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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

I really didn’t know what to expect when Joseph Laycock and I bought our tickets for the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR) Seekers of the Supernatural Paracon as part of our research for our book The Exorcist Effect (named for a phenomenon we discussed in these pages after the release of Conjuring 3). I certainly didn’t expect the crowd. The Paracon, held the weekend before Halloween, is based around the work of Ed and Lorraine War…

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

By Matt Hamilton

…e boyfriend? It was the sort of self-evaluation that usually ends with me flagellating myself and shooting off a text or email (mostly) driven by guilt. But sending another perfunctory, apologetic note wouldn’t suffice now, if ever. I was tired of that detour. As I walked back to my room—a small bungalow—the only thing I could do was think of my mom, sautéeing vegetables while watching the evening news; my dad, reading the newspaper and sipping co…

Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…tely interesting in a manner that evil simply isn’t. Perhaps actors enjoy playing villains more, and maybe that says something of human nature, but evil is rapacious and greedy, and thus comprehensible in its own way. Goodness is all the more mysterious by comparison, and more interesting because of it. Below are a selection of images from Elysium: A Visual History of Angelology which demonstrate the continuing cultural relevance of these most oth…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…ves have done a lot of serious work on the importance of fidelity in all relationships and the difference between fully-realized relationships that participate in the sacred vs. liaisons that fall short of that mark. Religious progressives, after all, are the ones who have tried to enrich, not degrade, the marriage sacrament by arguing that God blesses all deeply committed marriage bonds, not just marriages made by heterosexuals. What progressive…

Beyond Alarmism and Denial in the Dominionism Debate

By Anthea Butler

…d Wimber to leave. Wagner, as a tenured professor, continued to teach the class with lay persons, which also became problematic. It was in the late 1980s, however, when Wagner turned to “spiritual mapping.” One of the first books that outlined spiritual mapping was Breaking Strongholds in Your City: How to Use Spiritual Mapping to Make your Prayers More Strategic, Effective and Targeted, published in 1993. Wagner’s spiritual mapping started in Pas…

Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity

By Charlotte Dalwood

…side Episcopal churches—they experience them within Episcopal churches at alarmingly high rates, too. And the denomination’s structures (canon law included) have consistently failed to protect them. New data reveals the scope of the abuse crisis Buried deep in the Reports to the General Convention are the results of a survey, conducted in 2020, that quantifies the violence epidemic. Based on a similar survey conducted in 2017 amongst United Method…

Sacred Texting: When Religious Writ Gets Wired

By Rachel Wagner

…e spiritually enriching? Is there a sense of religious community on a cellular phone? Tony Dokoupil of Newsweek asks: “[S]hould Jesus and Madonna (the singing one) go on the same iPod?” Later, he wryly observes that “downloading the Word through the same fiber-optic cables as the latest Korn album sounds like a bad idea, given that Roman Catholics dispose of holy water through special pipes to keep it from touching sewage.” The implicit question h…

Power Up: Turn Off the Cell Phone

By Daniel Schultz

…plugged-in lifestyle doesn’t really get at the heart of the issue. I think the Amish, of all people, have it right. It’s not so much about what you as an individual are doing or not doing, as the effect technology has on the community: Why not make life easier and just put [a phone] in the house? “What would that lead to?” another Amish man asked me. “We don’t want to be the kind of people who will interrupt a conversation at home to answer a tel…

“Saints Are Only Human”: Leaving the Church, But Heeding this Pope’s Lessons

By Elizabeth Colmant Estes

…with slogans about immigration reform. On line I heard that parishes with large numbers of undocumented immigrants had received many tickets. No outside food or water, statues, gifts or selfie sticks were permitted. Despite 10,000 folding chairs, most of us would have no choice but to stand. Once in my appointed place behind the last row of seats, I found myself in a community of fellow pilgrims, lottery winners from local parishes, nearby colleg…

We Went Through Amoris Laetitia Section by Section So You Wouldn’t Have To

By Anthony Adams

…he denies us the very compassion he extols so highly. For a man whose papacy has focused on the value of mercy, he seems content to rest on his laurels in Amoris Laetitia, saying much but changing nothing….