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A New Book Traces the Influence of Racism and Imperialism on White Christian Feminism

By Caroline Matas

…f them chose to turn their attention to domestic Christianization as their new mission front. During a time of heated schisms among fundamentalist and evangelical groups and amidst the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan rallying against immigrants, people of color, Catholics, and Jews, mainline Protestant women’s church councils increasingly emphasized interdenominational, interreligious, and interracial cooperation. Mainline Protestant women’s organi…

The New Disciples: Report from South Carolina

By Sarah Posner

…anti-gay American Family Association, which bankrolled the event, endorsed Newt Gingrich just before the Iowa caucuses. Jim Garlow, the California megachurch pastor who campaigned vigorously for the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 (who also heads Gingrich’s nonprofit, Renewing American Leadership) endorsed him as well. The day before Dalton’s prayer meeting, the Gingrich campaign touted the endorsement of Tim LaHaye, an early architect of the reli…

The Cubit Vs. “New Age Colbert,” JP Sears

By The Editors

…el, AwakenWithJP, where he’s developed a following for his wry send-ups of New Age culture via his alter ego “Ultra Spiritual” JP Sears, a kind of Stephen Colbert for the New Age set. Dressed in a purple T-shirt and pale green headband, with a flower tucked into his chest-length red hair. Ultra Spiritual JP delivers earnest, convoluted advice on everything from vegetarianism to ayahuasca to the psychology of the selfie, all in pitch-perfect deadpa…

Transgender, Scientologist, “Cult Hero”

By Jay Michaelson

…ous or dogmatic reason. His words were valued in the same way as, say, the New Age ‘Law of Attraction’ (formerly known as New Thought): based on their supposedly demonstrable truth, not their religious authority. The devotion of Scientologists to Hubbard may have been weird, slavish, and naïve—but it wasn’t really religious. Or was it? Scientology was intentionally designed to comfort the afflicted, just like religion does. And, just like religion…

The Surprisingly Short History of Popular Yoga

By Andrea R. Jain and Michelle Goldberg

…drawing from Hugh Urban’s work here. He has suggested that tantra and the new age movement intersect where bodily, sexual, and material enjoyment are integrated into spiritual pursuits and that, simultaneously, this integration reflects an intersection between tantra and contemporary consumer culture. In other words, what the New Age movement shares with consumer culture can be found in tantra, the preeminent South Asian model of nondualism. In m…

In the Story of the New Testament We Are the Romans—No Matter Who Wins the Election

By Stephen Hinerman

…I heard something that changed my whole perspective on the gospels in the New Testament. The biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan was speaking about the narratives of the life of Jesus, so central to that Bible and how people in the church hear them. Then he made this simple observation: “We keep thinking we’re the Jesus people in the story. We’re not. We’re the Romans.” Maybe most people listening thought nothing of the statement. Perhaps they…

Who’s Afraid of Sacred Soccer?

By Gary Laderman

…uddhists are doing that—nor is it only spirituality vaguely conceptualized—New Agers with crystals, meditation retreats for the professional class. Instead, both old and new media have lit up the religious landscape, illuminating what is still an unconventional, and nebulous, but certainly increasingly capacious, understanding of the sacred in everyday life. Rock and roll can be religious, according to The Hold Steady; a recent Los Angeles Times a…

The Good Liberal Fear of a Yoga Planet

By Jay Michaelson

…rose from a total of 13 in 2000 to a staggering 46 in 2002 (no more recent numbers?) This at a time when, according to Broad’s own numbers, four million people were doing yoga. Broad offers no quantitative evidence to support Black’s claims, no opposing points of view, and seemingly no conceptual distinction between “yoga” and “pushing yourself too hard during yoga.” In terms of journalism, the article is a failure. The more interesting question,…

Religious Right Reax to SCOTUS: “A Spiritual 9/11”

By Peter Montgomery

…o want to live by the traditional virtues, MacIntyre said, have to pioneer new ways of doing so in community. We await, he said “a new — and doubtless very different — St. Benedict.” Throughout the early Middle Ages, Benedict’s communities formed monasteries, and kept the light of faith burning through the surrounding cultural darkness. Eventually, the Benedictine monks helped refound civilization. I believe that orthodox Christians today are call…

“I Would Have Rolled My Eyes at That”: Rev. M Barclay, First Non-Binary Trans Deacon in the UMC, On This New Era

By The Editors

…from the show’s guests that reveal how their worldview has changed in this new era. Rev. M Barclay is the first non-binary trans person commissioned as deacon in the United Methodist Church. In episode 1, Kaleidoscope follows M over their 12-year path to ordination. Along the way M opens up about coming out (twice), dealing with public rejection, and the turmoils of love. (Subscribe and listen to the entire interview here.) What is one of the bigg…