On flying snakes in Numbers 21: https://www.thetorah.com/article/what-is-the-biblical-flying-serpent

Noomi Rapace: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0636426/

We’re talking with host of Things Not Seen Radio host and professor David Dault about the X-Files. Enough said.

Check out David Dault’s massive and amazing catalogue NOW: https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/

Dr. David Dault at Loyola Chicago: https://www.luc.edu/ips/about/faculty/daviddaultphd.shtml

X-Files on Hulu, S4E14: “Memento Mori”: https://www.hulu.com/watch/f3a2f201-c27e-42bf-a621-45a3a4341f92

New York Times, Meet the Nun who wants you to remember that you will die: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html

Chris Carter on the new UFO government report: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/opinion/chris-carter-aliens-ufo-xfiles.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

In this week’s News Roundup, we’re going to marry God, pronounce on Bible translations on Tiktok, and make a very convoluted analogy to the JEDP Pentateuchal source critical scheme!!

This week’s stories:

A woman marries the Holy Spirit; husband objects: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/04/kenyan-woman-marries-the-holy-spirit-in-anglican-ceremony/

Anthony Bourdain’s voice raised from the dead: https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/anthony-bourdain-fake-voice-roadrunner-documentary-backlash-1235020878/

The JEDP thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis

Are people coming back to church: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/30/millions-skipped-church-during-pandemic-will-they-return/ 

TikTokers on Bible translations: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/14/three-of-the-most-mistranslated-words-in-scripture-according-to-tiktok-theologians/ (examples in clips: CaptainDadPool on TikTok on hell: https://bit.ly/3xNf495; Lordofbored on TikTok on Lucifer: https://bit.ly/3rflF9E)

A young living goddess: https://aninjusticemag.com/the-young-goddess-whose-feet-never-touch-ground-64f6c40046b5 

Homeopathic doctor from CALIFORNIA sells fake Covid immunity cards: https://people.com/crime/homeopathic-doctor-allegedly-sold-fake-covid-vaccine-cards/

The shaming of Amy Grant: https://medium.com/belover/the-shaming-of-amy-grant-3f8327c36803 

Religions people consider the ethics of AI: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/16/opinion/ai-ethics-religion.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage 

Franklin Graham ads come down: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/16/british-borough-apologizes-for-removing-bus-ads-promoting-franklin-graham-festival/

Mike Pompeo says don’t let the woke left socialists get you down: https://www.radioiowa.com/2021/07/16/dont-let-the-woke-left-socialists-get-you-down-pompeo-tells-iowa-crowd/

Jeremiah Wright, not “God bless America”: https://youtu.be/Ix-AMYos0Js

Instagram is the new SkyMall! https://debugger.medium.com/instagram-has-become-skymall-68b9f2fbbc30 

 No beards, Mormons! https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/15/latest-mormon-land-new/

We take a deep breath and watch Darren Arnofsky’s maybe brilliant maybe dumb yet deeply religiously inspired and definitely provocative 2017 film mother! Film critic Joel Mayward joins us for support. Brian tries to ex(man)splain. Leah is not having it. (Warning: this episode contains some disturbing content, and also a heaping of razor sharp film criticism by Dr. Joel Mayward.)

Trailer and other clips from mother!: https://bit.ly/35RV2xE

Darren Arnofsky’s mother! and Cinematic Parables, by Joel Mayward: http://www.transpositions.co.uk/darren-aronofskys-mother-cinematic-parables/

Joel Mayward’s review of mother!: https://cinemayward.com/review/mother/

The Unknown Girl (2017): https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_unknown_girl

Joe’s Mayward’s Cinemayward: https://cinemayward.com/

A very short episode dedicated to our friend Javier Garcia, who died recently. He was 34 years old, a Bonhoeffer scholar, director of an Honors program, a surfer, mountain climber, brother, son, and friend. With the flare-up of a long-brewing and continuing and still bitter disagreement between Brian and Leah about the quality of the show Battlestar Gallactica.

Obituary for Javier Garcia: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BZo3zlxU7itzSDufQgl3RsjPW6WpWBr4/view?usp=sharing

Recovering the Ecumenical Bonhoeffer, by Javier Garcia: https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Ecumenical-Bonhoeffer-Thinking-Tradition/dp/1978700067

YouTube playlist of Javier Garcia talking about great texts (Hannah Arendt, Kierkegaard, Homer, Gandhi, and Augustine): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCPifuu_9CY2FW6f8z8MYvhksWk6b9YNN

We’re talking about the spirituality of the biggest financial scam in history—with the star-creator and director of an award winning and genre-bending new film: A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Alicia Jo Rabins and Alicia J. Rose join us for a conversation about excommunication, success, failure, the artistic process, “cycles,” and mysticism. And UFOs.

A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: https://www.akaddishforberniemadoff.com/

Film trailer: https://vimeo.com/459483146

“What A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff Taught Me About Mourning,” in the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/03/what-kaddish-bernie-madoff-teaches-about-mourning/618315/

Alicia Jo Rabins: https://aliciajo.com/

Alicia J. Rose: https://www.aliciajrose.com/

Conservatives take on Super-Conservatives. Major drama just went down at the annual convention for the nation’s most prominent Protestant “denomination,” the Southern Baptists. Who are “Baptists”? And how did Joe Baptist create the modern Baptist movement? What is happening with Moore and Moore? Brian interviews Leah and if you listen to this, you will have a decent starter kit to understanding Baptists.

Ruth Graham, New York Times, “Southern Baptist Vote Signals Further Fractures in American Evangelicalism”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/us/southern-baptist-convention-evangelicalism.html

Anthea Butler, White Evangelical Racism: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469661179/white-evangelical-racism/

Shout-outs to scholars of Baptists:
Doug Weaver: https://www.baylor.edu/religion/index.php?id=931783
João Chaves: https://www.baylor.edu/religion/index.php?id=944632
Eileen Campbell Reed: https://utsnyc.edu/faculty/eileen-campbell-reed/
Andrew C. Smith: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-Fundraising-Transformation-Southern-Convention/dp/1621902277
James Byrd: https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/people/bio/jimmy-byrd

Beth Moore leaves the Southern Baptists: https://religionnews.com/2021/03/09/bible-teacher-beth-moore-ends-partnership-with-lifeway-i-am-no-longer-a-southern-baptist

Beth Moore apologizes for supporting complimentarianism: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/04/07/beth-moore-women-complementarianism/

Leaked Russel Moore letter: https://religionnews.com/2021/06/02/leaked-russell-moore-letter-blasts-sbc-conservatives-sheds-light-on-his-resignation/

Meet Ed Litton: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2021/06/16/southern-baptist-convention-ed-litton-pastor-new-president-sbc/7713144002/

Back with a full episode next week; for now, we provide a not-ominous-at-all programming note.

Bob Ross: Soothing TV painter, guru to Millennials, and a ghost hawking Mountain Dew. A postmodern capitalism horror show. Purity. Sounds. Avoidance and/or acceptance of darkness. The roaring 20s will lead to a new war.

Bob Ross paints and then drinks a bottle of Mountain Dew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRrWjdO9NVQ

Paula Abdul dances with Gene Kelly for Diet Coke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5O3iXCv88

Alston Ramsay, “Sex, Deceit, and Scandal: The Ugly War Over Bob Ross’ Ghost”: https://yhoo.it/2Sf0Dej

Bob Ross, “Island in the Wilderness”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLWEXRAnQd0

Bob Ross, “Secluded Bridge”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrAMRxBB5KI

Thomas Kincaid, The Painter of Light: https://bit.ly/3ikPlQj

Daniel Siedell, “The Dark Light of Thomas Kinkade”: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cultivare/2012/05/the-dark-light-of-thomas-kinkade/

Bob Ross, Have to Have Opposites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTMxjADudbc