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Episodes
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One of the biggest religious storylines of 2023 has been: the huge number of people leaving their faith communities. Because Christianity is the #1 by volume religion in America, the loss has been felt heaviest there. Why has this been happening? And how many have left? A new book shares the latest research, and the data may shock you (= clickbait)!!! We review and comment and teach.
The Great Dechurching (new book): https://www.amazon.com/Great-Dechurching-Leaving-Going-Bring/dp/0310147433
Ryan Burge, PhD: http://ryanburge.net/
Ryan Burge substack, “Graphs About Religion”: https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/
“Good Faith” podcast interview with Great Dechurching author Michael Graham: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-great-dechurching-with-david-french-and-michael-graham/id1594454747?i=1000631285992
Peter’s Choi’s book on George Whitefield: https://www.amazon.com/George-Whitefield-Evangelist-Religious-Biography/dp/0802875491
Buck Williams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Williams
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Beware, lest ye try to convict others in court, that ye have never sinned! We review some recent weird religious news with an eye toward non-obvious stories. From dreams of living forever to Taylor Swift promoting witchcraft: while away this thirty minutes with us.
Lori Vallow statement, opens with “he who is without sin throw the first stone”: https://youtu.be/uJ4nFtSsa3U
On the woman caught in adultery story: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/passages/main-articles/the-woman-caught-in-adultery-john-81-11/
Bonus story: Natalee Hollaway’s murderer claims to have changed his ways, to born again Christianity: https://www.christianpost.com/news/joran-van-der-sloot-claims-hes-now-born-again-christian.html
The man who thinks he can live forever: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11679715/Tech-tycoon-45-spends-2-million-year-team-doctors-regain-teenage-body.html
The longevity industrial complex: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/24/longevity-podcasts-huberman-rogan-science
Pastor locks himself into cage with lions to show divine protection: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/pastor-goes-cage-full-lions-31066685
Historian Mary Beard on men getting obsessed with the Roman Empire: https://time.com/6317735/men-roman-empire-mary-beard-history/
Church buildings going empty: https://slate.com/business/2023/07/church-real-estate-development-west-park-presbyterian.html
Taylor Swift promotes witchcraft: https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/taylor-swift-promotes-witchcraft-on-tour-in-willow-performance.html
Religious Group Shinzo Abe assassination: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/10/shinzo-abe-assassination-japan-unification-church-moonies/675114/
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Missing episodes?
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We prepare to engage in the yearly ritual of scholars in our field: the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), abbreviated AAR-SBL…or is it SBL-AAR? The order makes all the difference. Quality tips are shared to survive an academic conference of this type. Brian shares the tale of his first panic attack, and leaks crucial details from one of his conference presentations—about the Puritan leader Cotton Mather and his belief that the bones of biblical giants had been uncovered in America.
The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL): https://www.sbl-site.org/
The American Academy of Religion (AAR): https://aarweb.org/
The annual meeting online program book (you can search presentations by last name and keyword): https://sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_ProgramBook.aspx?MeetingId=43
Cotton Mather: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Mather
Bozeman, To Live Ancient Lives: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807896273/to-live-ancient-lives
Bryce Traister: https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/about/contact/bryce-traister/
The text of Cotton Mather’s first letter to the Royal Society about the giant bones: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936986?origin=crossref&seq=1
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Gather ‘round for an episode recorded in front of a LIVE AUDIENCE in Portland, Oregon! We take a piece of listener (e)mail and answer the call: to talk about books that have been deeply impactful for our lives and research—books that anyone could read and learn a lot. From classics in the early history of sociology to ritual to women in the church to child sacrifice, it’s a magic carpet ride of books.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elementary_Forms_of_the_Religious_Life
Gianni Vattimo, ideas in this book about the incarnation Brian mentioned: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-future-of-religion/9780231134941
On the “deep incarnation” idea: https://inters.org/gregersen-incarnation
Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ritual-theory-ritual-practice-9780199733620
Jon Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300065114/the-death-and-resurrection-of-the-beloved-son
Anthea Butler, Women in the Church of God in Christ: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858080/women-in-the-church-of-god-in-christ/
Brian’s third book that we didn’t have time to talk about! Mark Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-origins-of-biblical-monotheism-9780195134803
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The aftermath of the July 2023 Congressional UFO hearing has been fascinating, infuriating, mysterious, and ominous. We get you caught up, and present a chilling conspiracy theory about what has become already one of the most famous airplane disappearances of the past several decades—Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in 2014.
The Congressional UFO hearing on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/KQ7Dw-739VY?si=7iKLViEo9ZS-iy8_
Wikipedia page for the whistleblower (David Grusch) claims: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Grusch_UFO_whistleblower_claims
NPR summary of the UFO hearing: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190390376/ufo-hearing-non-human-biologics-uaps
The Hill article puts the situation accurately in Brian’s opinion: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4134891-a-monumental-ufo-scandal-is-looming/
Jesse Michels interview with David Grusch: https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=lu69_M0SlBdCh9qE
Joe Rogan interview with Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04gQ8km0XhEitU1Vz4lA3j
Malaysian Air (MH370) mystery on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370
Netflix show about MH370: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDg0m2Q3H8c
The orbs video where the orbs take the plane: https://youtu.be/iZPHGJHXNXg?si=45OdsZWDvCA0_Q81
Reddit threads on the orbs video are wild: https://reddit.com/r/UFOs/s/drEbOTTmDD
Some have compared this conspiracy to the Netflix show “Manifest”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8421350/
Seems maybe the orbs video has been debunked…but you can always go double conspiracy on it! https://twitter.com/528vibes/status/1693008013278302498?s=20
Article Leah mentioned: “Prophetic Failure and Chiliastic Identity: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2776152
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Let Halloween feelings shower over you as you listen to this, our Halloween episode. One of us loves the horror genre on TV and movies, and the other absolutely does not. One of us can barely handle even watching the trailer for one of these films.
Children of the Corn (1984): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087050/
The Satanic double scene in The Passion of the Christ: https://youtu.be/YgwXF60RTik?si=vEv3anusf4rTpoI7
The TV version of Stephen King’s IT: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/
The original Scream, 1996 (opening scene clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn5SkCvPEYo
Signs (2002): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/
The Village, 2004 (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTGyhwvdY6k
Arrival, 2016 (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMo3UJ4B4g
Smile (2022 film) (the trailer we played part of): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDK7lkzzsU
The Black Phone: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7144666/
Brandon Grafius, Reading the Bible with Horror: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Bible-Horror-Scripture/dp/1978701683
NOPE (trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8fuzj3gck
The Haunting of Hill House (TV): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6763664/
Midnight Mass (TV trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UV8vmWXlY
The Cabin in the Woods (2011): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/
Using liking scary movies romantic compatibility: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2582872/Do-like-horror-movies-surprising-questions-tell-relationship-likely-last.html
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What would it be like to grow up in a household guided by the principles of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy? We talk to Things Not Seen radio host Dr. David Dault, of Loyola University Chicago, about being expoed to the ideology of Ayn Rand at a young age. If you’ve ever wanted to know about Rand’s “Objectivist” idea but were too afraid to ask, we’ll take you there. Along the way, Brian mispronounces Ayn’s name, David shares several fascinating and vulnerable personal stories, and we review the dystopian novella Anthem, ending with the hard question: Are these principles of radical self-interest compatible with Christianity?
David Dault: https://www.luc.edu/ips/about/faculty/daviddaultphd.shtml
Things Not Seen Radio: https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/
Ayn Rand on the pronunciation of her first name: https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/1015/Six-things-you-probably-didn-t-know-about-Ayn-Rand/The-name-s-not-Ann
The Ayn Rand Institute: https://aynrand.org/
Max Stirner: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/max-stirner/
Ayn Rand’s Anthem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella)
“Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand” (Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/what-ayn-rand-says-about-paul-ryan/2012/08/13/fd40d574-e56d-11e1-8741-940e3f6dbf48_blog.html
Matthew Sitman, Know Your Enemy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434
Jordan Peterson on Ayn Rand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9aHYj93xJY
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As longtime Weirdo Listeners know, we don’t always have guests—but when we do, they win awards. Or they should. New York Times contributor Sam Kestenbaum won a 2023 Wilbur Award this past spring and now an AAR Journalism Award for a captivating article on Kathryn Krick—a Christian social media celebrity and charismatic preacher who frequents parks in the Los Angeles area to perform healings and exorcisms. The article is 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/.
—> In honor of the awards, we’re rebroadcasting this, one of our most popular eps from 2022! In which we talk with Sam about the article and the person behind it.
Updated Notes: Kathryn is still going strong…
Kathryn Krick on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ApostleKathrynKrick [[where the majority of her activity seems to be now?]]
Kathryn Krick on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_apostlekathrynkrick [[she seems to have stopped posting new material here??]]
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/
Sam’s Wilbur Award: https://religionnews.com/2023/03/28/religion-communicators-council-names-2023-wilbur-awardees/
Sam’s AAR award: https://aarweb.org/AARMBR/Publications-and-News-/Newsroom-/News-/2023/2023-Journalism-Awards.aspx -
Rebroadcasting a popular season finale from several years ago. Aliens are the quintessential sci-fi topic. Leah admits she used to watch Alf. Brian watched Alf too! We all did. Was The History Channel ever really respectable? The true utopian technology prophets will tell us when everything has been illuminated at the same time. Is it possible that…
UPDATED SHOW NOTES
Ancient Aliens is doing live shows now, on tour: https://bit.ly/46rjfsE
Ancient Aliens on the History Channel: https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens
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To celebrate what appears to be a departure of people of some amount from “Twitter” (now “X”?!), we run to the new “Threads” app and find dueling weird religious stories to share: (1) Leah finds a joke that leads to rumination on “premillennial dispensationalism” (2) and Brian offers an engaging TikTok sermon by “Real Talk Kim.”
Threads has lost 80% of its daily users: https://gizmodo.com/threads-has-lost-more-than-80-of-daily-active-users-1850707329
Musk erodes Twitter’s brand with X thing: https://time.com/6297303/twitter-x-rebrand-cost/
Leah’s rapture joke Thread: https://www.threads.net/@drleahpayne/post/Cvca3OrACHj/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
One third of pastors share end-times theology of “Left Behind” (in 2016): https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/april/sorry-left-behind-pastors-end-times-rapture-antichrist.html
Premillennial dispensationalism: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003463730910600105
Brian’s Real Talk Kim Thread: https://www.threads.net/@realtalkkim/post/CvFP7Vuv_5m?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D; if the Thread link doesn’t work, it’s here on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realtalkkim/video/7257640531201625390?lang=en
Real Talk Kim: https://realtalkkim.com/
Real Talk Kim talking about her life: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=309314860357378
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Rebroadcasting because we are jonesing for a new season of Stranger Things. Monsters, the 1980s, neon clothes, loaded memories of teenage drama, and a time when malls ruled supreme over the lives of adolescents. We talk about the Cold War and the child abduction fear craze in the 1980s and wonder: Why are we looking back on this era with fondness, exactly?
UPDATED SHOW NOTE
Stranger Things Season 5 (the final season) updates: https://www.popbuzz.com/tv-film/stranger-things/season-5-release-date-cast-plot-trailer/ (Terminator legend Linda Hamilton joins the cast in an undisclosed role; production suspended currently due to strike; was scheduled to begin filming in June 2023; S5E1 titled “The Crawl”; S5 storyline will take place entirely in Hawkins, with Will Byers as the main focus…)
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HEY. Tune in for musings on the definition of a mustache, a profound application of 1 Corinthians 6:12, and a note on our episode rhythm during what’s left of July and on into August and September. In short: we’ve worked to create content this summer around travel and so on, and we’ll continue to be a little every-other-week-ish until maybe September, when we’ll get back into an every-week-new-content rhythm for the school year. And we’ll rebroadcast some “classics” in the gaps. We love you.
1 Corinthians ch. 6: http://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/1COR+6.html
Does a beard include a mustache? https://www.quora.com/Does-the-word-beard-include-moustache-too
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This week we’re reviewing recent religion news in order to: explore the location of falling gold dust of God’s presence…discuss the latest UFO surprises…get specific how about AI will kill us…be shocked that Silicon Valley is trying to build God and control humanity…and understand “Seven Mountains Theology.” Read these stories along with us, or listen to us tell you about them:
Aspen Ideas Festival spirituality: https://www.axios.com/2023/07/01/aspen-ideas-festival-2023-postcard
UFO under a building? https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/ufo-hunter-claims-spaceship-too-30477150
Government to make UFOs public? https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4097653-senators-to-offer-amendment-to-require-government-to-make-ufo-records-public/
7 AI human extinction scenarios: https://inews.co.uk/news/science/ai-humans-extinct-seven-deadly-scenarios-how-likely-2376633?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Restaurant hires fake priest to spy on employees: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254594/california-restaurant-had-a-fake-priest-hear-workers-confessions-labor-department-says
Bethel Church tries to take over California town: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/how-bethel-megachurch-conquered-redding-18170873.php
“The Woman Who Bought a Mountain for God” (Atlantic), Seven Mountains theology: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/christian-movement-new-apostolic-reformation-politics-trump/674320/
Leah Payne with PRRI on popularity of charismatics: https://www.prri.org/spotlight/the-future-of-born-again-evangelicalism-is-charismatic-and-pentecostal/
“Silicon Valley’s Quest to Build God and Control Humanity”: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/silicon-valley-artificial-intelligence/
Mysterious creature in Illinois: https://www.theintelligencer.com/opinion/article/mysterious-creature-reported-downtown-alton-18167740.php
Mormons try to save Great Salt Lake from drying up: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-promised-land-drying-mormon-church-works-to-save-the-great-salt-lake/ar-AA1d0p0G
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This rebroadcast revisits an unfortunately still-timely topic. We begin with a throwback to the Cold War of the 1970s and quickly arrive at the current war 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:
UPDATED LINKS
The Guardian’s Ukraine news page (updated): https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine
The so-called “Wagner Uprising” in Russia (attempted coup?): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/25/prigozhins-march-on-moscow-chronology-of-an-attempted-coup
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
Putin wants religious soul of Ukraine: https://religionnews.com/2022/02/24/putin-is-after-more-than-land-he-wants-the-religious-soul-of-ukraine/
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What do we know, based on social scientific data, about what it takes for children to carry on with the faith of their parents? We dive into a new book by two noted authors on the topic. The results are strange, shocking, exciting, depressing, and intriguing. Worth thinking about as a bigger story of what religion has become for us in the 21st century. This might be a part 1 of a 2 part thing. So watch for part 2 later maybe.
Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation (Oxford, 2021): https://www.amazon.com/Handing-Down-Faith-Religion-Generation/dp/0190093323
Fig. 2.3 from the book about faith retention 10 years later based on parenting styles (showing remarkably little difference in church attendance, across all parenting styles, for kids of parents who placed a “high importance” on religion): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZAb_kYpIRxnQ_Jlbx1_V-Mx91Pdz8Bv-/view?usp=sharing; we partly misspoke here in the podcast about what we were seeing—it is parents with “authoritative” style (i.e., the “good” style), not “authoritarian,” who saw the highest rate of kids reporting they NEVER attending religious services, but only for those “authoritative” parents who placed a very low value on religion. It’s a complicated set of data. Have at it.
Example review of the book, by Clara Gerhardt, Samford University: https://christianscholars.com/handing-down-the-faith-how-parents-pass-their-religion-on-to-the-next-generation-2/
David Brooks, in The Atlantic (March 2020): “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-mistake/605536/
The Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga movie is called A Star is Born (sorry everyone).
Bradley Cooper on his faith and his father: https://aleteia.org/2021/06/04/covid-reveals-actor-bradley-coopers-devotion-to-his-mom/
Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible: https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Made-Impossible-Biblicism-Evangelical/dp/158743329X
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Has the rise of the personality test replaced traditional faith narratives as a way to explain our own lives? How does one pronounce the word “Enneagram”? We investigate. With a powerful excursus into the purpose of work meetings (= to control people).
Origins and history of the Enneagram: https://bit.ly/3qLGpK3
Jackie Hill Perry warns Christians against the demonic Enneagram: https://www.christianpost.com/news/jackie-hill-perry-warns-christians-not-to-use-demonic-enneagram.html
Enneagram popularity soars: https://religionnews.com/2022/06/02/as-enneagrams-popularity-soars-having-an-experienced-teacher-is-more-important-than-ever/
Enneagram of your fav Bible character: http://blog.baysideonline.com/2018/02/the-enneagram-according-to-your-favorite-bible-characters/
Saved by the City’s Personality Test Extravaganza: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/25/a-personality-test-extravaganza/
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We’re here this week to discuss potentially shocking revelations in the UFO “disclosure” community, and get you fully caught up on what has been said recently about aliens and such things. Brian went to a UFO festival and heard a specialist talk about “UFO Experiencers” for MUFON (yes, the same MUFON as referenced on the X Files!). Leah attended the free parade. A new government whistleblower claims we are in possession of multiple and even full “crafts” of non-human origin. Garry Nolan, scientist at Stanford, says that he is “100%” certain extraterrestrials are here. And respected Australian journalist Ross Coulthart has some…disturbing theories.
Bob Lazar, who is he: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar
MUFON (Mutual UFO Network): https://mufon.com/
Earl Grey Anderson: https://ufofest.com/earl-grey-anderson-2/
NYT 2017 article that started this era: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html
Article out: new whistleblower, with unassailable credentials (?), says we have craft: https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
Sample article on Assyrian propoganda: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1535132
Garry Nolan, Stanford: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/garry-nolan
Garry Nolan bombshell interview at SALT Conference: https://twitter.com/UAPJames/status/1659299977762308098?s=20
Reflection on the NASA UFO hearing and how people get angry about this topic, harass NASA scientists online and in person: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/06/nasa-ufos-conspiracy-theories/674259/
Ross Coulthart commenting on Elizondo’s “somber” comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM3kxeU_oDE&t=9301
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The News Roundup is back: bringing back the dead, briefly; robbing a piece of hair from your fav celeb to have a baby with them; Elizabeth Holmes is finally in jail; Silicon Valley woo; and the Pope’s exorcist.
A brief interaction with your deceased loved one: https://futurism.com/ai-seance
Tag-on story: Having a designer baby with a celebrity??!! https://www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1178103188/scientists-near-a-breakthrough-that-could-revolutionize-human-reproduction
Soul Boom by Dwight Schrute // Rainn Wilson: https://sojo.net/articles/rainn-wilson-office-wants-spiritual-revolution
Elizabeth Holmes reports to 11 year prison sentence: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/30/tech/elizabeth-holmes-prison/index.html
Film about the Camino pilgrimage: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/15/the-way-emilio-estevezs-film-about-the-camino-returns-to-theaters-as-pilgrimage-picks-up-post-covid/
Why a Silicon Valley culture that was once obsessed with reason is going woo: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/rational-magic
“An American Tail” is now a musical: https://www.jta.org/2023/04/17/culture/an-american-tail-musical-adaptation-bets-the-storys-jewish-immigration-story-will-resonate-in-2023
Only 16% of Americans say religion is most important: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176206568/less-important-religion-in-lives-of-americans-shrinking-report
Pope’s exorcist is a fan of horror films: https://religionnews.com/2023/05/05/the-real-priest-behind-the-popes-exorcist-was-a-fan-of-hollywood-horror-films/
Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda thing, full of religion: https://zelda-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Christianity
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We’re rebroadcasting an early episode this week—to us, a classic, and perhaps as good as new to newer listeners. What happens when a movie series becomes not just your favorite or your religion, but literally forms the basis for all of your thinking and imagination and everything for your entire life? Such is the power of the Star Wars franchise. We dive into the murky depths of Star Wars fandom through the documentary The People Vs. George Lucas to think about authorial intent, the biblical canon, who owns our imaginations, and what it means to truly love fictional characters.
Updated Notes
The People vs. George Lucas: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325014/
“10 Harsh Realities of Being a Star Wars Fan”: https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-fan-negatives-downsides/#the-original-movies-keep-changing
“Star Wars Fans and Their Collections,” The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/12/star-wars-fans-and-their-collections/420561/
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We give in-the-moment commentary on a surprising spoken word track on Lana del Rey’s new album. The material is delivered by the famous and hip Churchome pastor Judah Smith. With Lana del Rey cooing in the background. Some deep moments, some weird moments.
Roomful of Teeth, “Pasacaglia”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LlE41gvNcw&list=PLEwLYWjsY88Wj84zSQ0dkiFgFjJpIG4Y2
Jennifer Garner’s Methodist Church ties: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jennifer-garner-miracles-from-heaven_n_56cca718e4b0ec6725e42004
Judah Smith bio: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/judah-smith
Lana del Rey, “Judah Smith Interlude” (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y-vMgLEXo4
DC Talk with Billy Graham: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTANlTnpeo
Jeremiah’s letter to exiles, seek the welfare of your city: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%3A1-13&version=ESV
Jimmy Swaggart preaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKE-9qVGJa4
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