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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

…lle—the subject of three horror films—is the queen of the exhibit and the one object everyone has to not only see but get a picture with. Similar to the Hindu concept of darsan, Paracon-goers want not only to see Annabelle, but to be seen by her. Organizer Tony Spera, seems unbothered by any potential demonic hazard that displaying Annabelle may have created. In fact, Spera facilitates possibly the strangest item for sale on the convention floor:…

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

By Matt Hamilton

…. “Just take it,” I inwardly begged. As a journalist, I live and die by my phone, email and Twitter. I call sources, pursue leads, check the news, and schedule interviews. I don’t know how not to do this. Yet here I was at the Ananda Ashram in rural India, expecting (and craving) swift condemnation by the monks and nuns at the sight of an iPhone. I was on a university-sponsored trip to the subcontinent with other journalists, all of us covering po…

Who Benefits From Standardized Universal Time? And Other Questions to Ask As You Set Your Clocks Back This Weekend

By Michael Schulson

…all too descriptive. It’s a potent analysis. Standard time does allow for new negotiations between individuals and groups. It allows authority figures to shape the schedules of people—to make them, in a word, disciplined. Often, that discipline clashes with other, more organic clocks; the next time your alarm drags you from a deep dream at some ungodly hour, feel free to blame the capitalist overlords of mass society, who somehow think that the p…

Put Your Money Where Your Mind Is: A For-Profit Meditation Studio Opens in New York

By Michael Schulson

…age. His 2012 book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar, has sold widely. Over the phone, I asked Rinzler why he and Burrows had chosen to establish the studio as a for-profit company. “We really wanted to make sure we had all the resources we need for supporting people who are trying meditation for the first time,” Rinzler explained. Because they’re a business, there’s more professionalism. The teachers they’ve hired show up on time, and, as Rinzler put…

Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…which in 1996 breathlessly declared, with tongue only partially in cheek, “Airline Pilot Photographs an Angel!,” between a blurry “photo” and a pull quote informing readers that the “FAA launches top secret investigation into incident.” To those who dismiss any sort of faith in angels, they belong to a category that also includes ghosts and UFO abductions, clairvoyance and Sasquatch. There are reasons for such dismissals, of course. Many pop cultu…

Recovering From Rejection: The Second Coming of Ted Haggard

By Wendy Norris

…nks. You have to determine that on your own.” Haggard’s weekly Oval Office phone calls and grip and grin NAE photo ops with former President George W. Bush are now mere vestiges of an old life, prior to what he calls the “crisis.” At New Life, which Jeff Sharlet described as “not just a battalion of spiritual warriors but a factory for ideas to arm them,” worship services were extravagant multimedia, fog machine-choked productions, in which Haggar…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…ople like Dreher in imagining that sexual desire is always and simply the enemy of godliness. Yes, as far as we know, both Jesus of Nazareth and Saul/Paul of Tarsus (“Our Founders”) were deeply ascetic people. Others walking in the Way have not been. For some, sexuality has represented a terrible struggle; for others, integrating a healthy sexuality into a thoroughly Christian life has seemed to pose no difficulties at all. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wa…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…ter’s student at Fuller working the switchboard part-time, and the number one phone call that came through went something like this: “Can you connect me to C. Peter Wagner’s Church Growth Institute? I’d like to buy some materials.” No one was happier than I was when he retired from Fuller and moved to Colorado Springs! I felt like I worked at a catalog call-in center. Seriously. I would never have expected to be talking about Wagner in conjunction…

Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity

By Charlotte Dalwood

…those victims who did report their victimization to Episcopal leaders, the number one assessment from both trans/non-binary and cisgender respondents was that “little or no change” came about as a result. 20.6% of transgender and non-binary survivors reported that they simply left the church altogether. By comparison, “only” 10.7% of cisgender women felt they had to leave. (Curiously, there’s no data on this front for LGB-identified Episcopalians….

Does War Make Sense? Science and Religion on the Battlefield

By Nathan Schneider

…hought today, perhaps religion served a similar function in times before. One needn’t look any further than the Psalms: “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust… His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.” Martial imagery pervades religious writings from around the world, even if interpretation over time often renders it “just” metaphorical. Bousquet rightly warns us not to belittle metaphors; they “constitute a means of ordering experie…