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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

…oommate over a period of months in 1970. Although I can’t find an official number, a casino employee tells us over 5,000 tickets have been sold; 5,000 pilgrims who’ve made the trek from around the country to pay their respects to Annabelle, and are willing to wait hours to do so. On the convention floor, an eclectic group of vendors hocks their wares, from Ouija boards and books about ghost hunting to bath bombs shaped like horror movie icons. The…

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

…tened to boycott IKEA, after it provided Family Card holders with discount tickets to his Christian magic show, ‘Vision’. In a statement, the chain said it would not be cutting ties with the pastor. IKEA said: “Dear IKEA fans, thanks for your patience while we took time to come to an informed decision on an issue that has raised sensitivities in our community. “After listening to the questions raised, we decided to do a thorough review. We spoke d…

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

By Matt Hamilton

…self-interrogation boiled, my hand extended to the right. I reached for my phone, but I found nothing. At first I laughed at my instinct, my muscle memory. The phone, with its glowing screen, gave me solace and control. But I was tied to my cushion for another hour, and in this ashram for another day, so email would have to wait. I panicked. My heart raced. Would my editor be asking for me? Would a reply from that politician’s secretary sit unansw…

Jesus Christ and Super Stars: How The Holy Rolled Mainstream in Pop Music

By Alana Massey

…ts alike in his 1990s heyday, but his most controversial album, Antichrist Superstar, was little more than a play on words of a harmless and beloved musical. Even the reliably contrarian Slayer could come up with an album title no more nuanced or threatening to the establishment than God Hates Us All for their early twenty-first century release. It was a time of ordinary gods fighting ordinary devils. This was true at least of mainline denominatio…

Pop-Culture Angels Are More Than Just Embarrassing Kitsch

By Ed Simon

…y from Victorian sentimentalism. Such angels are on sale at reduced price; cheap wares for cheap faith. It would be an error, however, to fully dismiss pop culture angels. Despite the fact that representations of angels in film and television, comics and music, paperback novels and posters, are filtered through market concerns, such pop culture can still speak to human meaning—and because of that they merit our attention. Besides, the bulk of art…

Tax Cuts for the Super Rich Aren’t Biblical

By Daniel Schultz

Jordan Sekulow’s Washington Post On Faith column arguing that tax cuts for the wealthy are the biblical thing to do gets the Bible all wrong. If Sekulow took a look in the Bible, he would see plainly that Jesus endorses the payment of taxes as the price of participation in the economy. You use Caesar’s money, you pay Caesar’s taxes. You use US government-issued greenbacks, you pay the US taxes. Were Sekulow to open the Bible, he would also note R…

Captain America: Civil Religion (And Why Donald Trump Thinks He’s Batman)

By Jeremy Biles

…extending to politics and pop culture as well. It amounts to removing the “super” from “superhero,” at least long enough to take account of the dangers of imperialist, triumphalist aims and claims. There can be no doubt that future installments of Marvel’s franchise will see Bucky’s arm restored, and the fractious Avengers reunited to carry out their violent justice. And I look forward to watching those movies. But for the moment, the scene of a d…

Faith and Football: What the Gospel Church Can Learn from the NFL

By Douglas Harrison

…4th Annual Official NFL Super Bowl Gospel Celebration on the Friday before Super Bowl XLVII? Yeah, me neither. In fact, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that despite having spent the better part of my adult life studying and writing about gospel (albeit the Southern white variety rather than the more familiar black gospel tradition featured at the Super Bowl event), I had never heard of this “faith and football” celebration before the good folks…

Defending the 1%, Evangelicals Ignore Greed

By Eric C. Miller

…If inequality is a sin issue at all, the offense lies with critics of the super rich, not with the super rich themselves. Similarly, at Christianity Today, Amy Julia Becker dedicates a post to the proposition that “God loves rich people too,” a sentiment that is perhaps uncontroversial. The central thrust of Becker’s claim is less interesting than the exigency that prompted it – her apparent belief that rich people are beleaguered enough to need…

Becoming Forever Lonesome: How Violence Changes Us

By Amanda Robb

…. Every horror is utterly, terribly unique, but there are universals. In a super white, super loud flash… or a DJ’s croon… or a telephone’s brrng brrng, when you become forever lonesome. Because you know the real secret. Anything can happen. Aliens could land. *** Among the outrages of living in a time of violence is that victims feel the need to rank their suffering. “What I suffered pales in comparison,” the Aurora victim who tramped over his d…