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Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…his career resuscitated by a starring role in Pulp Fiction, plays the titular archangel. Largely critically panned, Michael presents its antagonist as a drinking, smoking, swearing, overeating slob who (it is Travolta after all) dances. The film’s tagline declares that “He’s an angel, not a saint,” though of course the mythological being was both. Angel spawn Among the most audacious and idiosyncratic of twentieth-century comics, the seventy-fiv…

Blame Series Bonus: Why We Want That Dish For Free, an Uncut Interview with Bertram Malle

By Andrew Aghapour

…at is given, how much is given, under what circumstances, and so on. There are larger social problems than missed flights, like racist policing or the legacy of segregated housing. Major events and systemic problems are very difficult for us to understand and attribute blame to. How could the psychology of blame help us to be savvier in the way that we blame institutions? I think I would probably start a step before that. Rather than waiting until…

Religion, Marriage, and Maine’s Tortured Soul

By Peter Montgomery

…ncluding that it was a Maine-based campaign when California-based Schubert-Flint was clearly calling the shots; and that it wasn’t about homosexuality, when religious objections to homosexuality were clearly a driver for many of the activists and leaders. At one campaign rally, for example, a speaker portrays the campaign as a spiritual battle against the devil himself. One press conference orchestrated by Schubert-Flint used teenagers as props, i…

The Contested Religious Powers of Baseball on Display in Cuba

By Sean O'Neil

…er, a status bolstered by Netflix and its ilk. One of the film’s most popular characters is a Cuban exile named Pedro Cerrano, who crushes fastballs but is sent into histrionic tailspins by curveballs. He thus pleads with a rum-drinking, cigar-smoking deity named Jobu to help him with his hitting. Jobu is the most prominent figure in Cerrano’s religion, a system of symbols and ritual devotions which the film ominously introduces as “Voodoo.” Viewe…

Pope Praises ‘Complementarity’ & Resists Gay Ambassador; Irish Religious Leaders Spar Over Marriage; Colombian Atty Gen Cites ‘Bogus’ Study Opposing Adoption; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ing their imaan [religious belief] in an attempt to overcome them. The men are part of a small support group which began on a web forum. Some of the members now meet every few months to discuss how they are managing their sexual feelings. In some British Muslim communities, homosexuality can be a controversial issue: some believe the act counts as a form of “zina” – an Arabic term referring to “unlawful” sexual activity. Many imams were uncomforta…

Mormon Women Knock at the Door, Are Turned Away

By Holly Welker

…y from the priesthood session, many women viewed the action as a success. Margaret Toscano, a prominent LDS scholar excommunicated in 2000 for her writings on gender, was buoyed by the experience. “I feel that the spirit of God is moving among us and people’s hearts are being opened,” she said. “There is much cause for hope.” Like this story? Your tax-deductible $5 or $10 will help us pay writers, coders, interns, and editors. And will earn you o…

Paranormal Vodka, Exorcists and a Demonic Doll: Welcome to Paracon, Based on the Work of the Demon-Hunters Who Inspired the ‘Conjuring’ Series

By Eric Harrelson and Joseph P. Laycock

…hunting to bath bombs shaped like horror movie icons. There are psychics, Tarot card readers, a shaman reading bones, and a ghost-hunting professional wrestler, right alongside various exorcists, including a self-proclaimed archbishop and a reiki-practicing nun. Any and all spiritual beliefs seem to be welcome, even though Ed Warren constantly warns about the dangers of meddling with “the occult.” According to Ed, demon possession doesn’t just hap…

Spiritual Unplugging, Or What to Do When There is Wifi at the Ashram

By Matt Hamilton

…cake baker. No sour taste there. I replaced the church with journalism—two arenas which share many traits. A journalist, like a priest, is often thrown into extraordinary situations—fires, shootings, political campaigns and interviews with high-ranking officials. The priest stands in for God. The journalist stands in for the community at-large. The latter just felt more honest. Coming back to a spiritual community felt familiar, yes, by which I me…

History Matters: On the 400th Anniversary of Plymouth We’re Still Clinging to Destructive National Myths

By Ed Simon

…Wampanoag, and Pequot (among others) is in almost all of its interpretive particulars incorrect. As concerns the pilgrims, that national myth is composed of hagiographical accounts which are mainstays in both the educational system and the broader culture. That perspective describes the arrival of the pilgrims as a straightforward victory for religious liberty, and the progenitor for what would become American democracy. Far more complicated is th…

The Varieties of Religious Experience in Indie Rock

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…are, but the struggles with pain and suffering and a search for liberation are shared across the centuries. Iggy Pop’s contribution to the album is a song called “Pain,” which tells us, “Justice, religion, and success are fake/ And the shiny people stink/ Pretty creepy, pretty funny/ I’m a mix of god and monkey.” Such lines are challenging in light of the suicides of both Mark Linkous (a.k.a. Sparklehorse) and Vic Chesnutt, whose own struggle with…