Weird Religion

A rebroadcast of one of the top five most popular Weird Religion episodes of all time: on the embattled former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her attempt to create—or rather, fake having created—a futuristic blood-testing system. We end up having a gender smackdown conversation about women-on-women violence in the workplace, discussing ancient female fertility figurines and matriarchal societies, and musing on whether Holmes intentionally tried to dress like a religious leader. Longtime listeners can remember our older format and theme music; newer listeners can go back in time and hear how we were doing it in the summer of 2019 (this was S3 of the show). UPDATED NOTES: Holmes seems to be losing her appeals, and, barring future developments, is set to report to prison for 11 years on April 27, 2023: https://apnews.com/article/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-fraud-prison-sentence-754b44bc47eb200f032b75f45969cb07 Holmes has had two children during her trial, and since we first recorded this episode; many have criticized her for this, suspecting that she is using the babies to try to avoid jailtime: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-03-01/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-cites-baby-reason-avoid-prison

You’re flipping through the channels. On your old cable TV. You see Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade playing on a random channel. It’s in the middle of the movie. Do you select and watch? You do and you know it. Here we invoke a major debate over Dr. Elsa Schneider’s motives in the climactic grail-choosing scene, and daydream about the contents of a new book on Indiana Jones and philosophy. Join us. Choosing the grail scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0TalLrtZ24 Dr. Elsa Schneider: https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Elsa_Schneider Marion Ravenwood: https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Marion_Ravenwood Contested objects at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection New book on Indiana Jones and Philosophy: https://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Jones-Philosophy-Archaeology-Adventure/dp/1119740150 Indiana Jones theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog Nietzsche on “God is dead…”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead 

When you put religion on TV, you have to get religion consultants. Why even bother being accurate? Does Jesus look at someone to be healed with compassion—or anger? We end with a conversation about the term “minoritized” (vs. “minority”). Review of Brian’s appearance on a Travel Channel show debunking a Phoenician inscription: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-america-unearthed-s04e05-phoenicians-in-america“Horror Shows Like Mayfair Witches Hire Occult Consultant”: https://religionnews.com/2023/03/07/horror-shows-like-mayfair-witches-hire-occult-consultants-to-cast-their-spells/ Supernatural S2E18: https://www.netflix.com/watch/70223069 The Chosen: “Jesus Heals at the Pool” (clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMj1ggINLe4 Jesus’s anger problem in Mark 1:41 (for the opposite argument re: what Brian said): http://bit.ly/3TxyKJE lectio difficilior: https://www.livius.org/articles/theory/lectio-difficilior-potior/ Jesus the Exorcist: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Exorcist-Contribution-Study-Historical/dp/1610970608 “Sister Alice” and Aimee Semple McPherson on HBO’s Perry Mason: https://slate.com/culture/2020/06/perry-mason-sister-alice-aimee-semple-mcpherson.html On the language of “minoritized” vs. “minority”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26894228

This is possibly the weirdest religious moment of the year so far: Buried within a legal brief about an election fraud scandal are the contents of an email someone sent to Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s lawyers, in 2020. The email makes claims about how someone might receive information about a stolen election. Those claims are surprising. The Dominion Voting Systems vs. Fox News defamation suit: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/22/1150647042/dominion-voting-systems-1-6-billion-defamation-suit-against-fox-news-goes-to-triWho is Sidney Powell?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_PowellWhat evidence is now coming out about where Sidney Powell got some of her information: https://www.businessinsider.com/sidney-powell-voter-fraud-claims-headless-time-travel-dominion-fox-2023-2 and https://www.salon.com/2023/02/17/trumpworld-conspiracy-theory-stemmed-from-email-by-internally-decapitated-ghost-filing/ Documents for Dominion Case vs. Fox News (see pp. 37-38 on the email about time travel):https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/redacted-documents-in-dominion-fox-news-case/dca5e3880422426f/full.pdf 056 THE BUFFALO (Jake Angeli, QAnon, apocalypse, epiphany, and the iconography of insurrection): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/056-the-buffalo-jake-angeli-qanon-apocalypse-epiphany/id1428037534?i=1000504839007 Sidney Powell’s website appearance request form: https://www.sidneypowell.com/speaker-invite-form

Moses sings a song that takes us…deep into the problem of Christian nationalism. Come for the most secretly controversial passage in the Bible; stay for Leah trying to be a therapist for Brian on the problem of hating Christian nationalism but fearing that we need it for social cohesion. And a scholarly theory on the evolution from polytheism to monotheism in ancient Israel. Deuteronomy ch. 32: sons of Israel, or sons of GODS?! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2032&version=NIV The new survey, showing 50% of Republicans like Christian Nationalism: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/14/1156642544/more-than-half-of-republicans-support-christian-nationalism-according-to-a-new-s The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover (book): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175119/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover Kristen Kobes du Mez: https://kristindumez.com/ A past episode, 018 THE WAR: Professor James Byrd on war and social cohesion: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/018-the-war-ken-burns-vietnam-documentary-professor/id1428037534?i=1000425540100 Psalm 82, many gods? https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+82&version=NIVMark Smith, Princeton Seminary, on the Origins of Biblical Monotheism: https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Biblical-Monotheism-Polytheistic-Background/dp/0195167686

Here witness the thematic collision between a dustup over a now-deleted Gospel Coalition article about sex and a new Christian dating site for men and women who want to be in what they think are biblically-traditional relationships. The Gospel Coalition’s apology for the article / book excerpt, “Sex Won’t Save You–But it Points to the One Who Will”: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sex-wont-save-you/ NT Professor Michael Bird’s response to the “Sex Won’t Save You” article, with many links etc.: https://michaelfbird.substack.com/p/tgc-sex-and-christ NT Professor Esau McCaulley on “Sex Won’t Save You”: https://twitter.com/esaumccaulley/status/1631380537892806669?s=20 On New Christian Dating Apps: https://religionnews.com/2022/09/27/new-dating-apps-and-in-person-mixers-target-religious-and-political-niches/Dominion Dating member requirements: https://dominiondating.com/member-requirements/ Read the opening three chapters of Genesis, ye heathens: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201-3&version=NIV Trad Wives on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tradwife?lang=en

Despite not being known fundamentalist or evangelical influencer royalty, Brian scored an invitation to the 2023 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. We discuss the sights, sounds, beliefs, dress code, costs, content, scandal, and music of the event. Was Brian inducted into The Family? We reveal. Axios article on the new Prayer Breakfast format: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/29/national-prayer-breakfast-congress-leadership Slate on the National Prayer Breakfast schism: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/02/national-prayer-breakfast-family-fellowship-gathering.html Netflix documentary: The Family: https://www.netflix.com/title/80063867 Kenyan Civil War avoided through staged hug, facilitated by “The Family”? https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/kenya/b136-after-kenyas-leaders-reconcile-tough-path-ahead Leaked emails on the Family’s continued involvement in the Prayer Breakfast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrAtS4sjYY Donald Trump’s “non-traditional” prayerful address to the Prayer Breakfast in 2020: https://youtu.be/XuE2Tgg0qFE Ukraine’s Zelenskyy’s live video address to the Prayer Breakfast: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/videos/mayemo-zrobiti-vse-shob-nastupnogo-roku-mi-zmogli-pomolitisy-4129 Cathy McMorris Rodgers: ***CORRECTION: She initially said she would not certify the election, then changed her mind after the January 6th riot and did vote to certify (she did not think the Capitol Riot was “great,” apparently; but she didn’t think Trump was to blame at all; see the following links): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_McMorris_Rodgers#Donald_Trump; https://www.krem.com/article/news/investigations/mcmorris-rodgers-says-trump-didnt-give-rioters-direction-to-storm-the-capitol/293-6052edac-09fc-433f-8694-c4390a265e15; https://www.khq.com/news/mcmorris-rodgers-asks-protesters-to-stop-attacks-on-capitol-police/article_3b5f0246-5058-11eb-9496-4b48f26ee63c.html

In February of 2023 students at Asbury University—a Christian college in Kentucky—started a revival, which has gone on for weeks (the “public” phase of the revival ended around Feb. 19th). Professional revival seekers flocked in to participate. We explain what a “revival” is and talk about how observers are thinking about the pros and cons of spiritual revival on this particular college campus. Fox News also used one of Leah’s tweets on the topic (!), so we discuss that as well. Basic info on the revival: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/asbury-university-revival-college-kentucky-going-viral-tiktok-rcna70686https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_revival Leah’s Twitter thread, picked up by Fox News: https://twitter.com/drleahpayne/status/1624507669238419456?s=20 Scenes from the Asbury revival: https://youtube.com/shorts/NNhuxCFjZ00?feature=share Demon at Asbury shrieks out: https://youtube.com/shorts/FQ4qDYfZsdA?feature=share Faith leaders push back (?): https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/church-faith-leaders-push-back-on-asbury-revival-criticism/Medieval dancing craze for hundreds of years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania

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=redirectAdam 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