'Radical Muslim' Clothing Line Seeks to Shatter Stereotypes

Radical Muslims. The phrase elicits images of ISIS militants and terror in the desert, perhaps grainy YouTube videos, Kalashnikovs and raised fists.

What about a man in an ankle-length garment and cotton headscarf carving the air with his skateboard?

Is that a radical Muslim?

Along with shirts bearing the “Radical Muslims” image and a Nike-like swoosh saying “Just Dua It” (dua being nonobligatory Muslim prayer, or supplications), Boston-based Munir Hassan has created an entire line of stereotype-shattering clothing for American Muslims.

In an explicit attempt to flip the script on popular images of Muslims and Islamic symbols, Hassan’s own Sidikii Clothing Co. merges cultures in fashion-forward, Muslim inspired designs.

*Read the rest of the story at Religion News Service.

A.D. & How Biblical Movies are the New Global Cathedrals

This is awkward, but when I was growing up I had a huge crush on Roma Downey. As a kid, my family would tune into "Touched By An Angel" every single week and I was glued to the television to hear Downey’s Irish-tinged angelic messages float through the cathode tubes to my waiting ears. 

With that little confession session out of the way, let’s fast forward to February 2014. To say the least, I geeked out a bit (okay, a ton) when I had the opportunity to meet Roma Downy at a Son of God screening in Houston, TX. Long story short, I was asked by the local Christian radio station KSBJ to say a few words before pastors and faith leaders from the Bayou City got a sneak peak of the film. I got to talk to Downey after the film and we talked a bit about her husband — Mark Burnett — and her and the faith-based media empire they were building together. 

First it was History Channel’s mini-series “The Bible” and then the theater-released “Son of God.” They’ve since followed this up with their most recent made-for-television biblical epic: "A.D. The Bible Continues."

Last week, I got the opportunity to preview A.D. By now, those who wanted to see it have had the opportunity to watch it (SPOILER: Jesus dies…then rises again). While I could comment on its a-little-too-fast-paced narrative (like the Gospel of Mark on steroids), the over-reliance on British actors (is that supposed to make the Bible feel more sophisticated?), or the fact that Burnett and Downey are effectively preaching to the choir with a less than stirring media rendition of a story familiar to most of the people watching it already I am more interested in the reception of the Bible on TV than in its representation therein. 

Effectively, I am wondering why is Jesus such a money maker right now? Or, broader yet, why is the Bible such a hot movie ticket and television cash cow? 

I mean, we can’t count on two hands the number of biblical movies that have been released, or are coming out, to great fanfare in 2014 and 2015: Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Heaven is For Real, God’s Not Dead, “The Bible,” Son of God, A.D., Mary: Mother of Christ (the prequel to the Passion of the Christ), The Redemption of Cain (Will Smith’s vampire remake of the Cain and Abel story…wha?!), Killing Jesus, Finding Jesus, and the list could go on. 

To say the least, biblical movies and Christian films are big money right now. Toss in Bollywood's Hindu epics and other films with religious/spiritual themes and you've got "spiritual movies/TV shows" making up a significant slice of the film and television industry. But why? 

In my estimation, there are three reasons for the proliferation of biblical blockbusters and spiritually-themed television and media: 1) the persistence of religion and the re-enchantment of the cosmos in a global age; 2) the important role of media in belief in such an age; 3) the piety of visual culture and media. 

1) Persistence of religion, re-enchantment of the world. 

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It seems, by now, that the dim prophecies of the secularization theorists — that with the advent of modernity religion would fade into the background or go completely extinct in the face of a rising tide of secularization — were overblown at best. While secularization, at the public and private level, is worth studying and is still a potent force at work in the world there has by no means been a drop off, or even a marked decline, in religion across the world. 

Indeed, it might be said that there has been the complete opposite. That in the face of late modernity and its global and fast-paced dimensions our world has been re-enchanted with divine intimations and spiritual promptings. As individuals and communities are (re)introduced to a whole buffet of religious and spiritual options to help them make sense of themselves, those around them, and indeed the entire cosmos they are finding that religious options for explanation often outweigh secular ones. 

That doesn’t mean that secular values are never present, but they are increasingly consumed, co-opted, and existing side-by-side spiritual affirmations, worldviews, and lifeways. For examples, a staunch affirmation of the theory of evolution can go hand-in-hand with the Gaia principle and a thoroughly modernistic approach can typify the structural approach of a seemingly pre-modern religious terror organization. 

The modern and secular are viewed through the lens of the late-modern religious impulse at work within many of us. Those religious systems and spiritualities that are doing best are able to bridge the chasms wrought by modernism. They are able to weave together the global and the local, the transcendent and the imminent, the spiritual and the physical, the personal and the cosmic, the individual and the communal, the imagined and the material. These successful religions are furthermore personal, portable, and practical. 

This is where the religious use of the media, and the media’s use of religion, comes to the fore. 

2)  The important role of media in belief in such an age

Dr. Stewart Hoover, Director of University of Colorado’s Center for Media, Religion, and Culture, has said that “the media determine the transnational civil sphere in important ways.” Not only does media bear witness to religious and spiritual trends, reporting, recording, and re-imagining them in audio/visual dimensions, but the media also are a source of religion and spirituality, compete for devotees and practitioners, and are indicators of religious and spiritual change.  

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The best "biblical" movie ever. Period. 

So what is the proliferation of religious media indicating to us about the trends in the re-enchantment of the world? Anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse has written about what he calls the shift from "doctrinal religions" to “imagistic" ones. The doctrinal mode of religion is characterized by a top-down hierarchy, involving regularly repeated daily or weekly rituals, written texts, standard teachings, and lower levels of emotional arousal. Imagistic religion is less structured, with little or no hierarchy or doctrine, characterized by periodic festivals with high levels of emotion that mark a break from regular daily life. Imagistic religions utilize ecstatic trance states and altered forms of consciousness to bring about direct divine contact; doctrinal religion employs mediators to interpret the divine. Imagistic can also be imagined in its literary sense in which it refers to a poetic movement in England and the U.S. during, and around, World War I, that emphasized the use of ordinary, vernacular, speech and the precise presentation of images to arouse reaction. 

As religious adherents are looking to personalize, localize, pragmatize, and spiritualize their religious practice (over and against corporate, global, sentimental, and institutional forms of belief and practice) they increasingly look to media in order to do so. Hoover, again, said: 

“Media provide rich symbolism, visual culture, salient contexts and practices of social participation and identity, and opportunities to make and remake identities and social relationships to fit evolving patterns of ideas and action. The media are, further, the dominant and definitive source of what is socially and culturally important in modernity. Journalism acts in this way by setting the agenda of public and private social discourse. The entertainment and advertising media do so by creating and maintaining taste cultures through which identities are given value.”

— Stewart Hoover

Media then become our new “doubting Thomas” encounters. Whereas Thomas was bidden to touch Jesus' side and feel his wounds religion in the media age invites us to see Jesus’ side pierced via "cathode ray tubes" (to use Kurt Vonnegut’s anachronism for television) and to watch his wounds on the big screen. 

3) The piety of visual culture and media

And so it is clear that in an age when the world is desiring the spiritual, but not the religious and media is a near-perfect conduit for such religious pursuits it is no wonder that we desire “visual piety.” But what is its effect? 

In his book Visual Piety: The History and Theory of Popular Religious Images, Dr. David Morgan illustrates that popular visual images — including television images, velvet paintings, prayer cards, talismans, or movies — have assumed central roles in contemporary U.S. spiritual lives and religious communities. 

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Are biblical movies and TV shows the new cathedrals of our age? 

Not only does Morgan situate American Christianity’s practice of visual piety in the longue-durée of history showing that it is not necessarily new — that it does not represent the rupture we think it does when history is taken into effect (think of icons, stained glass windows, sacred paintings, etc.) — but he also contends that religious aesthetics must be viewed in the context of social reality. That is to say, we have to understand what is happening with us in order to understand what is happening with the proliferation of religious movies and TV shows, etc. 

Morgan wrote, “The point behind the visual culture of popular piety is not principally an admiration of skill, which pertains to the manipulation of a medium, but admiration for the object of representation…We can therefore speak of beauty in visual piety as consisting…in the reassuring harmony of the believer’s disposition toward the sacred with its visualization.” 

I quote Morgan at length here to silence all the critics who complain about Kirk Cameron’s crappy acting in, well, pretty much any Christianese films he makes these days. It’s also to contend with those who want to critique A.D. based on its visuals or its score or all those British accents. Morgan is making the point that these evaluations are not all that important. 

What really makes visual piety in the form of biblical movies and Christian television beautiful is its representation of the divine object itself — in this case the beholding of the Trinitarian God of Christianity (but we could also extend this and apply it to Bollywood's representations of Hindu epics or negatively to the destruction of, and reticence to accept, images of the divine in Islam). 

Media, specifically in this case television and movies, embody and represent the very rise of modernity that was to be the harbinger of rapid social change and secularization. The likes of Marshall McLuhan warned of the advent of a new age with the introduction of digital and screen media and the secularization theorists were ridden with a foreboding prophecy of atheism and non-religion just on the horizon. What we have instead found is that all forms of media — from comic books to computer screens, from smart phones to cinemas — have been imbued with sacred images and representations. This means that instead of chasing religion out, media has presented a new conduit for visual piety. Media has become a new way for admire “the object of our [religious] admiration” and over and against the dangers of secularization, late modernity, and pluralism, attest to the reality, the portability, and the visual-tangibility of “our God” via the screen whether we be Christian or Jewish, Hindu or Neo-Pagan.

To sum up, A.D. should not be evaluated based on its award-winning effects, writing, production, acting, or lack thereof. Instead, it should be appraised as a benchmark of the re-sacralization of the world in a new media age. As media and modernization threaten to strip us of our religious imagination these new forms of visual piety are important mediums for confirming, or challenging, our religious curiosities and convictions and bearing us forward as religious beings in a global age. In effect, they are the cathedrals and temples of our age, where we go to encounter the divine.

With that, expect more biblical movies and Christian-themed television shows to come. Just as the faithful have given of their time, talents, and treasures over the years to build edifices to their religious sentiments and to bear testament to the divine in brick and mortar, stone and stained-glass, so too we will shell out our hard earned cash to see a movie that reassures us of our beliefs in visually appealing forms such as TV shows and movies. 

The Passion of Justin Bieber, Surf Church, & other Recent #FaithGoesPop Sightings

The goal of #FaithGoesPop is to pay attention to, sight, and comment on the many ways that religion and pop culture cross paths, intermesh, and come into conflict. The hope is that our exploration of "Faith Pop" would be broad enough to include the ways religion is re-appropriated in popular culture and how popular culture is re-allocated by religious actors and entities. To do this successfully I called on many of you to sight your "Faith Pop" and let me know when you saw #FaithGoesPop via Facebook, Twitter, & e-mail. 

You've done very well. 

We've got a fresh new harvest of #FaithGoesPop sightings ranging from water bottles to the passion of Justin Bieber, from soul food seders to surf church and everything in between. Lez get started. 

• All the way from California Alex W. sent me a pic of "Noah Water: California Spring Water." Yes, they went there.

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Noah's Water, flooding your thirst since the Deluvian age. 

You know, because nothing screams "clever marketing" louder than a Hebrew Torah narrative about Ha Shem (G-d) wiping humans, animals, and (possibly?) unicorns off the face of the earth with torrential downpours and water spouts from the pits of hell? (See Genesis 6-9) And if that isn't ironic enough, they call it "Noah's Water," because, you know, after spending 40 days and nights floating on a world of water all that Noah wants is a tall, cool, glass of spring water. Yeah right. I'd imagine that every time Noah drank a glass of water after the Genesis flood he suffered from a serious case of PTSD. "Flood your thirst." Brilliant tagline. About as good as a tagline for red paint that reads, "Passover Proof" or these tasteless salt and pepper shakers featuring Lot and his wife. Nice touch by catching the sheer terror of Lot's wife with her arms raised in a running pose. 

"What's going on here?!" you ask. Irony. Pure, Gen X-er & Millennial proof irony. As Brett McCracken of RELEVANT magazine notes:

“It’s no secret: Our generation—letʼs very roughly say those of us currently between college age and 40—is very, very ironic. That is, we look at the world, especially pop culture, through a highly sarcastic, “youʼve got to be joking, right?” lens. More self-aware and media savvy than ever, we are a growing class of ironists who speak in terms of pastiche, Internet bits and pop culture bites, film quotes and song lyrics, and “oh no she didnʼt!” tabloid tomfoolery. We look the stupidity of culture in the face and kiss it...”

— Brett McCracken, RELEVANT Magazine

McCracken reflects that irony has become a defense mechanism for the savvy generations that grew up in a society where earnestness failed and consumer capitalism ran rampant. Irony is a way to strip the forces of global capitalism and normal nihilism from their inevitable and quasi divine force. How? To make sure nothing is sacred and everything is ridiculous. I can't quite complain. I'm part of this generation. I swallow pastiche & appreciate sardonicism with the best of them. But I must say, with Noah's Water we may have outdone ourselves. 

*FYI, our last #FaithGoesPop compendium featured an H20 bottle as well. There is something in the water folks. 

• Now, from water to beer. Ben C. out in California shared a photo of a "Holy Hefeweizen" that he had the honor of blessing before it was tapped for the St. Patrick season at a local SoCal brewery.

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Of course, religious quaffs are nothing new. Sages across the ages have not only enjoyed a drink or two, but brewed a few (or hundreds) of gallons as well and there are even deities of the sacred draughts. If you were tempted, like I am, to give thanks for the saintly suds from above, you could turn to Silenus, Greek god of beer, or Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess who slakes the thirst of the world with the fruit of her bounteous hops. Here in the Americas, you could magnify the Mexica deity Tezcatzontecatl, god of drunkenness. Perhaps, with a swig of ale you could proclaim the accolades of Mbaba Mwana Waresa, the Zulu god credited with brewing the first beer in creation. To learn more about the storied history of religion & beer, check out

• Staying at the table for our #FaithGoesPop sightings I came across a "Soul Food Seder" in the most recent edition of Sunset Magazine. 

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Sunset shares the story of chef Tanya Holland (again, in California) who runs Oakland's Brown Sugar Kitchen who makes a case for the best soul food west of the Mississippi. For years, she's wanted to host a seder. Married Phil Surkis, who is Jewish, the pair invited friends and family over for a "soul food seder" that harmonized African American and Jewish culture, recipes, and rituals. The result? North African styled haroseth symbolizing the mortar the Hebrews were forced to make bricks from in Egypt; Creole Matzo-ball Soup; & flourless chocolate pecan cake. This remix on a rather traditional table setting and menu is the quintessence of cultural hybridity. Fusing her African American roots and Jewish husband's background on one level and redeeming history (using North African recipe elements for foods representing the liberating meal of a people once enslaved there) on another, Holland created a "third-space" out the post-colonial pieces that make up her mélange family story. The result? A table full of fellowship, stories, and a recipe for the future of religion and culture. 

• Next, another merger. This time: surf church. 

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Photo from The Los Angeles Times story on Pepperdine's surf chapels.

It seems we can't get away from California (I promise, the next sighting won't be from the Left Coast). But I can't say no to my mom, who sighted this one and sent it my way. Out at Pepperdine University, students are given the opportunity to attend "Surf Chapel." The Los Angeles Times reported, "First they listen to Bible passages and break up into small groups to share emotional highs and lows. Then many of them don wetsuits, grab boards from a Pepperdine recreation department truck and hit the waves." The surfer's service is led by former Navy-man and current business professor Rob Shearer who "carries his surfboard and his New American Standard Bible and wades into the sacred realm of the outdoors, where he expounds the merits of religious belief and community building" every Wednesday with Pepperdine undergrads. 

Surfing and religion have a wavy history. Pepperdine profs aren't alone in taking to the waves to surf the spirit. Indeed, Dr. Bron Taylor (University of Florida) reflected in Surfing magazine and elsewhere that "soul surfers" who testify to the "physical, psychological, and spiritual" benefits of surfing constitute their own "new religious movement" which prescribes a reverence for nature's "transformative, healing, and sacred" powers.

Like the close-calls and cuts of surfers contending for the same break it seems "soul surfers" and those "surfing for the Savior" may compete to catch the same spiritual swell.  

• kay, I promised. No more California. Let's head to Brazil and move from "surfing the spirits" to "slaying in the Spirit." 

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Slaying them in the Spirit. 

Celso F. sighted this gem of a graphic image illustrating a Pare de Sufrir warrior cutting down an effigy of a mai de santo (lit. "mother of saint") the Candomble religion of Brazil. Vitor Teixeira, a South American political humorist and illustrator often takes his pen-and-ink out on the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG, or Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus), also known as Pare de Sufrir (lit. "stop suffering"). Here, he makes clear the theological bent of the 8 million member strong neo-Pentecostal megachurch, which is planting churches in places as diverse as Houston, TX and London, England. With an emphasis on Spirit-fueled healing of the body, prophecy, baptism in the Holy Spirit, glossolalia (speaking in tongues), and eternal salvation the UCKG sees itself as a bulwark against satanic influences in poverty, crime, and competing religions. Thus, the church trains their followers to be "warriors" to fight against Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomble and Umbanda  (see the 2005 book Orixás, Caboclos e Guias: Deuses ou Demônios? by founding pastor Edir Macedo). 

The conflict, and the embodied, pneumatic, and apocalyptic essence of UCKG highlights the triumphant, and even dominionist, theology of some new global Pentecostalisms. While not representative of all Pentecostals, the UCKG makes explicit the swelling numbers of those Spirit-filled evangelicals who aim to "raise champions and take territories" for the Lord relying on a worldview that sees the spiritual manifest in city blocks, and visceral contestations over human bodies. In their view, the spiritual is all pervasive and everything material is a potential vessel of divine power -- nefarious or benevolent. Everything is spiritual. Thus, the Spirit of God must be called upon to fight and cure physical enemies and realities -- social, political, economic, and religious. 

• Speaking of spiritual battles, let's talk about "The Passion of Justin Bieber."

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You can't un-do seeing this photo. It's burned in your memory for-ev-er [insert "Sandlot" voiceover here].

Andrew R. sent me a link to a Jezebel story wherein the author highlights the parallels between Jesus Christ's passion during #HolyWeek and the recent roasting of everyone's favorite popstar to hate -- Justin Bieber. Other than the expected, but nonetheless lame, jokes about "believers" and "Beliebers" the roast featured a long list of B-list celebs taking the mickey out of Bieber in a thinly veiled attempt to resurrect his career. 

While the author makes it clear that, in reality, "apart from their scant biographical similarities" JB and JC have nothing in common it seems we've come full circle in our exploration of #FaithGoesPop. We started with irony. We end with irony. What could be more satirical than a parallel comparison of the passion narrative of a man many consider divine with a man many consider a boy? 

The answer? Noah Water, that's what. 

Conclusion

As you can see folks, religion is everywhere. Not only does it serve as a launching point for caustic humor, but despite the prophecies of secular theorists who foresaw the decline of religion in the 21st-century the world is a seemingly very sacred place. At home altars and in public processions of faith, from breweries to Biebers, religion helps us to make meaning of popular culture. Religion, what Dr. Anthony Pinn of Rice University sums up as "the quest for complex subjectivity" involves our search to answer the fundamental questions of our existence and invest life -- in all its material pop culture glory -- with significant, transcendent, meaning. 

Keep your eyes peeled friends. You shouldn't have to look too hard. #FaithGoesPop is everywhere. 

Hip-Hop Hijabis, Mos Def, & Muslim Rap Music Culture

The Roots, the band accompanying Jimmy Fallon every night on The Tonight Show, are known for  their neo-soul infused hip-hop beats and a jazzy, eclectic, approach to their own original music and every song they cover. On their first commercially successful album Things Fall Apart, from the song, "The Spark," the lyrics rhyme:

“Might act up, but I still can pass dawa
I’m usin’ new ways to try to reach these better days
Instead of tryin’ to take you under I just make you wonder
I still fast, make salaat, and pay zakat
I didn’t make Hajj yet, but that’s my next project
Livin’ two lives, one of turn and one with true lies
Keeping up hope knowing he’s answering to my du’as.”

— The Roots, "The Spark" -- Things Fall Apart

Dawa, salaat, zakat, Hajj, and du'a. This is the language of Islam. Why is it in a Roots song you ask? Roots leader and co-founder Tariq "Black Thought" Luqman Trotter belongs to The Nation of Gods and Earths (a.k.a. "The Five-Percent Nation") founded by former Nation of Islam member Clarence 13X and a major influence in the hip-hop scene in NYC and beyond. Malik B., who left the group over a decade ago, is a Sunni Muslim. 

The Muslim influence in The Roots music is evident, but it is not unique. Hip-hop giants such as Mos Def, Q-Tip, Nas, Wu Tang Clan, and Erik B and Raqim have have all featured rhymes infused with Islamic terms and themes. Some of them are faithful Sunnis, Five-percenters, or members of the Nation. You could add to this list of notable Muslim rap mavens the up-and-coming UK duo, "Poetic Pilgrimage." 

*Follow @kchitwood for more on religion & culture. 

Featured in the Al Jazeera documentary "Witness: Hip Hop Hijabis," Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor are Poetic Pilgrimage, the UK's first female Muslim hip-hop duo. Featured in this documentary is "their personal, spiritual and physical journey" as they tour diverse communities in the UK and in Morocco. The documentary illustrates how their music, and public performance, is not fully accepted in the Muslim community (some view women performing at all as haram or "sinful"). At the same time, the women are able to ride the ups-and-downs, the beats and drops, to discover new things about their Muslim practice and beliefs, their feminist sensibilities, & their Jamaican roots. 

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Mos Def. 

Sukina gave voice to how hip-hop helps her articulate her faith. She said of the music project that her and Muneera share, "[w]e are searching for something that is ours, that is authentically Islam.” The women of Poetic Pilgrimage are not alone on this journey. Mos Def, who reigned over the underground rap scene in the 1990s and is one of the most influential emcees of the last two decades is a devout Sunni Muslim. He repeatedly spits his aqidah (creed) on the tracks he writes and produces.

As point of fact, in the song "Wahid" Mos Def flips the egotism and self-aggrandization ubiquitous in hip-hop to point the finger away from the rap artist who is "the one," to aim the finger skyward and direct the minds of those listening to "the Only One" in the sense of the Muslim declaration of faith -- the shahada (Al-Wahid is one of the 99 names of Allah -- God). 

His lyrics, bookended by the adhan -- call to prayer -- go like this: 

“When...all...is...said...and...done...there’s...only...one....Fret not ghetto world guess what
God is on your side the devil is a lie
The Empire holds all the gold and the guns
But when all is said and done there’s only...ONE.”

— Mos Def, "Wahid"

Mos Def is not alone. Common, rhyming with Cee-Lo in "One Day It'll All Make Sense," sang:

“Koran and the Bible, to me they all vital
And got truth within ‘em, gotta read them boys
You just can’t skim ‘em, different branches of belief
But one root that stem ‘em, but people of the venom try to trim ‘em
And use religion as an emblem
When it should be a natural way of life
Who am I or they to say to whom you pray ain’t right,
That’s who got you doin right and got you this far,
Whether you say “in Jesus name” or “Al hum du’Allah””

— Common, "One Day It'll All Make Sense"

Hip-hop helps many give voice to their faith, Islamic or otherwise.  H. Samy Alim in his essay "A New Research Agenda: Exploring the Transglobal Hip Hop Umma," (in Muslim Networks: From Hajj to Hip Hop eds. Miriam Cooke and Bruce B. Lawrence) went so far as to make the point that the “transglobal hip hop umma” functions as a borderless network of Muslim faithful that provides a lyrical embodiment of the oral history and force of Islam in which the metrical and rhapsodical flows parallel the poetic recitation of the Qur'an.

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Hamza and Suliman Perez, as featured in "New Muslim Cool." 

Yet, beyond a shared expressive element hip-hop provides an active vehicle for social protest as part of the "transglobal Islamic underground." Drawing on a history of giving voice to the faith in elegaic prose and poetry, Muslim hip-hop artists now engage in lyrical activism by studying Islam, applying it to their lives, and sharing & spreading their views to build an Islamic "class" consciousness focused on explicitly Islamic notions of piety, justice, and peace. Muneera and Sukina form an active part of this "transglobal Islamic underground" as they seek to combine faith and feminism. Indeed, they attempt to demarcate the boundaries between putting on a show for pleasure and a showcase for pondering the faith. Bemoaning the performance act of the game Muneera exclaimed, "it's not supposed to be entertainment, it's supposed to make you think." For the "hip-hop hijabis" rap music becomes not only a vehicle for their expression of Islam, but also a way to confront, and tackle, the issues pertinent to them as Muslim women: modesty and stagecraft, sexuality and solemnity. 

Part of this protestation is by proclaiming their racial and/or ethnic identity alongside their religious character. Whether it be Poetic Pilgrimage expressing their Africanity through Muslim infused tunes or Hamza and Suliman Perez from "New Muslim Cool" embodying their Puerto Rican identity, Islamic faith, and street smarts in fresh-pressed lyrics for youth in Pittsburgh, rap becomes a way for worlds to merge for many Muslim musicians. Attempting to forge an identity as "quadruple minorities" Latino Muslims like Hamza and Suliman Perez use hip-hop as a conduit for the imaginative work of identity construction, crafting a hybrid identity that is local to their city-streets yet connected to the global umma, one that is both Latina/o and Muslim, one that is both soulful in its beats and spiritually infused in its lyrics. 

James Samuel Logan wrote for Sightings from the University of Chicago's Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion of how rap is central to the African-American's struggle following #Ferguson and other "terrorizing deaths" of blacks in U.S. city-streets and bayou backwaters. He wrote, "Hip Hop artists offer an important, costly and often unsanitized embrace of Black subaltern 'otherness,' an embrace which cyphers problematically-yet-hopefully toward justice and love in this particular place and circumstance of time." This force of hip-hop is most evident in the burgeoning Muslim rap scene that emerged out of NYC in the 1970s and 80s alongside the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent Nation's materializing influence. 

Even so, on the borderland between hip-hop and culture, in the streets of struggle and subaltern dissent  there can be tension and bloodshed. In attempting to forge a musical and spiritual fusion of faith and hip-hop heritage there can be conflict. 

As Mette Reitzel, the "Hip-Hop Hijabis" filmmaker, reflected, the merging of rap music and Muslim sensibilities is not utopian. She said:

“By inhabiting the intersection between cultures whose values on the surface seem so conflicting, Poetic Pilgrimage challenge a plethora of dearly held convictions from all sides of the cultural spectrum. Many Western feminists believe that promoting women’s rights from within an Islamic framework is a futile exercise, while in the eyes of some Muslims, female musicians are hell-bound. Within the Afro-Caribbean community, a Muslim convert may be considered a “sell-out”, while cynical music industry insiders suspect that their conversion is merely a clever marketing ploy in a saturated market.”

— Mette Reitzel, Al Jazeera

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Poetic Pilgrimage performing live on stage.

In addition, some wonder whether the expressive, and sometimes profane and/or salacious subject matters and language of hip-hop are conducive to faith-filled utterances. Yet, speaking to critics of the more chauvinistic, secular, and sacrilegious sensibilities found within hip-hop music and culture, Anthony Pinn (teaching RELiX "Religion and Hip Hop Culture") wrote in his essay "Making a World with a Beat:"

The sexism expressed by Saint Paul and other biblical figures and the homophobia that marks both testaments have not resulted in a huge theological backlash requiring the destruction of the Bible as a viable sacred text. The same hermeneutic of multiple meanings may extend to rap lyrics and their creators. This is not to say that that these artists should not be accountable, or should not be critiqued with regard to behavior and opinions. It simply means that we should recognize the often problematic relationship between theological pronouncements and arguments, and practice that plagues the history of religion in and outside hip-hop culture.

Finally, hip hop can serve as a means of rebellion in a negative sense, in the form of what is popularly known as "radicalization." Multiple reports and articles have drawn connections, if only tangential, between rap and the "radicalization" of jihadi activists. Whether rap as recruiting tool or hip-hop serving as a "gateway drug to future terrorism" there are some interlocutors who worry that rap music may serve as a precursor for terrorist violence. Although not proposing that everyone who listens to hip-hop will become "radicalized," commentators fear that rap may create a culture of "grievance" and pushing back against a perceived system of oppression. 

Most definitely, there is much left to study in the intersection and remixing of Islam and hip-hop. Whether it be the music of Mos Def, the journey of Poetic Pilgrimage, or the tensions that exist between faith and lurid lyrics this emerging field of research is ripe. Specifically, it is an important gateway to understanding how hip hop is giving voice not only to Muslims, but other faithful as well. Furthermore, it sheds light on how hip hop, and its community, in a sense, provides it's own spirituality and religious community. More than anything, this field of research helps refocus ideas about what it means to be Muslim in the contemporary global scene (i.e. they are not just terrorists and "radicals"). It helps provide a picture of Islam broadly conceived that not only includes hijabs and Hajj, but hip-hop in all its vibrancy as well. 

*To learn more, I highly suggest Hisham Aidi's Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture or Anthony Pinn's Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music. 

*Follow @kchitwood for more on religion & culture. 

The House of Cards & the House of Christ

Francis J. Underwood.

Jesus H. Christ.

What hath one to do with the other?

This week I wrapped up season 3 of the hit Netflix show "House of Cards." The show is set in Washington D.C. and follows the exploits of anti-hero Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), originally a Democratic House majority whip from South Carolina. After being passed over for an appointment to Secretary of State he plots an elaborate plan to gain even greater power and prestige along with his wife Claire (Robin Wright). Nothing will stand in their way, except perhaps for each other, as they ruthlessly, matter-of-factly manipulate their way into positions of power. 

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not here to condemn the show tout de suite. My wife and I curl up on our couch and binge watch Frank's destructive, and deplorably entertaining, will to power on Netflix with the best of 'em. Nonetheless, as we finished the latest season this week I also find myself preparing a message for Palm/Passion Sunday. I could not help but connect, compare, and contrast the two. 

Like any good disciple, we will binge watch Jesus' passion next week -- taking in all the political intrigue, interpersonal drama, public conflict, and violent provocations. It will come at us in spades and spears, in backroom conversations and trials open to the public, in crowds and mocking jeers. Indeed, in many ways, the Passion of Jesus Christ is a 1st-century parallel to the spectacle of the "House of Cards."

Except for one major difference -- the protagonist. While Frank Underwood may be the consummate anti-hero (giving even Rick Grimes or Walter White a run for their money) his brand of leadership and legacy is antithetical to that of Jesus. 

As Underwood slams doors and flexes his political muscle, Jesus opens his arms and spreads them across the wooden beams of a cross to give himself as a ransom for many. As Pope Francis said last week, "The house of Jesus must be open." While Underwood struts around the Beltway and into the Oval Office, Jesus comes humbly, riding on a donkey and eventually crawling under the weight of his cross. In contrast to Underwood's legal maneuvers and political schemes, Jesus comes simply, plainly, humbly to be tried, spit upon (even Frank got in on the "spitting on Jesus" action this season, but Jesus got the touché), and convicted to the cross by a kangaroo court. 

Unfortunately, while we fashion Underwood as an "anti-hero," in reality Francis is the hero we all want. One with warts and all. One with flaws and a façade to maintain. One with weaknesses compensated by pride, political showmanship, and a coldhearted and purposeful will to power. Why? Because that's more like what we see in our everyday lives. Not only from others, but within ourselves. 

Perhaps we'd never (SPOILERS) push someone in front of a train or let them suffocate in a parking garage to maintain or increase our grasp of dominance and control, but we certainly have our own scars from sinful episodes of wrath, lust, and greed. In the real world, these deeds lead most often to faltering failure. In the world of "House of Cards," to more power and prestige. That's why we like Frank. He is the take no prisoners, take no shit, take everything for himself type of person we want to be. 

Then there's Jesus. The anti-anti-hero. To be sure, Jesus is no "hero" either. Nor is he an anti-hero. Heroes, whether they be the quintessential type like Superman or the anti-hero like Batman use violence and strength to win the day. Jesus, on the other hand, comes in humility "not counting equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant...And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:7-8 ESV)

Instead of bolting into Jerusalem faster than Flash Gordon, Jesus saunters in on a donkey. How unconvincing is that? Instead of confronting the religious and political leaders of his day to fisticuffs he brings healing & tells enigmatic "choose-your-own-adventure" stories (a.k.a. "parables"). What a strange dude! Instead of kicking some Pilate or Sanhedrin butt or taking the seat of government by sword and force, he willingly offers himself up to be killed like a loser on the cross. That's what I call a pathetic, half-assed, attempt at being Messiah!

The disconcerting, even alarming, message here is that Jesus brings a completely counterintuitive, ridonculous, and inverted way of living and leadership. And then, he tells us to do the same, to "take up [our] cross and follow [him]." (Matthew 16:24 ESV) How dare he?!

Indeed, Jesus is the ultimate anti-anti-hero and anti-hero, all at once. His humility and sense of service to his Father and to all humanity rattles us. It confronts us. It plays tricks on us. We deny it. We try to muscularize and masculanize it. We try to refashion Jesus in the image of Superman or Frank Underwood. But it doesn't work. Because in the end, there Jesus is bloodied and beaten on the cross not really undermining the power of Rome at all. Eventually, even his church will be corrupted with the very power that crucified him. 

Failure? No, it's a beautiful fulfillment of God's plan of compassion and mercy in contrast to control and manipulation. In our heart of hearts, we know that evil cannot be conquered by more evil. That's not how Jesus works. That's how the cosmos works. Instead, in a world-shattering move he accomplishes the will of his Father by doing what heroes would never do -- surrender. He achieves the Messianic goal by doing what anti-heroes would never do -- courageously facing his own destruction. He shatters the status quo, he defeats sin and death, he proclaims victory over it all and then bids us to do the same.

Crap. 

And so, here I sit, exhausted after my "House of Cards" marathon about to head into Holy Week contemplating how Christ calls me to think, speak, and act with compassion and humility, loving my enemies, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and praying for those who persecute me. 

Maybe I'll finally decide to follow him in this path of peace, starting this week. Most likely, however, I'll just go get caught up on "Better Call Saul" or watch "Sons of Anarchy" per the recommendation of a pastor friend I know. Because, like Frank, I might convince myself that "humility is just their form of pride. Their strength. Their weakness." You know, justify my way out of sanctification. 

Good thing that Jesus flips the script anyways and no matter what I do, or don't do, he's already gone and done it on my behalf. Amen to that. 

The next generation of religion journalists

In prepping this piece I took a quick look at CNN's, BBC's, and The Africa Reports' front pages. Here are the religious headlines that caught my eye:

• Did Pope perform miracle?
• 60 seconds in an "atheist church"
• Multiple news stories on al-Dawla al-Islamiyya (ISIS)
• War against Boko Haram nears its end
• Reports of rising anti-semitism in U.S., on college campuses

As part of my wider passion for religious literacy and dedication to helping religion journalists deliver religion news with relevance, fairness, and depth I was recently appointed as one of the newest Board Members serving the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA). 

The RNA is the world's only journalism association for people who write about religion in the news media. The RNA offers training and tools to help journalists cover religion with balance, accuracy and insight including a smashing annual conference (Philadelphia, PA - August 27-30, 2015) aimed at informing headlines and networking newswriters; the Reporting on Religion Primer; and Religion Link with fresh, free, story ideas and expertise. 

It is exciting times for RNA and the field of religion newswriting. While challenges are plenty with the general decline of print newspapers, there are also new opportunities to be found online and in new venues passionately dedicated to specializing on religion, not just carrying it as a sideshow. We are also finding that the "god beat" is now the regular romp of political columnists, economics experts, and other journalists. This means that the number of interdisciplinary "religion newswriters" is increasing, often finding themselves wearing multiple media hats and transcending print and digital boundaries. 

With all this said, sometimes journalists struggle to understand religion, know their resources for reporting on it, fail to apperceive its real-world effects, or appreciate the insiders' point-of-view. As Diane Winston -- the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC Annenberg -- recently said, "The next generation of reporters should understand the importance of religion in the daily lives of Americans and learn how ordinary people look for and find meaning, identity, and purpose." I couldn't agree more. 

RNA is here to help and I'm humbled, honored, and excited to contribute as a board member in the years to come! 

Should our worship go digital?

Should our worship go digital? That's the central question behind my latest post for the Lutheran Church Extension Fund's (LCEF) "Leader-to-Leader" blog. 

Integrating my own experiences worshipping online with recent research about tech trends and church I suggest FIVE REASONS you or your church should consider "digital worship."

Here's an excerpt:

“However, there are those who remain skeptical. There is a fear that in our “cyber sanctuaries” digital worshippers will miss the authenticity of face-to-face interaction. There is a concern that virtual ritual lacks real substance, presence, or legitimacy.”

I am here to suggest that there are FIVE REASONS these fears may be overblown. Read the rest of the piece at LCEF's Leader-to-Leader blog to learn more...

Is Ted Cruz running for "theologian-in-chief?"

Today (March 23, 2015) Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced his candidacy for the presidency. He did so via video-tweet early in the morning and will follow the social media announcement up with a formal declaration of his bid for the White House at Liberty University. He is the first candidate to formally announce his campaign for 2016. 

Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the U.S. and extremely influential among evangelicals, was founded by the late Jerry Falwell Sr. and it regularly plays host to political leaders and faith-filled influencers. For example, last year's commencement address was given by Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana) who also might be running for president in 2016. 

Given the location of Cruz's announcement and the fact that his senatorial state, Texas, is renowned for both its Bible belt mentality and a growing diversity of faiths in its major urban centers it makes sense to wonder what makes Cruz's soul tick. This is pertinent to apperceiving how this might shape the way he campaigns, governs, and represents the U.S. not only in the halls and chambers of the U.S. Capitol, but potentially in the White House. Furthermore, will it have an impact on Cruz's performance in the primaries?

*For more on religion & culture, follow @kchitwood

Back in 2012 when Cruz was running against Paul Sadler (D) in the race for U.S. Senator I had the chance to talk to him about his faith. Cruz was congenial and kind, relaxed as he gave his interview in the early hours of the morning. 

Cruz grew up in a Christian home and is Baptist. He sees his faith and spirituality as an integral part of his character, but was careful to remind me (and yes, you the voter as well) that he holds it at arms length when it comes to policy decisions and governance. 

Cruz attended Faith West Academy in Katy, TX, a conservative and expanding suburb west of Houston.  He later went to Second Baptist High School. Both Faith West and Second Baptist are among the top ten largest, and influential, Christian schools in the Bayou City. His wife and he are members today at Houston’s First Baptist, another large and affluent congregation in Houston.

The senator said he “gave his life to Christ” at age eight at Clay Road Baptist Church. Religion was an integral part of his upbringing. Born to a Cuban refugee father and mother from Delaware Cruz joked that "I'm Cuban, Irish and Italian, and yet somehow I ended up Southern Baptist." 

His father, Rafael Cruz is reportedly the Director of Purifying Fire International Ministry, founded by Suzanne Hinn, wife of mega-pastor and spirit healer Benny Hinn. Often appearing at functions with his son, Pastor Cruz has been quoted in speaking to a gather of Christians, "The majority of you… your anointing… is an anointing as king. God has given you an anointing to go to the battlefield. And what’s the battlefield? The marketplace. To go to the marketplace and occupy the land. To go to the marketplace and take dominion.” 

Reminiscent of "Christian dominionism" -- the idea that Christians should work toward a nation governed by Christians or at least by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law -- Ted Cruz's father (whom he is named after as Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz) seems to contradict his son's sentiments regarding faith and politics. But so do some of Cruz's own actions. 

“Your faith impacts every aspect of your life,” said Cruz. He commented that it guides him to serve others, to have a positive impact in his community and insisted that on the campaign trail it means trying to conduct a campaign with civility.  

When it comes to governance, Cruz said his touchstone is the U.S. Constitution and that he tries, “to stay out of theological disputes.

“I am running for U.S. senator, not theologian-in-chief,” he said.

And yet it appears that Cruz regularly weaves theology and faith into his politics. In 2014 he passionately led a news conference at his home church, Houston's First Baptist, denouncing Mayor Annise Parker's move to attempt to subpoena pastors' sermons. That event served as a rallying cry for Christian conservatives across the country and Cruz was sure to capitalize on the moment. 

David Brody, host of the Christian Broadcast Network's "Brody File," said concerning Cruz's speech: 

“Cruz comes from a different place. Not only has he defended religious liberty cases in court, he defends it in public with the word of God. He has the “street cred” to make this a signature issue in his bid to strongly woo the evangelical vote. Watching him in action Thursday, in front of a passionate overflow room gave me pause. It made me realize that this is the issue that could set him apart from others with the evangelical audience. If Mike Huckabee runs, he’ll be right in the mix too but at this point, Cruz seems to be leading the way on this. It looks to be his evangelical calling card and a heartfelt one at that.”

While he may be the golden child of religious freedom for some evangelicals, Cruz differs from a sizable core of evangelical leaders on immigration reform. He voted against a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in 2013 that would give a path to citizenship to some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Although Cruz is the first Latino to serve as a U.S. senator from Texas he has criticized his party's pandering to Hispanic voters, saying it is akin to “Democrat Lite." Cruz also tries to remind leader that Latina/os are deeply religious and socially conservative. “There is a wide and varied faith tradition in my family and it’s the same for the Hispanic community,” he said.

Beyond disputes about immigration reform Cruz has proven a divisive figure in conservative politics with his crusade against Obamacare, his filibuster in the Senate, and his positions on Israel and Christians in the Middle East giving witness to his fire-brand style of Tea Party politics. Yet, Cruz is seen as the frontrunner among Tea Party faithful and has been lauded by some conservative evangelical circles -- indicated by his speech at Liberty in Lynchburg, VA today. In 2014 he placed first in the Values Voter Summit presidential straw poll for the second year in a row. He beat out second-place Ben Carson (20%) and another evangelical favorite, Mike Huckabee, who came in third with 12%. 

A recent Pew Forum study reported that America’s 60 million religiously unaffiliated don't care much about a candidate’s faith. While 67% of the general public and 75% of the religiously affiliated believe it is important for a candidate, specifically a presidential one, to have strong religious beliefs, only 32% of America’s religious “nones” think it is.

As much as there may be a religious gap when it comes to caring about a candidate’s faith, there is also a generational one. The Public Religion Research Institute revealed that Millennials are evenly split on the issue, with 49% saying it is somewhat or very important and 48% responding it is not too important or not at all.

Nonetheless, some still believe it is important to understand a candidate’s faith and gives you insight into who a candidate really is.

“Sometimes you have to get at religion to understand what a politician really means with their policies and comments,” said Amy Sullivan, who covers religion and politics for TIME magazine. But, she said, “The implications are more important than the religious positions themselves.”

The question is not how much Cruz's faith will impact his electability, but how it will shape and form his potential presidency. While in rhetoric Cruz is plain about the separation of church and state his deeds and maneuvers are more ambivalent -- as his announcement at Liberty University makes clear. 

*For more on religion & culture, follow @kchitwood

The virtual significance of Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance to ISIS

*This post is republished under a Creative Commons Attribution agreement with The Conversation. The post was originally written for The Conversation by Dr. Terje Østebø, Assistant Professor of Religion and African Studies and Director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies at University of Florida. 

The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram’s recent pledge of allegiance to ISIS has generated a wave of speculation about its significance.

ISIS’s response was to release an audio tape purporting to welcome the pledge. In the rest of the world one dominant view is that ISIS and the jihadi front is spreading and becoming more organized, which, in turn, has spurred the US government to consider expanding its military actions to include ISIS affiliates.

There are, however, good reasons not to read too much into the Boko Haram pledge. It is probable that it will have little or no real practical significance, beyond the initial public relations bump.

Boko Haram under pressure

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Dr. Terje Østebø is the author of this post. He serves as Assistant Professor of Religion and African Studies at University of Florida where he also directs the Center for Global Islamic Studies. 

The pledge of allegiance (Arabic: bayat) by Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau on March 7 was made in an audio-message, in which the organization expresses its support for ISIS.

The announcement was hardly surprising; Boko Haram had been for some time praising ISIS’s actions. Also, the pledge comes at the time when Boko Haram is under much pressure. The recent coordinated offensive by the Chadian, Cameroonian and Nigerian armies has taken its toll on the organization. The pledge could possibly be seen as an act of desperation.

It is, however, doubtful if the pledge will turn any tide, and it is unlikely that the announced cooperation between Boko Haram and ISIS would mean much – in practical terms – to either party.

The Somali organization al-Shabaab made a similar pledge to al-Qaida in 2012 without having any practical implications.

It is unlikely that ISIS will provide Boko Haram with fighters and arms. Boko Haram has, in fact, been critical of “Arab” involvement in its activities in Nigeria. Foreign fighters are not flocking to Nigeria as they are to ISIS-held areas. Nor is it likely that Boko Haram will provide soldiers to ISIS. It might mean infusion of funds from ISIS, but also that is uncertain.

Boko Haram and ISIS are rooted in different localities

Keep in mind that both organizations – even if they claim to represent something global – reflect their respective localities.

Boko Haram has its specific history and ethnic particularity and is geographically confined to northeast Nigeria. It has been haunted by internal divisions, and there are many questions as to how strong and coherent the current leadership is. Thus it is doubtful that the recent pledge will mean that Boko Haram would submit to the will of ISIS, take orders from Bagdadi, and view itself as a branch of ISIS.

This situation relates to the larger issue of constant fragmentation among militant Islamic groups.

The rise of ISIS has created tensions within the jihadi camp, with al-Qaida going against ISIS, and rifts developing between ISIS and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi – the main jihadi ideologist associated with ISIS’s forerunner, al-Qaida in Iraq.

Boko Haram is itself a coalition of various factions, and it is unclear how strong this alliance actually is. While affiliating itself with ISIS, Boko Haram has at the same time not distanced itself from al-Qaida.

Everyone wants to be a caliph

A pattern of disintegration seems to be at play: exclusive ideologies coupled with violent struggles are empowering to individuals.

When groups under the leadership of strong personalities experience success they create momentum and leadership. Everyone, basically, wants to be a caliph or spiritual leader.

Just as al-Shabaab’s pledge to al-Qaida and its push beyond the confines of Somalia produced conflicts within that organization, Boko Haram’s pledge to ISIS may possibly spur further internal tensions.

The US and other Western powers should, therefore, be careful not to interpret the pledge as yet another sign of a more solidified front. While there obviously is an urgent need to reduce the human suffering caused by these organizations, there is a similar need to maintain a realistic view of the situation, to avoid exaggerating the threat scenarios, and to apply strategies that reduce the risk of political collateral damage.

It is also important to note the format of the pledge – an audio-message posted online. This is in clear contrast to how such pledges traditionally were done, when individuals or groups declared their allegiance in real time and space.

Boko Haram’s pledge obviously has an important symbolic meaning, but there is a noncommittal flavor to it. It says what it says, but that’s not necessarily binding for either party.

In a world with constant flows of messaging, including the posting of online fatwas (legal rulings) and jihadi propaganda videos, let’s not forget the ephemeral nature of such messages. Yesterday’s postings are forgotten and substituted by today’s postings.

Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS can therefore for practical reasons remain what it is: virtual.

Sympathizing with Scientologists

The most unsavory "four-letter word" in America may be "change." Perhaps its antecedent "new" also carries some seriously suspicious impressions. Whether warranted or not, Americans are reticent to readily accept, incorporate, or appreciate relatively new religious movements.

Although we like to pick our way through the buffet of religions on offer to us in a digital and global age, we are suspicious of full-fledged nouveau religious systems. After all, we like our religion like we like our comfy pants -- worn-in, familiar, and neutral in color. Or perhaps, we prefer those religions that remind us of mom's Thanksgiving stuffing recipe -- don't transgress the recipe and we can all enjoy a scoop or two of whatever we want. 

Then there's the Church of Scientology. Founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology (as it is popularly known) is the quintessential new religious movement for examining Americans' wariness of accepting entities, beliefs, and rituals they do not understand. 

Based on Hubbard's book Dianetics, published in 1950, and other writings and manuals Scientologists believe that the individual is first and foremost a spirit, or thetan, and that thetans can be cleared of negative energy through a process called auditing. They espouse this as "spiritual technology" as auditors use machines called "e-meters" that measure stress and other markers of spiritual and material tarnish. 

Scientology has long suffered derision in popular culture and in political maneuvers. Likewise, Scientology has been one of the most famously secretive and prone to take their complaints against their detractors to the civil courts. Their publications, while slick and well produced, appear paranoid and overcomplicated. Their public personas (Tom Cruise, John Travolta, etc.) are often edited and represented in news media as strange and nutty. 

All of these streams at work in the societal misgivings concerning Scientology and the religion's disgruntled posture recently came to a head with the release of Alex Gibney's combustible HBO documentary "Going Clear," based off of the best-selling book of the same name written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11). The film has drawn ire from the church, who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to combat perceptions of Scientology solely based off the film, released a series of online videos to contest Gibney and Wright's claims, and also arranged a team of lawyers to prepare litigations.

I read Wright's book when it came out. Wright is a powerful and convincing investigative writer. His work was scrupulously researched (just look at the nearly 50 pages of endnotes!) and he leaves no Scientological stone unturned. 

Certainly, in investigating Scientology's founder, history, theology, rituals, and leadership systems (including the infamous 'Sea Org') Wright presents an impressive, engaging, and eerie story of a religion that many view as an out-of-control cult. And, in Wright's estimation, they may have every reason to believe so. 

Granted, Scientology has some strange beliefs and practices. Its cosmogony features a perplexing narrative that started some 75 million years ago. At that time, according to Hubbard and Scientologists, the Galactic Confederacy was run by an evil overlord named Xenu who exiled human souls (thetans) to Earth in space ships that look more like DC-8s than anything alien or ancient. Then there is the secretive Sea Org leadership crew and its Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF). The RPF involves punishment for Sea Org members who act, or speak, out and takes them through a process of remediation wherein they are supposedly forced to live in primitive conditions of forced asceticism, forced labor, and without contact with the outside world. 

So yeah, when it comes to Scientology things can get weird. 

Like most people, I am simultaneously enthralled and repelled by exotic entities such as Scientology. Therefore, just as I took a creepy little drive through the polygamous planned community of Colorado City after reading Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, I decided to drop by the Scientology center in Phoenix, AZ. 

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A picture from the backside of the Scientology Ideal Org in north Phoenix, AZ. 

Greeted by a young man we'll call "Tom" in suit and button-up shirt, looking the picture of business-casual Arizona chic, I was invited to sit down, served a glass of water on a seasonably warm day in the Valley of the Sun, and was given a run-down of the center's significant history. Tom told me the Phoenix center has some renown because it was the birthplace of Scientology, where Hubbard reportedly "made the breakthrough discoveries of the human spirit that gave rise to our religion." The Phoenix center is an "Ideal Organization" (or "Ideal Org") as it provides the full spectrum of facilities to educate Scientologists and serve as their home base for spiritual technological ritual.

I was then invited to enjoy an initial auditing session, what they called "a free stress-test," and take a brief tour of the facility. Already late for a meeting at a local church, I declined. I'll be honest, it was a convenient excuse. Bathed in Wright's analysis of Scientology I was swimming in cultic images and depictions of domination and control. I shivered as I left the air-conditioned insides of this Ideal Org and stepped into the Arizona sun. 

Fast-forward to 2015. This time, I'm not in Phoenix, but in Nashville, TN walking along broadway, the epicenter of "Nash Vegas" and its hoard of honky-tonks, neon-lit big boots, and country music kitsch. 

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Free stress-tests in Nashville, courtesy of the Sea Org. 

There, replete in matching red table cloth and seeming personnel uniforms were two Scientologists, piles of copies of Dianetics in multiple languages, and two E-meters just ready to read my stress levels and invite me into the world of Scientology. Just a week from the premier of the controversial HBO documentary I decided to dive back into the world of "spiritual technology."

I sat down across from "Betsy." After the exchange of pleasantries I had two metal cylinders in my hands, connected by black wires to a red E-meter (really, they had the color coordination thing down). Betsy proceeded to ask me questions about my family, work, travel, and life situation letting me know when the E-meter showed signs of stress and diving deeper into the contexts that may be responsible for tension in my life. 

Through the course of this conversation it came up that I am a PhD student studying religion (so I am totally stressed and totally feel guilty about it) and also work as a freelance religion newswriter and offer commentary on religion and culture. 

The gig was up. 

Our tête-a-tête turned away from my troubles and re-focused on Betsy's conversion, her experiences on the streets with naysayers, gawkers, and seekers, and yes, that book and documentary. The talk got personal quick and I could tell that Betsy's partner was slightly uncomfortable with the amount of intimate detail that she was divulging (although she would catch herself at times to keep some elements of her story closer to the chest). I promised Betsy I would not share the particulars of our dialogue, but I have to admit that as I walked away from the resplendently red table and matching everything I didn't shiver or shake from a rush of adrenaline or a sufficient sense of creepiness. 

Instead, I felt like I'd just talked to a human being. More than that, a spiritual and physical being in search of something greater than herself and finding it in the "spiritual technology" of Scientology. In my work as a religion newswriter, academic, and Christian churchworker I have interacted with lots of Betsy's. They've been Muslim, Lutheran, non-religious, Buddhist, pantheistic, and everything else betwixt and between. 

Over the years I've had many of my presuppositions flipped on their side or completely shattered. I've learned a lot in talking, and interacting, with "the religious other." Along the way, I've come to appreciate the humanity of each and every religious body and I am here to say that it is clearly time for the American public, the news media, and academia to do the same with Scientologists. At the very least, and in the worse-case scenario, I've been able to walk alongside someone who was in danger in their spiritual walk and was a resource for them as they found their way out of the religion they were a part of. Along the way, I've learned that my sympathy and friendship may be the greatest gifts I can offer to the "religious other" I encounter in my neighborhood, at the local pub, or on my city's streets.

Is Scientology a dangerous cult or an exalted form of 21st-century "spiritual technology" that holds the keys to our mythic past and our advanced future? The truth is probably on neither end of the spectrum, nor anywhere in the middle. Scientology is certainly strange (at least to me, and I am assuming, many of you) and its claims are surely suspect and deserving of skepticism. Nonetheless, the effort needs to be made to endeavor to understand even that which seems overly exotic, cultic, or bizarre  -- Scientology included. 

Could I be being swayed by propaganda, both public and personalized? Quite possibly. Is there something to be gained, and learned, through scrupulous study spurred by suspicion? Most definitely. Even so, I believe it is time to uncover another side of the Scientology story by investigating it sympathetically, exploring its human dynamics, and pursuing an emic (insider's) point-of-view.

As I oft-repeat as an advocate for religious literacy, there is a pertinent need for Americans (and indeed, people throughout the world) to cure ourselves of our irredeemable ignorance when it comes to religious beliefs, rituals, personages, and communities. Given our increased secularity and over-reliance on spiritual individualism some aspects of religion have become more controversial and more prone to explosive conflict. This is concomitant with reduced levels of religious literacy. New religious movements -- from ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) to Scientology -- and other unconventional and perhaps uncomfortable forms of religion have become especially suspect at a time when religious institutions in general are being openly called into question. While Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, atheists and other religious bodies all catch plenty of flak, new and unusual religious groups encounter the most hostility. At a time when we are questioning levels of "Islamophobia" in the U.S. it is important we likewise interrogate our presuppositions about new religious movements. At the same time, some new religious movements have turned more inward and made matters worse lashing out with violence and more secrecy. This is a vicious spiral of ignorance, conflict, and occasional bloodshed. 

To turn away from this powder keg of a situation not only will Americans need to open ourselves up, so will Scientology. Just as the U.S. public should not be putting forward an image that says we are a place of religious freedom, "melting pot" multi-culturalism, and tolerance when in reality we are perniciously suspicious of anything we don't understand or can't associate with Scientology should also make the move away from propaganda and focus their previously cited proficiency with media to tell their story on personal and pellucid terms.

In that way, we can all move forward and "go clear" in our efforts toward greater religious literacy and interfaith engagement. 

*With all this said, let me add this caveat: I recommend you to read Lawrence Wright's Going Clear. I also suggest you check out Scientology's website to watch their responses. You could even go so far as to read Dianetics. As of right now, I would not encourage you to visit Scientology centers or receive "free stress tests" unless you are a researcher or journalist. There is still too much unknown about the organization, its beliefs, and practices for me to advocate a completely open stance. Likewise, I don't want to put you in a situation where you would feel threatened. This applies to the non-Scientologist as well as the Scientologist. I don't want those seeking understanding to be made unwarrantedly uncomfortable nor do I want to see people attacking the Betsys and Toms of this world for their beliefs. I would not want to be responsible for untold harm or damage to anyone, Scientologist or not. More time, and more purposeful transparency on both sides, is needed before we can be bold in our dialogue and exchange with Scientology. 

Muslims, Mandela, & South Africa's anti-apartheid movement

Apartheid fell, and the 'rainbow nation' emerged, with the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 and the subsequent free, and open, democratic elections across South Africa in 1994; these elections followed multi-party negotiations between multiple political organizations that had recently been decriminalized. Muslims played key roles not only during the formative period of post-apartheid South Africa, but also in the struggle against the Apartheid regime. Even today, in the midst of South Africa's re-emergence onto the global scene and against the backdrop of transnational Islamic discourses, Muslims -- even as minorities -- continue to influence the shaping of South Africa.

This context provides the frame of reference for Goolam Vahed's Muslim Portraits: The Anti-Apartheid Struggle (Madiba Publishers, 2012), which compiles various narratives and stories of Islamic leaders in the struggle to assert non-racial politics in South Africa. Recently, I had the honor of publishing a review of the book for the Journal of Islamic Studies out of The University of Cape Town, South Africa (you can find the review HERE). I found the book enlightening, gripping, and relevant insofar as it illumines the political efforts of Muslims beyond the pale of jihad and mass uprisings we too often assume as the modus operandi of Muslim political efforts. 

One of the strengths of the book is its ability to humanize the anti-apartheid struggle and highlight the role that many Muslims played in toppling the racist regime. As I wrote in my review, in so doing, "the text provides a rich mosaic of various Muslim interlocutors involved in the struggle against Apartheid, including converts and immigrants, Sowetan doctors and ANC politicians, feminist activists and armed rebels, cricket players and chemists."

I encourage you to read more about the book, check out my quick review, and learn more about a) the many biographies of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and b) the wide variety of Muslim political action in the contemporary scene. 

What is it to study religion?

People ask me what I am studying all of the time. What they are asking me is, "what does it mean to study religion?"

Good question. 

Here's my "elevator speech" on what it means to study religion:

“It is not theological. It is not sociological. Instead, it is an empathetic, yet critical, exploration of religion as it is perceived and practiced in the world. It is the interdisciplinary and secular study of religious beliefs & behaviors, popular practices and institutions, materials and media. In its many manifestations it seeks to honestly describe, interpret, compare, and explain religion and religious phenomena. It often draws out semi-coherent, historically charted, and cross-cultural, if not transnational, perspectives. I work in the ethnographic exploration of glocal religion, which is the attempt to provide a scientific, if situated, study of a people’s religion as it is embodied in everyday life, across time, and in multiple spaces. ”

— Me

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That's what the study of religion is, but what does it look like? Answering this question is the aim of George D. Chryssides (PhD, University of Birmingham) and Ron Geaves (PhD, Liverpool Hope University) in their 2nd edition of The Study of Religion: An Introduction to Key Ideas and Methods (2014). Rather than simply offering an introductory text that tries to spell out, in an essentialized, siloed, & woefully inadequate manner the systematized basics (or codified essences) of each "world religion" (as if there is such a neatly defined category), these authors instead seek to equip their reader with the tools for the study of religion. This is a brilliant move and one that the two scholars should be applauded for.  

I was honored to review this book for the latest edition of the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (5:2). To delve deeper into what I think about the book, you can read that review HERE. 

What you will find in this approach to an "introduction to the study of religion" is three-fold:

• an appreciation for the distinctiveness of religious studies as a discipline sui generis and deserving of its own rationale, theoretical foundations, and methods of study;
• an awareness of the very reflexive, disciplined, and self-critical thought that scholars in this field have put into the why, how, and what of their discipline of study; and 
• because of its situated, yet scientific, approach to religious phenomenon how vitally important it is for understanding political forces, social movements, and other areas beyond what we typically treat as "religious." 

In their own words, this text is "a 'user-friendly' approach...introducing a number of key methodological issues surrounding the study of religion, and explaining why they are needed." (3) To that end, they do a fair job and although the text is not without its weaknesses, I highly recommend it for undergraduate courses introducing the study of religion, for independent/community study groups, or for anyone interested in learning more about religion. This is a better place to start than with a "world religions" survey, because instead of introducing you to several religions and leaving you with a thousand-and-one questions about the many variants of each of these religions and the many more religions not covered in the book it empowers you to do your own informed, empathetic, and nuanced study as you encounter religious phenomenon.

So get reading, and get exploring the wide world of religious studies! 

Religion sightings in the Grand Canyon

Religion is everywhere. It’s in our hearts and in our hands. We see it in coffee shops and on college campuses, on street corners and in the local mall. 

With that in mind, whenever and wherever I travel I keep my iPhone on the ready, prepared to snap pictures of religious sightings as I come across them. This is what I call "spiritual sightseeing" and it can not only enrich your trips, but also your knowledge of religion and the place you are visiting. 

Spiritual sightseeing involves touring experiences that open a traveler to the spiritual significance of a particular site, area or culture. Richard Ross, a travel blogger, said, "spiritual sightseeing involves experiencing a sense of internal emotion by touring a place with spiritual significance."

It is not only for serious pilgrims or participants in packaged tours in far-off locales. It can be incorporated into any itinerary in any location. And it's not just about big cathedrals or packaged spiritual "experiences." Some of my favorite spiritual sightseeing moments have been impromptu and intimate. 

*Read more: FIVE TIPS FOR SPIRITUAL SIGHTSEEING

Recently, I was traveling in Arizona and visited the Grand Canyon. Here are a few highlights from my spiritual sightseeing shots: 

1. The Café that doubles as Bahá'í meeting place

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On our way to the Grand Canyon the group I was with stopped in Flagstaff for a little nectar of the gods -- coffee. Enjoying a delicious Café Viennese at Macy's European Coffee House my spiritual spidey-sense started to perk up. Suddenly, I saw spirituality everywhere. A Buddhist mandala -- a sacred geometric figure used for meditation -- behind the espresso machine; a Trinity symbol chalked onto a writing board in the men's room (yes, you read that right); and these words scribbled on the menu: "the Earth is one country and mankind its citizens." 

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This is a quote from the Bahá'u'lláh (aka "the Báb") the founder and final messenger of the Bahá'í Faith, a monotheistic religion that emphasizes the spiritual unity of humankind and views religious history as an unfolding revelation of God through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established their religion contextualized for the people and their capacity to understand God at that time. This list of messengers includes the Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others.

As I chatted with my barista, I discovered that Macy's Coffeehouse doubles as the local Bahá'í meeting room in Flagstaff. Soon, the spiritual sights were everywhere -- a portrait of the Báb, a poster of Bahá'í teachings, pictures of Bahá'í temples around the world. Who knew that in ordering a latté I would soon get a lesson in the flexibility and fluidity of Bahá'í faith in a snowy college-town in Northern Arizona? The lesson I learned? Bahá'ís are often persecuted, and have been from the beginning of their movement. There are relatively few temples throughout the world (the most famous being the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, India), and Bahá'ís are used to be fluid. Nowhere is this more the case than in Flagstaff where a long with a shot of espresso you can get a shot of religious literacy.  

2. Navajo sandpaintings

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Photo via Encyclopedia Brittanica

Everywhere you go in Northern Arizona you will find "American Indian" or "Native American" kitsch. This isn't to denigrate the valuable art of Native American tribes in the Southwest, or elsewhere, but it is to call into question the commodification and co-opting of sacred symbols of indigenous religion for our economic and spiritual consumption. In the buffet-style spiritual marketplace of 21st-century America we often get overly excited by "authentic" indigenous religious artifacts and primitivize the living people who make them by purchasing them for our enjoyment. While they are beautiful, symbolic, and may be meaningful we must be reticent to consume another's culture and force them to conform their practice and material culture to our desires. 

With that said, these "spiritual souvenirs" can be helpful entrées into understanding aspects of indigenous religion. Take "Navajo sandpaintings" for example. On the back of each sand painting, also called "dry paintings," is written: "according to the Navajo religion the universe is a very delicately balanced thing. If this balance is upset, some disaster -- usually an illness -- will follow. To restore the balance and harmony means performing one of many Navajo chants or ways. These complex ceremonies involve the use of herbs, prayers, songs, and sandpaintings. The sandpainting is done in a careful and sacred manner, according to the ancient knowledge of the art." 

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A sandpainting depicting the Zuni bear "fetish," a guardian spirit. 

Indeed, sandpainting is a highly stylized and symbolic ritual among Navajo that involves trickling small amounts of crushed rock, pollen, or other dry materials into a design. That sandpaintings act as a sacred pathways, or "places where the gods come and go" in the Navajo language. They are used in curing ceremonies in which the gods' help is requested for harvests and healing. 

The figures in sand paintings are symbolic representations of a story in Navajo mythology. They depict objects like the sacred mountains where the gods live, or legendary visions, or they illustrate dances or chants performed in rituals. For the Navajo, the sandpainting is not a work of art or a souvenir to be saved. Instead, it is a living, affective, and sacred entity that empowers the patient to transform his or her self (mind, body, and soul) via dynamic mythic symbols that re-create the chantway odyssey of the myth's main protagonist, causing those events to be re-lived  in the present. 

Sandpaintings are not unique to the Navajo. Tibetan Buddhists, Pueblo, Australian Aboringals, and others use sandpaintings, albeit in different ways, during religious ceremonies or as means of meditation (some mandalas, mentioned above, are done with sand implying the impermanence of even beautiful art and mindful meditation). Some Latin Americans use sandpaintings in certain Christian rituals, including the levantada de la cruz (lifting of the cross) a sandpainting ceremony completed by godparents of the recently deceased or as part of El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) rituals in cemeteries or at home altars in Mexico.

3. Psalms at the Canyon

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What would be a religious sightseeing tour without a bit of controversy? With headlines like the Los Angeles Times' "Religion and Geology Collide at the Grand Canyon" one tiny little plaque has raised quite a stink in the past. Donated in the 1960s by a Protestant religious order called the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, the Grand Canyon plaques were removed in 2003 only to be returned in 2004. They still adorn National Park Service locations along the canyon to this day. At issue for Christians is an acknowledgement of God as creator in the majesty of one of the deepest and widest canyons in the world. At issue for others is the separation of church and state. 

Of course, the NPS does not only deal with plaques at the Grand Canyon. There is a chapel at Yosemite NP, a cross in the Mojave, a Buddhist stupa in Albuquerque, and a Russian Orthodox Chapel at Sitka. Indeed, several National Historic Sites are religious sites as well, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church. In fact, at the same location where one plaque is displayed -- the Watchtower at the Grand Canyon -- the verse was overshadowed (literally and figuratively) by strong Hopi religious symbology. 

4. Hopi legends & symbols at the Watchtower

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The Watchtower at Desert View is an architectural wonder built near the eastern gateway of the South Rim by Mary Colter -- 20th-century American architect and designer. The Watchtower design integrates Hopi building themes and religious symbols including a depiction of the Snake Legend -- the story of the Hopi's first navigation of the Grand Canyon. 

There are religious symbols everywhere inside the Watchtower, illustrating harvest images, divine icons, and spiritual tokens. One notable example is that of Muyingwa, god of germination. The design elements are purposeful and powerful. Since the Watchtower is based on the design of a Hopi ceremonial kiva -- a room used for religious rituals often associated with kachina (spirit beings of the Pueblo peoples) belief systems -- and Hopi religion and art are intimately and intricately intertwined, the multitude of manifest religious representations is no surprise. 

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Fred Kabotie, who painted the murals inside the Watchtower, said that his paintings were faithful to Hopi renderings over the centuries and that they are still imbued with sacred power. A beautiful photographic representation and explanation of most of the paintings is available HERE.  

5. A fox, a mission, & an upside down cross

One particular image of Kabotie's  has struck, intrigued, and stumped me. Near the entrance/exit of the stylized kiva I noticed a circular painting that featured four primary symbols: a stylized fox hovering at the top, a hung feather (real), what looks like a mission façade, and an upside down cross. I am still in the midst of researching the meaning of this symbol, tracking down an expert in Hopi symbology or anyone who knows more about Kabotie's art, but what follows are my inclinations and musings on the meaning of the symbol. They can only be taken as speculative, nothing more. I will let you know if I'm anywhere near being correct in the future...

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First, what do the symbols mean on their own? The fox could symbolize a clan of the Hopi, a particular kachina, or particularly a trickster spirit being. Feathers mean many things to various Native American nations. They can represent strength, honor, fidelity, trust, or the power of the Creator depending on their source, context, and usage. Not much can be said about the specific meaning of this particular feather as of yet. The mission is an interesting inclusion in the piece. Mission façade's have no specific meaning in Hopi art, but what is known is that the Hopi were highly resistant to Franciscan and general Catholic mission efforts in the American Southwest. Indeed, the Hopi combatted Catholic religion both openly and subtly. The upside down cross is the symbol that initially piqued my interest. The cross in Hopi symbology is representative of the earth's forces, but here could be related directly to the mission and the attempted evangelization of the Hopi people during, and after, Spanish settlement. Interestingly, any figure depicted upside down typically implied that figure's death. 

Taking all of this into consideration it is my estimation that this painting is a subversive critique of Christian evangelism among the Hopi. Perhaps Kabotie merged these various symbols to simultaneously affirm the strength of Hopi religion in the face of hegemonic Christianizing forces and undermine the missionization of his people at the hands of foreign powers. Depicting a trickster deity and showing the "death" of the missions and their message (the upside down cross), Kabotie may have been portraying his, and his people's, well-known resistance against the Christian message. Again, I must restate my original caveat -- these conclusions are conjectural, at best. 

Conclusion

Did you learn anything new with this spiritual sightseeing guide to the Grand Canyon and parts of Northern Arizona? I hope you did. 

I also hope you won't miss an opportunity to do some religious sightseeing the next time you are traveling. Next week I will be posting spiritual sightings, and sites, from my walking tour of Nashville, TN and I encourage you to check out my reflections on potholes and castles in St. Augustine, FL. If you're interested in building your own spiritual sightseeing adventure, check out this intro HERE. 

Preaching, Diversity, & Hybrid Churches

Recently, I had the honor of posting two blogs on the FiveTwo.com site. FiveTwo is all about sharpening sacramental entrepreneurs to start new spiritual communities. I've been working with FiveTwo at the local and national level since 2010 and enjoy being a regular contributor to their blog. 

My two blogs covered the very important topic of how to work with, and preach in, a multi-ethnic setting. My proposals were to aim for hybridity -- in our understanding, preparation, methods, and delivery. 

I offered, "Hybridity doesn’t begin in the pulpit. It starts with deliberate efforts to build “third spaces” where the multiple cultures, backgrounds, and ethnicities in your community can come together to mix socially, borrow culturally, and learn from one another spiritually. Hybridity, at its best, should not favor one culture over the other, but instead should emphasize equilateral exchange. This should be evident not only in your pulpit (we will get to this later), but in our staffing, our programming, our discipleship, our outreach, our choir, our altar guild, or our Monday afternoon social sports teams. We have to build hybridity into our churches from the ground up, together."

Here are the links for the two blogs:

• Preaching, Diversity, and Hybrid Cultures
• Remixing the Pulpit

There was some significant pushback on this article. In fact, there were three specific critiques. While I hope to address these criticisms in subsequent, unique, blog posts, I want to take a moment to identify and briefly address them here:

• One commenter challenged that the liturgy (as conceived by confessional Lutherans) is universal. To this, I openly wonder -- is the liturgy truly universal? Has it not been adapted? Changed? How does it exclude and create boundaries? Furthermore, is a universal liturgy the goal? Should there not be a certain degree of contextualization? In the end, my discussion of hybridity is about contextualization, not universalization. Thus, the commenter and I are talking cross-purposes and aiming at different ends. 
• Another interlocutor accused me of undermining the "office of preaching" and Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession. For my non-Lutheran readership, I am sorry; this is particularly pedantic for you. I started to address this challenge on Twitter and intimated that hybrid preaching does not necessarily undermine the "office of preaching" as conceived in AC XIV. Having a creative team to help plan a preaching series, community exegetical work, and multiple preachers can all be guided and directed by an ordained and properly called pastor. Just as we have (LC-MS Lutherans and others) built upon the pastoral office to include commissioned positions (DCE, DCO, Deacon, Deaconess, teacher) so too we can invite multiple people into the process of preaching under the auspices of the regular call of the pastor who leads the process and not undermine that office. 
• Finally, another commenter asked me to provide an "ideal hybrid service." Again, in reference to the first point above, I think this is missing my point. Hybrid services are inherently contextual. They are based in interpreting your local community and applying Scripture and confessional theology into the neighborhood you find yourself called to bless and serve. I can't give you a "ideal" hybrid service. That's the work I propose you do. You'll have to be the one to "keep your look in the book and your feet in the street." (Thanks Rev. Greg Seltz for that one!) In my article I put forward particular postures that can aid this process, but that's about as far as I can go. One of the beauties of our synod (again, the LC-MS here) is that we walk together as a synod, holding to central theological postures, but we are locally diverse (at least, at our best). We do not need, and indeed are reticent, to enforce conformity from the top-down. This call for contextualized, hybrid, structures, services, and preaching is an extension of the heart of our synodical, congregation-based, polity. Furthermore, it also underlines our sacramental, tangible, and flesh-and-blood-here-and-now-faith-in-the-streets theology. 

With all this said, I invite you to read the original pieces (HERE and HERE), share them, comment on them, and become part of the conversation. 

Biblical chocolate, Buddha bars, & sugar skull bottles: recent #FaithGoesPop sightings

Over at my blog Faith Goes Pop with Read the Spirit, I invited readers to show me their "faith pop" by using the hashtag #FaithGoesPop on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.). 

Over the last couple weeks, people have been sending in some fascinating examples of the interplay between faith in pop culture. Before I share with you some of the coolest "Faith Pop" that's been sent in, be sure to share your own sightings with the hash-tag #FaithGoesPop. Here's a quick sampling of recent glimpses into the intersection of religion and popular culture:

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• On Pinterest, Tina Johnson shared with me her son's mini-water bottle from Nestle sporting a skull on the back. At first, she was a bit freaked, but then she looked it up. She figured out that the skull was a calavera, or sugar skull, associated with El Dia de los Muertos -- "the Day of the Dead" -- and was part of a Halloween series put out by Nestle. "Calavera" is the Spanish word for skull, but calaveras in the context of the Day of the Dead bear extra significance. You see them all around Mexico -- in poetry and graffiti murals, on shirts and jewelry, in ancient Mexica (Aztec) carvings and modern sculpture on the city streets. They crop up particularly in Autumn as many Mexicans prep for the Day of the Dead celebrations around November 1. According to one celebrant I talked to, "Calaveras remind us to celebrate life, to appreciate that even death is sacred, is alive. 'La Muerte' is inevitable, it is a right of passage, it is a place and moment to be experienced now and in the future. The dead are never gone and we should never neglect them. The inevitable, our fate or whatever you call it, cannot be avoided, it must be embraced and danced with. It can even be sweet." Hence the sugar in the skull. Hence the

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Photo: Sarah "Moxy" Moczygemba

• On Facebook, Sarah "Moxy"Moczygemba shared her sighting of the "Bible Bar." While you may've seen Ezekiel 4:9 bread or cereal, or even TestaMINTS (audible groan), have you ever dug into a "Bible Bar" and enjoyed the seven foods of Deuteronomy 8:8? Are you a sinner like me and have no idea what foods are mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8? Don't even know where Deuteronomy is? Have no fear, I'm here to help. In leading his people to the "promised land" out of slavery in Egypt and wandering in the desert God instructs the people through Moses to keep his commandments. His promise is that he will take them to, "a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey." (Deut. 8:8) Wowzers! You mean you've got wheat, barley, wine, figs, pomegranate, olives, and honey in that "Bible Bar" of yours? Stop being such a diva, drop the Snickers, and give me a bit of scrumptious Promised Land goodness. Thanks for sharing the sighting Moxy! 

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• Also on Facebook, Daniel “The Truth” DeHoyos took a picture of his notes for a new Bible study series he is doing with his youth group called, "God and Cinema." He pulled out some interesting "meta-themes" to discuss. What would you add? 

• Speaking of movies, Brian Clark responded to my request about sharing your favorite angel and demon sightings in movies, books, or other pop culture. He mentioned Frank Peretti's "awesome written description" in This Present Darkness in which, "Ashton is just a typical small town. But when a skeptical reporter and a pastor begin to compare notes, they suddenly find themselves fighting a hideous plot to subjugate the townspeople -- and eventually the entire human race....a fascinating glimpse into the unseen world of spiritual warfare where angels of good and evil battle." Great spotting Brian! 

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• Via Twitter, Jonathan Brandenburg sent me notice of the "fastest selling Playmobil toy of all time" -- Martin Luther. Wait....wha?! Yep, you heard that right. The old 16th-century rebel monk and Protestant reformer not only posted 95 theses, but posted huge first-quarter sales figures for Playmobil who, according to Newsweek, is just as shocked as everyone else. The toy looks pretty sweet, you know if you're a total Reformation nerd...or Lutheran. Newsweek describes it, "The plastic toy, complete with a quill, German-language bible and cheery grin, was produced for the German and Nuremberg tourist boards and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, as Germany gears up to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017." That 500th anniversary is a pretty big deal and might be a magisterial reason for Lutheran nerd-dom to rise up to purchase toys, go on Luther tours, and sport "Luther is my homeboy" hats like nobody's business. Forget Pope Francis it's time for the "Luther effect," let's purchase and protest like it was 1517.  

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• Finally, Sandy Richards sent me a note about sighting the "Buddha Lounge" -- a swanky little dive bar on San Francisco's Chinatown's main thoroughfare -- in the latest edition of Sunset magazine. This isn't the only Buddha bar sighting as of late. Recently, I was in Ft. Lauderdale Florida enjoying some "Maple Bacon Coffee Porter" (yes, heavenly) at the Funky Buddha Brewery. It seems the sage of samsara is now the patron saint of suds for many. 

As you can readily see #FaithGoesPop can be discovered anywhere and everywhere. From coffee shops to Chinatowns, from grocery stores to Toys 'R' Us there's "faith pop" waiting to be discovered. So go forth, find it, and send it to me via the #FaithGoesPop hash-tag. 

Until next time, peace out faith goes pop-ers, I'm going to go have a Buddha beer...or two. 

Momentary Vocations - Serving Your Neighbor Every. Single. Day

The word “vocation” may make us think of a relatively narrow realm of responsibilities, but it should mean so much more.

The Latin word vocatio, or ”calling,” was long used to refer to religious orders and priestly ministry, Today, we use the term all the time to talk about someone’s profession (think “vocational training”). Martin Luther was the first to use “vocation” in reference to seemingly mundane and profane offices and occupations. Behind the semantics of Luther’s heritage is the idea that every station in life that is, by nature, helpful to others, is a calling, a vocation, through which the love of God is made manifest. 

In the words of Gustaf Wingren vocation is “anything that involves action, anything that concerns the world or my relationship with my neighbor.”

Not only is the idea of vocation expanded beyond our occupations, but it is also bigger than any one station we occupy. Not only are we called to serve others, and extend God’s creative care for earth and humanity, through our vocations as farmers or faculty, plumbers or priests, accountants or artists, husbands and wives, daughters and sons, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, cousins and godparents, friends and competitors, etc., but we can also serve others in momentary vocations.

Momentary vocations are those brief moments wherein we may be called to serve a person in passing, an “extra” in our lives who would otherwise go unnoticed, but for some reason has been brought to our attention, thrust into our hectic schedule, or appeared at our doorstep. Whether it be a beggar on the street, a teller at your grocery store, or the person visibly upset in the hallway at work or school, too often, we pass up these momentary vocations and miss the opportunity to participate in God’s care for the world.

*Read about these THREE WAYS YOU CAN SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR EVERYDAY via "momentary vocations" at the LCEF Leader-to-Leader blog.

Philosophy at the Oscars: What is true, good, and beautiful?

Each year the notable sages of the 21st-century gather to ruminate on, and decide, one of the greatest conundrums of our time: who should win ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards? Too silly of a question for you, the matchless metaphysician? Perhaps you should ponder the other consequential inquiry of the day — who is the best, and worst, dressed on the red carpet? 

All sarcasm aside, these questions really are akin to the fundamental questions that philosophers, theologians, and people on the streets have been wrestling with for ages. Indeed, the question “what is true, good, and beautiful?” (the trio often called “the transcendentals”) is serious, important, and multifaceted. Philosophers from the Bhagavad Gita, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Nietzche, and Balthasar have all mulled over this question, to differing results.

*Read more at the Abbey West Blog (February 16)...

A Pentecostal in Hijab?

*This is a guest blog from Megan Geiger. Megan is a graduate student in the University of Florida's religion department. She focuses on Pentecostalism, changes in social discourses among Pentecostals, immigration and Pentecostalism, Latin American holiness movements, American religious history, and the role of women in Christian fundamentalism. She is an active member of the United Pentecostal Church, International and recently took part in Islam on Campus UF's "wear hijab for a day" program. This is her story from the day:

My first thought was, “This is definitely harder than doing my hair.”  The scarf was finally secured against my head thanks to the multiple straight pins keeping it in place (and the corresponding pinpricks in my fingers and scalp). After watching several YouTube tutorials that claimed to demonstrate “Easy Hijab Styles for Beginners,” I had managed to fashion the bright pink scarf into a series of somewhat-graceful folds across the crown of my head and under my neck. In my opinion, it looked pretty convincing, although I was sure it would take a practiced Hijabi only seconds to realize that I was completely unused to the veil. 

In fact, covering my hair is almost a redundancy; being Pentecostal I’ve left my hair uncut for my entire life so that it could serve as a covering for me, as recommended by scripture in 1 Corinthians 11.  On this particular day, however, I had chosen to adopt a style of covering that was not my own.

Now, usually a fundamentalist Christian choosing to wear the head covering of a Muslim woman would probably be considered a gross act of cultural insensitivity, but don’t worry; I was invited. A Muslim students’ group on my university campus was hosting Hijab Day, during which non-hijabis were asked to wear the veil during the day and meet to discuss their experiences afterwards. Given my interest in religion and modesty, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

That said, I felt some trepidation as I adjusted my scarf one final time and left my house that morning. The religious landscape that I inhabit on a daily basis has been notoriously hostile to Muslims—members of my own church community have expressed horror at my involvement in Muslim activities on campus, and Gainesville itself (home of the 2012 Qur’an burning scandal) is no stranger to militant Islamophobia. Hijab day seemed to me to be a unique opportunity to point out that Muslims and Pentecostals have a lot in common when it comes to modesty and covering; however, I also expected a lot of negative responses from my fellow Christians. I snapped a picture for Instagram, added ‘#modesty’ to it, and braced myself. I was prepared to be criticized for my decision. I wasn’t prepared for the critiques I would bring upon myself. 

As I went through my day on a busy college campus, the recurring question that came to me was “Does that person think I’m Muslim?” The question both had to do with my respectful desire to wear hijab “the right way,” and my hesitation at abandoning my own religious identity for a day. I questioned whether in putting on the hijab I was electing to set aside my own agenda as an evangelical Christian, and what that meant in terms of my mission to save souls…what if veiling myself cost me an opportunity to share the gospel? What if I was damaging my authority as a Christian by temporarily presenting myself as a Muslim? This tension came to light during one surreal moment in my day in which I actually taught a Bible study to another UF student, all while wearing an overtly Muslim symbol of modesty. I explained why I was doing it and the study went on without a hitch, but as I listened to myself discuss Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as eternal payment for our sins, I wondered if my headgear was somehow marring the message. Or was it the other way around?

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Photo: Megan Geiger

I was not the only one to have these thoughts. One Pentecostal Instagram user went as far as to say that to don the veil, even for a day, even with the best intentions at heart, was to give place to the demonic influences of Islam—in terms of spiritual warfare, this was the equivalent of flying a white flag over the Pentagon. My insecurities deepened. 

To my surprise, that was the only negative comment about my participation in Hijab Day that I received. Instead, I was flooded with a wave of affirmation and support from other Pentecostal women, who praised the elegance of hijab, the value of interreligious understanding, and the practice of modesty in any form. A couple of my Pentecostal friends went so far as to join me in covering—the veiled selfie one friend sent me was accompanied by the fervent declaration “Modesty is beautiful!” It was clear that I had sold my own people short—these women leapt at the opportunity to bridge the gap between our two religious cultures. There were plenty of “likes” from Pentecostal men as well, even from several ministers. I was shocked. And I was a bit ashamed that I was shocked. 

As I sat in the Hijab Day discussion and listened to a panel of young Muslim women talk about their unique reasons for veiling and their individual journeys of faith, I thought deeply about my own. Being Pentecostal has a lot to do with living in the borders of things—we’re a people of first century doctrine and twenty-first century technologies, old-fashioned dress standards and newfangled beauty standards, living “in the world but not of the world.” That also means we live in the tensions between culture and politics, tolerance and literal interpretations of scripture, the soon-coming apocalypse and the need to coexist with our neighbors in the coming week. For some the hijab is a reminder that there are people whose faith contradicts our own. For some it’s a place of connection, a hole in the fence between Islam and Christianity where ideas can be exchanged. 

I won’t have the opportunity to wear hijab every day (for which my scalp is grateful). Still, my one day with the veil showed me that I am not the only member of my faith who is ready, even anxious, to talk about the things we have in common with Muslims. There is space for exchange. In our covering, we may find a haven for connection. 

Let’s start talking. 

Fifty Shades of Ash

Here’s a funny story. A church I was on staff with once had a “white elephant gift exchange” party. Apparently, there was this rule that if you touched a gift it became yours. As I was clearly not paying attention, I did not hear this crucial regulation. When my turn came up I started by perusing the gift options that had already been opened before heading to the table with all the still-wrapped gifts and bobbles. That’s when I came upon E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey and an accompanying small whip. This is the moment when remembering that “you touch it, you bought it” rule would have been important. Attempting to ever be the jester, I reached for the book and sealed my doom. 

The book, the bullwhip, were mine. And, as added benefit, I was the butt of all jokes for the rest of the evening. 

That whip proudly hung in my office over the next couple of years, resplendent with a red bow. I never read the book. But, from what I gather it’s about a virginal college student (Ana) who falls for a billionaire (Christian Grey) with a kink for BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism) relationships, and he wants the unspoiled Ana to play the submissive to his dominant.

There’s, well…how do you put this…been a lot of opinion whipping around the internet this last fortnight as the book came to the big screen on Valentine’s Day (how sweet). 

Not wanting to throw comment and critique to the way side (which is a nice way of saying I am going to) I am not about to weigh the merits and/or debatably deplorable nature of the book/film. Instead, I’m going to do what any normal person would do and make a clear connection between Fifty Shades of Grey, Ash Wednesday, and the forty days of Lent. 

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See the whip in the background? See the ambivalent look on my face? This is awkward. 

Today (February 18, 2015) is Ash Wednesday. Millions of Christians across the world -- Catholic, Lutheran, Anglicans, others — will commemorate the commencement of Lent, a 40-day penitential season of fasting and preparation preceding Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead — with the "imposition" or "infliction" of ashes on their foreheads.

The symbol of ashes on the forehead are meant to serve as a reminder of the contrite believers' physical return to dust (accompanied by a ritualistic repetition of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" or "from dust you came, from dust you shall return") and their spiritual condition as sinners in need of mourning over their sin, confession, and repentance. 

Here’s a sampling of a prayer from an Ash Wednesday liturgy, or rite of worship:

Savior, prostrate I fall at thy feet this day…to ponder upon thy passion….In spirit I appear before thee in sackcloth and ashes, in true repentance. Let not the pleasures of life….crowd thee out of my heart and out of my thoughts. Draw me to thy wounded side, and cleanse me with thy most precious blood….By thy grace let me crucify my sinful afflictions, lusts, and desires….I am dust, and to dust I shall return…chastise me, break my sinful will, restore me, cleanse me, O Lord. Amen. 

So, to recap: mourning, ashes, down on your knees, prostrate, no pleasure, sinful lust and temptation, wounds, blood, sinful afflictions, chastising, breaking. Are we talking Ash Wednesday here or Fifty Shades? 

Or, let’s put it another way, as an atheist friend of mine once asked me in Houston. After reading through the crucifixion narratives in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, she asked me, “does it ever appear to you that y’all have a ‘masochist Messiah?’ Really, with all the blood, pain, and sin payments you have a pretty sadistic spirituality. 

Do we Christians worship a "masochist Messiah?” Do we practice some sick, sadistic, 'Fifty Shades of Grey' spirituality? 

A lot of the censure that came out about the Fifty Shades book/film is that it denigrated women and promoted a myth of healthy violence. Indeed, in his book The Powers that Be, Walter Wink (excellent name, sir) called out religion’s role, Christianity included, in furthering the cause of “the myth of redemptive violence” which he saw as a literary/mythological tool that impacts modern culture and its role in maintaining oppressive power structures. Crucifixion as myth of redemptive violence anyone? 

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It’s true that Ash Wednesday, Lent, and other liturgical moments in the Christian church tend to invite us to the dark side of life, spirituality, and our relationship with the Creator of the cosmos. Yet, I don’t believe there is any good reason to say we worship a masochist Messiah or engage in a particularly sadistic spirituality replete with soul bondage and deistic domination. 

Instead, I contend, Ash Wednesday and Lent are times for us to collectively reflect on the very potent and omnipresent realities of suffering, pain, and death. It is a communal opportunity to acknowledge that there is misery, affliction, and slaughter in this world. 

Of course, we may not need to go to church to see this. We may need only look at the headlines. 

We look out on a world where a jihadist group is terrorizing its way across the Middle East and North Africa; planes fall out of the sky nearly every week; civilians are perishing in Israel-Gaza, the Ukraine, Somalia-Kenya; innocents are gunned down in our city streets, and others are wasting away under the threat of Ebola. The world, we feel, is collapsing around us. Closer to home, we are struggling with financial stress, cancer, broken relationships, piss-poor body image, binge drinking, or deeper personal pains. The world, our lives, are in such a mess that we might be tempted to cry out with the teacher from Ecclesiastes, “Meaningless, meaningless…everything is meaningless!” (Ecc. 12:18).

In truth, there is something to observing, and calling out, the wretchedness of this world. Rabbis from the early part of the first millennia said that after Adam and Eve fell in the garden that God did not assign the curses in Genesis 3, but he observed them. He said to our progenitors, “this is how it’s going to be now guys, this is the situation as it is — there will be pain, there will be sweat, there will be toil, there will be death. All because of sin.” 

Our ritual reading of the headlines, or the imposition of ashes, acknowledges the pain of the world and reminds us that we live in limited bodies, in a limited world, with death as its inevitable end. 

Bummer. Dude. 

Yet, while the headlines roll on in seemingly measureless melancholy and rancor fills our social media feeds over books, religious groups, or movies, Ash Wednesday and Lent remind us not only of the pain, but of the succor of our Savior. 

You see, there is not only one, single, shade to Ash Wednesday or Lent. It’s not just about death black and penitential purple. Sado-masochistic moods of repentance and anguish are not the sole shade of this season. Instead, the “fiftieth” shade of this season is one of heavenly hope, one of corporeal compassion, one of redemption. 

Indeed, the message of Ash Wednesday and Lent is not only that we are all going to die someday, but also that we will rise and be restored. How? Why? 

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Max Ernst's "Crucifixion" captures the pain, the agony, the violence, of the cross. 

The message of Ash Wednesday, Lent, and the Gospel is that Jesus lived amidst the pain, the suffering, the death and he felt it personally, in his body. He was touched with the same feeling, able to sympathize with our weakness (Heb 4:15-16). He knew our pain. He did not revel in it or celebrate it. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, stricken, smitten, and afflicted (Is. 53). 

Instead of inviting us into the myth of redemptive violence this season and the liturgical rhythms invite us to embrace the reality of redemptive suffering. 

More than simply going through the motions of Lent, or even endeavoring to fast our way through the forty days, the call of this penitential season is to let those forty days transform, and even transfigure, us. 

And what is the transformation? Turning from an elitist, escapist, and illusory understanding of the world as all glory and growth to a redemptive, real, and tender understanding of the suffering in our world. But we mustn't stop there. We must see the redemptive value of suffering. 

South African anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu wrote, “When we are able to see the larger purpose of our suffering, it is transformed, transmuted. It becomes redemptive suffering.” When we see what Christ did with suffering, sin, and death on the cross by defeating them, today’s suffering is put in its place, in its rightful perspective. And we can suffer it, knowing it does not have the final word. The pain is transformed, it is transfigured. 

Richard Rohr, a Catholic contemplative, added that pain, if not transformed, will be transmitted. Think about that. If we do not allow our pain, our suffering to be transformed by Jesus, it will be spread out to others or, in the very least, other parts of our own life. Think of all the untransformed pain and how it has spread – in bitter fights in our home, in passive aggressive rage at work, in friendships spoiled, in massacre, rape, thievery, jealousy, and acidic anger. 

But when our pain is transformed it contributes to the healing and re-creation of the world. So then how we decide to respond to the pain & suffering in our life is a very serious matter.

Just as Jesus’ life has this rhythm to it, so does our spirituality: Redemption involves suffering; transfiguration involves pain; resurrection always involves the cross. We follow in his suffering, because we follow Him in redemption. They are connected. No cross, then no crown, it would seem as Claude Nikondeha put it.

It is my prayer for you, for me, this Ash Wednesday and Lent that we may, in the smearing of ashes across our foreheads, in the hunger pains of fasting, or in the simple prayers of repentance and reminders of everyday suffering, see see the strange, mystical, and miraculous connection between suffering and redemption.  

Or as, the novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky put it, I pray “you will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.” 

You see, as we suffer, and allow that pain to be redeemed we contribute to the transfiguration of the world in some mystical way. We are partnering with Christ in the restoration of all things. We are letting Christ do his work, and have his way with us. In this season we are not only living the forty shades of Lent or the fifty shades of ash, but embodying the many shades of God’s redemptive work in the world through suffering, pain, and death. 

And that is a thought to dwell on today, and throughout, I think, the season of Lent to come.

Religion in your face: Ash Wednesday & religious face markings

"Dude, you've...um...I think you have dirt on your face."

"No sir, it's not dirt. It's a marker of allegiance to a particular strand of religiosity, in this instance focused on a liturgical posture of penance, which, in turn, may have little bearing on my day-to-day lived religious identity and practice....but yeah, otherwise, it's dirt on my face." 

Or, perhaps, ash would be more accurate. Tomorrow (February 18, 2015) is Ash Wednesday. Millions of Christians across the world -- Catholic, Lutheran, Anglicans, others -- will commemorate the commencement of Lent -- a 40-day penitential season of fasting and preparation preceding Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead -- with the "imposition" or "infliction" of ashes on their foreheads. 

*For more on religion & culture, follow @kchitwood on Twitter

Christians are not alone in marking their faces with religious symbols. There are traditions in India, New Zealand, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere that involve religious symbology being born on foreheads, cheeks, and mouth. While this may seem an extreme sign of devotion, more often than not, these religious facial markings tell us relatively little about the lived religion of the devotee marking their visible features with spiritual symbols. 

Ash Wednesday

The symbol of ashes on the forehead are meant to serve as a reminder of the contrite believers' physical return to dust (accompanied by a ritualistic repetition of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" or "from dust you came, from dust you shall return") and their spiritual condition as sinners in need of mourning over their sin, confession, and repentance. 

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A Filipino woman has her forehead graced with ashes in remembrance of the Christian holiday "Ash Wednesday," marking the culmination of the penitential 40-day season of Lent. 

While traditionally practiced among Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Lutherans, there are a growing number of evangelical and other mainline Protestant churches taking up the practice. And not only are Christians getting their ash in church, they're getting dusted in the streets. In her book City of God, recovering journalist and Episcopalian lay liturgist Sara Miles shared her Lenten adventure of perambulating San Francisco's mission district in black cassock on Ash Wednesday marking those she meets with the ashes of Lent. There, in the cracked sidewalks and fractured realities of the city she calls home, Miles finds bodies marked not only with poverty and pain, but "the realities of death." 

Revealing in an interview with Publisher's Weekly the premise that "God has left the [church] building," Miles believes she does not take faith to the streets, but finds it there. "I am in this privileged position to get to see what people's experience of faith and God is, and for each person it is slightly different." In her book she aims to voice this urban canon, this discovery of people who are "hungry for something that's real."

Of marking foreheads with ashes, Miles says the yearning for belief that is solid and can be touched is part of the draw of that ritual. "It's stunning how many people want to be told they are dust and that they will die," she says. "The chronic lie of our culture is that people don't die. But people want to know the truth."

For over twelve hundred years on the dies cinerum (Day of Ashes) faithful followers have approached the altar to receive ashes on their foreheads. These ashes are often made from the burnt palm fronds that were blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. The ashes are sprinkled with water, usually fragranced with incense and blessed. The ceremonial use of ashes for repentance and penance can be traced even further back and is practiced throughout the world. 

What this seemingly utmost devotional act does not reveal is how quickly many practitioners may wash their foreheads or remove their ashes once they leave the sanctuary. In the case of the individuals on the streets of San Francisco, and elsewhere, that get their ashes to-go, it tells us nothing of their personal faithfulness through the rest of Lent or as day-to-day Christians for that matter. 

South Indian Tripundra 

The same can be said for the mark of a saiva in South India known as the "tripundra" (also "tilak").

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Consisting of three horizontal lines of vibhuti (holy ash) on the forehead often with a dot (bindu) acting as "a third eye," the tripundra may evoke a sense of the Ash Wednesday practice. However, there are different motivations in this Hindu tradition.  The three lines symbolize the the real self's (atman's) three bonds: anava, karma, and maya.

Anava is the sense of "I" or "mine" within each of us and is, according to the Shaiva tradition under consideration by Dr. Elaine Fisher of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the impetus for the individual atman's misplaced notion of separate being apart from the god Shiva. It is the final bond to be broken before moksha, or self-realization and release. Karma literally means "action, work or deed." In both Buddhist and Hindu traditions, karma is the universal law of cause and effect -- the effect (or fruits) of a person's actions not only have ramifications in this life, but also in the next. Over the centuries, the various schools of Hinduism have conceived of many variations on the karmic theme, some making karma appear quite deterministic, others making room for free will and individual agency. Maya is power and wisdom. The debate rages over whether this ability is real or illusory. In some Vedic texts, maya is a "magical show, an illusion," but in Shaivism maya is potent and truly existent and deterministic. It is real insofar as it endows the individual with the cosmos, tangible elements of the world, and a body to be realized, and to practice, in. However, the vibhuti, composed of burnt cow dung, or in some Shaiva traditions the funerary ashes of cremated corpses, is an omnipresent reminder of the temporary nature of physical existence and the urgency to strive for self-realization and spiritual attainment (moksha).

As Fischer explained the bearing of tripundra actively mark's one in South India as part of a certain body/religious public and community, but it tells us little else about other aspects of their religious identity.  

Māori Ta Moko 

This dynamic is even more evident in the modern practice of ta moko among Māori, and others, in Aotearoa (New Zealand). 

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Uetonga tattooing his son-in-law Mataora in the under world. 

The Māori traditionally chiseled marks on their faces, called ta moko. Each individual’s ta moko is unique and sacred to them. As mentioned, the traditional way of applying ta moko to the face was to dip a narrow blade in black pigment and then tap the blade with a mallet to chisel deep incisions into the skin. This process not only left a tattoo of the designs, but permanent grooves in the skin. Today, most ta moko are tattooed according to international standards, but still informed by Māori lore. 

The traditional form of ta moko was practiced by tohunga, who were both ritual experts and skilled artisans. A woman’s moko, which covered only the chin and lips, would take one or two days to complete. A man’s moko, which covered the whole face, was done in stages over several years due to the immense pain, swelling, and blood often involved in the process. Because of this, while the scars were healing, the person being tattooed was in a state of tapu (taboo, sacred or set apart). They could not look in a mirror, touch their own food, engage in sexual activity, or even wash the tattooed skin. 

It is mythically believed that the Māori received the practice of ta moko from the underworld -- Rarohenga -- when the ancestor Mataora went in search of his wife Niwareka there. Encountering a different people than what he was used to in "the upper world," Mataora came across a man being tattooed and bleeding profusely. He thought something must be wrong. Uetonga, the chief applying the tattoo, informed Mataora that his method of tattooing was permanent, while the upper world's was "merely a marking" (whakairo tuhi or hopara makaurangiI) that could be wiped away. The tattoos were often made of red, blue, and white ochre and were temporary. Uetonga then smeared Mataora's tuhi and instructed him in the ways of ta moko, puncturing his skin and marking the lines in his face with a chisel. When Mataora returned to the upper world, he adopted ta moko and made it known among the Maori and their neighbors. As the myth says, "prior to the visit of Mataora to Rarohenga, people painted pictures on their faces" and now they practice "real tattooing by puncture." 

Since the 1970s and 80s, some Māori have begun wearing ta moko again as a marker, and assertion of their cultural identity as part of the wider Māori cultural revival (Ngā tuakiri hōu). Even a few Māori tattoo artists are reviving traditional methods of applying ta moko to the face, thighs, and arms. Formerly a sign of status and prestige, now Māori people who wear ta moko assert their identity in a world of rapid change and cultural incursion. 

Sub-Saharan African Tribal Marks

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A Maasai woman with facial markings on her cheeks. 

Similarly in many locales throughout sub-Saharan Africa various tribes include face markings as part of their ethnic identification. However, some markings in African tribes have more spiritual intimations. In some Yoruba settings children believed to be a "reincarnated child" (abiku), will be given marks on their face and body. It is believed that to take away the potentially destructive spiritual powers of the child, he/she has to be identified by the marks when he/she is born. Otherwise, it is believed, the child may die at an early age. It can also be used to wade away evil spirits ravaging around a certain group of people or family. In this case, the marks are not only on the face but other parts of the body as well. In Ghana among most tribes a "reincarnated child," referred to as "Kosanma" will bear "Donko" marks on the face.

Like the Yoruba, most tribes in sub-Saharan Africa give marks to their people for spiritual protection. Most often, it is religious ritual experts (shamans, herbalists, etc.) who apply the marks by cutting the body and inserting powerful herbs with spiritual potency to help heal the wound. Cuts will not only be made on the face, but on hips, wrists, stomachs, and shoulders. 

Regardless of the source or tradition, most who do not practice such religious facial markings may react with surprise or even horror when they see someone with their religious identity splashed, or scarred, across their faces. Extreme. Outlandish. Drastic. 

In one sense, inscribing, or marking, one's religion on one's face is powerful and evocative. Not only does it identity the believer with a particular religious or cultural community, it also locates that believer within the drama. By marking one's body, either permanently or temporarily, the adherent weaves themselves into the dogmatic and ritualistic narrative of their religion. With permanent markings, this placement is deeper both physically -- scars and chiseled skin -- and spiritually. 

Yet, as has been hinted at throughout this post, while these markings may disclose a particular religious self-identification or membership in a certain religious community or body politic, they tell us very little about how these individuals construct their daily religious life or if they do so at all. In a globalized world, cultural identity is a precious commodity. Thus, facial markings are a way to fetishize the body, to inscribe it with communal meaning, profound purpose, and public sacrality in a world perceived as increasingly homogenous, superficial, individualized, secular, and privatized.

More often than not, these markings are temporary. When they are not, they are markers of cultural identity more than religious ritual. Either way, they force the issue of religiosity in the 21st-century and continuously drive us to ask why it is that so many, whether Christian or Māori, Yoruba or Hindu, choose to not only bear their religion on their face, but put it in ours as they meet us in the public square. By proudly bearing their markings for a day, a season, or their entire lives, these devotees and religious faithful are a constant reminder that religion has not gone by the wayside in a globalized world, but is ever more present, potent, and potentially "in our face." 

*For more on religion & culture, follow @kchitwood on Twitter