Weird Religion

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/leadershipInterview 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 ENJOYProfessor Juli Gittinger: https://www.gcsu.edu/artsandsciences/philosophy/faculty-staff-department-of-philosophy-religion-and-liberal-studies Dr. Shayna Sheinfeld: https://twitter.com/ShaynaSheinfeldZuleyha 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-rcna21792Mel 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-satanichttps://twitter.com/nypost/status/1501216568222666756The 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/1501216568222666756A 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/1489221666702086145Robert 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/3LFIA7KThis 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.htmlCalvinist 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…

Blessings abound as we round up some of the weirdest and most wonderful and most horrible stories from the end of 2021. Baptist women try to lead, small green children will grow up on Mars and turn feeble, you will find $600,000 in a megachurch bathroom, and you will protest our Nazi government in a Cheesecake Factory.And here are links to the stories, in no particular order: Speaking Babylonian in Marvel: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/whats-the-babylonian-for-thank-you-trinity-academic-provides-ancient-babylonian-translations-for-marvel-studios-eternals/Future world will suck: https://futurism.com/the-byte/ar-pioneer-warns-metaverse Mars mutant children with photo of green child: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4044467/elon-musk-mars-children-mutations-skin-bones/ Southern Baptist Women Lead: https://apnews.com/article/religion-baptist-6c5ea89af77883048855b41e4bc30963 Bendroth book Leah referenced: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-Present-Margaret-Lamberts-Bendroth/dp/0300068646 WSJ reports: people leaving religion during pandemic: https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-americans-left-religion-during-the-pandemic-11639494003 Satanic theories about concert deaths: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/09/astroworld-disaster-fuels-wave-of-satanic-conspiracy-theories-on-tiktok New religion on the internet https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22832827/manifesting-tiktok-astroworld-conspiracy-qanon-religion $600,000 in the church bathroom walls: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/plumber-finds-cash-checks-loose-toilet-wall-joel-osteens-lakewood-chur-rcna7512 City buried beneath Iowa: https://religiondispatches.org/mormon-group-digging-for-scriptural-city-of-zarahemla-in-iowa-is-a-portrait-of-religious-nationalism/; https://iowastartingline.com/2021/12/06/archeological-search-underway-in-se-iowa-for-ancient-morman-city/Love Has Won: https://www.westword.com/news/silver-colloidal-treatment-love-has-won-cult-leader-death-update-12974120JFK: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-dallas-conspiracy-theorist-jfk-still-there-1264953/Cult of We: https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2021/12/16/authors-of-new-book-on-wework-discuss-the-cult-of-weOptimal Business: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/workaholic-work-life-balance-employees-office-workers-hybrid-working-employment-2383521Cheesecake Factory: https://twitter.com/l2ftv/status/1470993160939712512?s=21"Cult fave" : https://www.bustle.com/life/33-cult-favorite-products-on-amazon-that-actually-live-up-to-the-hype-8334906Unfortunately posed inflatable Santa: https://www.newsweek.com/womans-obscene-santa-display-goes-viral-hoa-lady-just-had-stroke-1654648 Geraldo Rivera opens a safe: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78842/oral-history-30-years-ago-geraldo-rivera-opened-al-capones-vault Jesus applies for VP of Student Success: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/jesus-christ-applies-for-vp-of-student-success

An age-old historical and theological question: Why was Jesus crucified? We explore a shocking theory, as Leah engages in a rare (for her) ambush session on Brian with an unexpected twist. The 19-second sermon clip: https://youtu.be/0fVt7eR1o_w Steven Furtick’s controversial tweet: https://images.app.goo.gl/rUotpKingcWMtUgw5