#FaithGoesPop - SPECIAL Sports Extra Edition

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 continue to do well, don't stop! Keep Tweeting & sending me the sightings as you find them. 

Now, in honor of NBA/NHL playoffs & the recent 'May the 4th' festivities, we've got sports faith & special Star Wars saints & gods sightings, plus more. Read on below #FaithGoesPopanistas

Star Wars Icons -- May the force be with you

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St. Ackbar: patron saint of Ewoks, traps, rebels. 

Some students give teachers apples. Other students paint elaborate icons of your favorite Star Wars galaxy heroes. Only one of them gets an "A" in the class. 

Dr. Annette Yoshiko Reed (@AnnetteYReed) shared a painting from her grad student that depicted Admiral Ackbar as St. Gail Ackbar, in Greek Orthodox icon form along with his distinctive salmon-colored skin, high-domed head and large fish-like eyes peering into the believers soul even as the believer peers into his Calamari presence. 

A member of the amphibious Mon Calamari species, St. Ackbar was the foremost military commander of the Rebel Alliance and led major combat operations against the Galactic Empire. He is most famously known for recognizing it was a trap on the moon of Endor.  

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DWWY? 

Now, if Ackbar is a saint, what does that make Yoda? A deity, apparently. The well-parodied ichthus bumper decals have another competitor out there beyond the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Darwin fish. Nowadays, there's Yoda to spar with for space on people's bumpers (read more about "bumper sticker religion"). If you think the Bible is hard to understand wait until you open up any number of Yoda's quixotic parables. Indeed, instead of asking 'What Would Jesus Do?' we would instead be pondering the implications of 'Do What Would Yoda?' (DWWY) 

Pastor Calls on God for Lightning to Strike 

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Good, good - but would you pray for the Bucs...there gonna need it this season!

We've all done it. When it comes down to crunch time at the end of the season, we've snuck in a little prayer to the "big guy upstairs" and hoped that he too might be a fan of our favorite sports team. We've even often to make sacrifices if our team might win the championship. 

"Please God, if INSERT TEAM HERE wins, I'll start going to church again." 

Well, now Rev. Tyler Moore of Our Savior Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg, FL took it to the next level and started posting encouraging, optimistic, signs in support of his NHL team -- the Tampa Bay Lightning.  

Moore, a fellow Concordia University Irvine alumni along with his wife Cassie, told Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy:

“I’ve been at this church in St. Pete now, going on two years, and I really wanted to do it when the Lightning made the playoffs last year, but as you recall maybe, it was right before Easter, so I couldn’t get away with a sign right before Easter, so this year the timing worked out,” he said. “I’m having a blast with it. The congregation, they’re laughing a little bit because they love it. It’s their goofy pastor having a good time with it.”

— Rev. Tyler Moore, Lightning/Jesus fan

Devotional song to the Honey Badger 

Of course, church signs are one thing. Devotional ballads are another. Nick "The Honey Badger" Cummins finally brought his weird, but wonderful, commentary to the U.S. with his latest post-game antics, which The Huffington Post called "The Most Confusing Interview Ever." For us rugby fans, "the Badge" is already a "bloody legend" (even though he is an Aussie), but now his loyal fan base is worldwide as SB Nation translated lines like, "It was quite an emotional loss, but jeez there's a bee's wanger it in and we're not far off" referring to the Western Force's (his rugby team) many close calls this season as they are winners of the wooden spoon (lowest on the table) so far this Super Rugby season. 

As Australian reporter James Dator wrote, "[t]here aren't enough adjectives to accurate[ly] convey just how awesome Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins is. The Australian rugby star is known for his down-to-earth demeanor and post-game interviews that confuse anyone on the planet who isn't Australian."

But did you know that he also has his own devotees. Looking to the man known as "the Poet of Perth" and the "rugby sage with golden curls," his interview tidbits are looked to here as parabolic pearls of wisdom come down from the footie gods. Need proof? Just watch this devotional song to "The Honey Badger." 

Lord, have mercy. 

All Hail JJ Watt, Savior of the Texans

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As with the Bieber photo from last month's #FaithGoesPop sightings, you can't un-see this. 

Rugby not your thing? More into American Gridiron -- the NFL? Then JJ Watt may be your man. Not only is JJ Watt a defensive giant for the Houston Texans, he's the best son in the world and a guy who makes kid's wildest dreams come true (and many of their mother's dreams as well). Simply put, JJ Watt is awesome. 

But is he divine? 

Last year, an anonymous JJ Watt disciple sent me this pic of a homemade JJ Watt altar. Wow. 

Why not have him enshrined? He almost single handedly won every game for the Texans last year. Of course, Texans fans will be praying to Watt, Wotan, or Woto next year to redeem their team after a dismal 2014 season. 

Muslim comedy to fight ISIS

To switch gears, and get more serious, Bhakti M. shared the story of Humza Arshad. The London-based comedian and creator/star of "The Diary of a Badman," is household name among Muslims in the UK. Now, he has teamed up with London's Metropolitan Police "to steer vulnerable young Muslims away from extremism." 

While the BuzzFeed article makes it seem as if every kid Arshad performs to is on the verge of violent acts of terror, the comedian is part of a wider effort among Muslims worldwide to combat ISIS, and other terror groups, with comedy. 

Laughs, not bombs. 

Comedy, not tragedy. 

ISIS is renowned for its all too clever use of online videos, social media, and technology to advance its cause. It's only fair if those who vehemently disagree with al-Dawla al-Islamiyya's interpretation of Islam should fight back with the same means. It all goes to show that despite the claims of some anti-Muslim pundits, Islam is not only conducive to modernity, but its adherents are positively masterful at utilizing its tools. 

Hip Hop Last Supper

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While in Austin, TX at Hops & Grain Brewery I was having a conversation with the tap-man about religion, beer, and spirituality. Both the IBUs and the conversation were getting heavy, so I took a break to walk around the brewery and came across this painting.

The Hip Hop Last Supper, featuring Snoop Lion in the center flanked by artists such as Tupac Shakur, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard at a table set with 40s, fried chicken, and Mary Jane buds. It makes a statement, to say the least. 

This Spring, I've been taking an EdX course via Rice University X taught by Dr. Anthony Pinn and Professor Bun B called "Religion and Hip Hop Culture." As part of the course, we've discussed how religion can be framed as "the quest for complex subjectivity" and defined that way hip hop can not only contest, and augment, religion, but also serve as a replacement for it. 

If we were ever in need of evidence for it, this painting might be proof. 

*Read more about religion and hip hop culture HERE. 

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How Jesus is Saving Primetime

Thanks also to the sleuths out there who have read previous posts and keep sending in relevant sightings.

After my post talking about biblical movies and TV being "the new digital cathedrals" Sandy B sent me this photo of the show A.D. gracing the cover of T.V. Guide with the lede, "How Jesus is saving primetime." Nice sighting Sandy! 

Be sure to keep sending the #FaithGoesPop sightings in via Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail and be sure to use the hash-tag #FaithGoesPop. 

Peace. 

The Taíno: Lost tribe of the Caribbean?

This semester I am wrapping up a course on Religions of Latin America. The course has covered everything from pre-Columbia Mexica sacrifice to Brazilian Millenarian movements in Canudos and navigating religion, race, power, and sexuality in Nicaragua.

Along with being a required course in my PhD track at University of Florida (Religion in the Americas), it has been a fascinating journey over time and geography, which has revealed to me different ways of studying religion & understanding Latin America as a place of long history, colonial encounter, and contemporary religious diversity in a (post)modern world. 

*Read my reflection on Mexica sacrifice HERE

One of the assignments we had for this class was to do a literature review on a particular topic. I was deciding between indigenous, pre-colonial, religion and Islam in Latin America. I decided I would do both, one for the class and one on my own time. When I decided on pre-colonial religion and cosmologies I had to decide where or whom.

This summer I am headed to Puerto Rico for preliminary fieldwork for my study of Puerto Rican Islam in trans(regional), hemispheric, and global context. As a scholar, I am interested in deep cultural history, understanding the ways in which contemporary cultures and expressions are shaped, sometimes unknowingly, by ancient lifeways. Thus, in studying Puerto Rico and engaging in ethnography in the Caribbean I decided to uncover what there is to know about the Taíno people who originally inhabited Borikén (the Taíno name for Puerto Rico). 

*Follow Ken for more on religion & culture

The Taíno people were the indigenous community who "greeted" Columbus and were subsequently decimated by colonial encounter, slavery, disease, suicide, and war. They had a rich matrilineal chiefdom political culture led by caciques, a social network based on kinship and complex ritual and ball games, a religious cosmology that parallels that of other Latin American peoples (specifically because of their origins in the Orinoco delta region), and practices that involved the use of entheogens (cohoba), complex statuary (zemis), and ritual vomiting. 

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Infamous Taíno "three-pointer" statuary. 

They are a fascinating, but vastly understudied indigenous culture. However, there are those who have ventured to understand the Taíno via archaeology and (re)constructive ethnohistory. Their work is to be commended. It will also prove helpful as I begin to explore Boricua culture and religion in its historical context. With the neo-Taíno movement still in force and with Taíno culture living on in language, cultural rhythms, and the imagination, I cannot ignore the long history of a people once thought lost to the annals of time. 

What I discovered in this literature review is that themes of migration, encounter, and hybridity, which defined and gave shape to the Taíno culture, are still relevant and prevalant today. I encourage you to check out the paper at Academia.edu. You will learn more not only about the Taíno, but also about reviewing literature from an academic perspective, current methodological considerations in anthropology (both physical and cultural), and also gain a greater appreciation for Caribbean studies. 

Here's an excerpt:

“They are the people who first encountered Columbus. Their culture flourished in the centuries immediately preceding this ominous engagement with European explorers, conquerors, & colonizers. They were eradicated in a cruel combination of warfare, slavery, suicide, and disease. Today, they are extinct. They are the Taíno people of the Caribbean. Their narrative is one of movement and migration, one of cultural efflorescence and precipitous decline, of stunning stonework and a complex politico-religious hierarchy that was at once patriarchal and matrilineal. Though they are, effectively, no longer in existence, the Taíno influence and relevance for understanding the Caribbean (not to mention their role in the broader context of the Americas) cannot be overlooked. Building on the pioneering research of Ricardo Alegría and Irving Rouse and relying on primary documents from Spanish interlocutors such as Bartolomé de las Casas and Fr. Ramón Pané, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnohistorians and art historians over the last twenty years have begun to shine more light on who the Taíno were, what they believed, how they lived, and what their enduring effect on the Caribbean and Latin America is.

The following is a literature review of three books on the Taíno which focused on their political, social, and religious life. This review is concerned primarily with identifying features of these works’ significance for the ethnographic study of the Caribbean today. The three books under review are Irving Rouse’s The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus, William F. Keegan’s Taíno Indian Myth and Practice: The Arrival of the Stranger King, and the collection Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean edited by Fatima Bercht, Estrellita Brodsky, John Alan Farmer, and Dicey Taylor for El Museo del Barrio. The essay will proceed by presenting a brief synopsis and commentary on each book’s individual contents before putting the texts in conversation on specific themes such as methodology, migration and cultural encounter, and the relevance of the study for contemporary ethnographic work.”

— Taíno Literature Review, Ken Chitwood

*Read the rest of the review HERE.

You can call me "Rev" (almost)

That’s right. I’m gettin’ ordained. Gator-style. 

To all of my friends, family, and supporters: 

On Sunday April 19, 2015 First Lutheran Church (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) in Gainesville, FL voted unanimously to extend a call to me to serve as their Assistant Pastor. I will accept this call and be ordained into the office of public ministry and installed at FLC Gainesville on Sunday June 7, 2015. 

Below is a letter that explains why I am accepting this call, who I have to thank for this, what I will be doing in this calling, and a little about how I am going to balance between being a full-time religion scholar and a called and ordained Lutheran pastor. 

This is the culmination of a multi-year process. There were many of you who, along the way, encouraged me to consider pastoral ministry. For that, I am heartily grateful. Ever since I was in high school I have had various mentors who motivated me and I am indebted to them as well. From being baptized at Prince of Peace (Fremont, CA) to my upbringing and confirmation at Trinity Lutheran Church (Simi Valley, CA), and my practical training at churches such as the Manawatu Parish in Palmerston North and Feilding, New Zealand there have been many congregations, pastors, and leaders who have shaped me along the way. In addition to these churches, I must thank my friends and mentors at Simi Covenant Church (Simi Valley, CA); Mt. Hope Community Church (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA); Aliso Viejo Church of the Cross (CA); St. Luke’s (Westminster, CA); Abbey West (Irvine, CA); the Themba Trust (Mabola, South Africa); Mountain View Lutheran Church (Apache Junction, AZ); International Friendship House (Tempe, AZ); LINC Houston (TX); Memorial Lutheran Church (Katy, TX); CrossPoint Community Church (Katy, TX); and especially the faculty and staff at CUI and the CMC.

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The campus at FLC Gainesville, FL. 

My mother likes to remind me that for a second grade journal entry when the class was prompted to write about “what I want to be when we grow up” I wrote, “I want to be a preacher” and drew an albed man in the pulpit with an arm raised in proclamation. While this may have been an initial spark, I remember the moment when I concretely felt an “inner call” to pastoral ministry. Attending a service at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wellington, New Zealand I was watching Rev. Dr. Mark Whitfield administer communion and I thought to myself, “I want to serve in that way.” 

When Elizabeth and I returned to the U.S. after our time abroad I enrolled in seminary with the Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC) at Concordia University Irvine (CUI). The CMC is an alternative route to ordination in the LCMS and as such is committed to forming faithful missionary pastors to initiate and develop culture-crossing ministries. Guided by the mission of CUI and in partnership with Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the CMC is faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions without compromise. After four years of academic study with a concurrent vicarage, graduates finish with a Master of Arts in Theology and Culture from CUI and receive full certification for ordination as a pastor in the LCMS. The CMC program is focused on mission integration with the everyday life of its trainees, embedded learning in missiological and cross-cultural contexts, international and intergenerational diversity, and professional excellence in the classroom and the parish. 

In addition to the call to pastoral ministry I also remember the moment I felt called to teach at the university level. I was sitting in the late Rev. Dr. Eshetu Abate Koyra’s Systematics class and thought to myself, “I want to do this someday.” Thus, upon completion of my MA I was admitted to the PhD program in religious studies at the University of Florida and deferred an immediate call to a congregation. 

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While  I am motivated by my theological perspectives I am primarily informed by the ethnographic, historical, and sociological study of religion and driven by a passion for religious literacy in my role, and calling, as a religion scholar studying global Islam and religion in the Americas. 

As a PhD student in the Religion Department at the University of Florida I am engaged in a course of study in which I focus on Religion in the Americas and Global Islam. My particular areas of research include global Islam, Islam in the Americas, globalization and religion, intersections of religion & culture, Christian-Muslim relations, global Christianity, and theoretical approaches to the study religious studies theory. I also continue to write & speak on the topic of religion and culture as both an academic and a journalist covering 'the god beat’ for national print and digital publications. As you well know, I blog about religion and culture and all of my work can found here.

Even with accepting the call to FLC Gainesville I will remain full-time in my studies and work for the university. I am being called as a bi-vocational pastor to serve by preaching, teaching, assisting with sermon and worship planning, overseeing digital media at FLC, and assisting with other pastoral duties as need be. A bi-vocational pastor is an ordained minister who follows the model of the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:34) by offering ministry without expectation of full-time remuneration, instead supplying his primary vocational and financial needs via another job or business outside the church. 

Bi-vocational ministry has a long history in the service of the church. Often times, for many reasons and in various contexts, pastors have served out their call with a congregation while at the same time earning their living through their own entrepreneurial efforts or employment in another line of work. The term “part-time” is not an accurate way to describe a bi-vocational pastor. While I may be receiving a partial salary, I am is still a full-time pastor. Furthermore, a bi-vocational pastor should not be considered with any more or less esteem than any other type of pastor serving the church.

There will obviously be tensions with this call. Not only will I have to balance my multiple vocations, or callings, as husband, son, brother, PhD student, public intellectual, and pastor, but I will also have to navigate the ambiguities and ambivalences present in being both a scholar of religion and a theologian (how to do that is the subject for another post for the future). While I am motivated by my theological perspectives I am primarily informed by the ethnographic, historical, and sociological study of religion and driven by a passion for religious literacy in my role, and calling, as a religion scholar studying global Islam and religion in the Americas. In short, I feel called to the work of religious literacy and serving in both of these capacities allows me to, in my humble opinion, do each better. 

As it says on my bio page, I intend to serve as a forward-thinking Lutheran theologian & pastor who accents 'glocal' 21st-century Christianity as a "theologian without borders." Weaving together historical context, societal exegesis, & a fair dose of ironic humor, my goal is to serve & speak with power, love, & sound mind. 

In order to successfully serve in both capacities as PhD student and pastor I covet your thoughts, prayers, and support. I also ask that you think of my wife — Elizabeth — an accomplished woman on her own right who also buoys my work as my life partner. To her I am eternally thankful. In addition to my parents Bob and Sandy, my brother Brett, my grandmother Millie, and my wider family I have had a lifelong support system that has prompted me in this direction in ways both seen and unseen. Thank you. I love you. 

If you have any more questions or comments concerning my ordination I ask that you either leave a comment below or contact me via my website. I invite you all to my ordination service in June. It’s going to be fun. If you would like to send your greetings you can post them to: First Lutheran Church, 1801 NW 5th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32603.

Peace - Ken

The Boston Marathon & Running as Religion

In just a few days the throng of annual pilgrims will amass on their sacred city, the epicenter of their universe, the axis mundi of their religious worldview. 

Will it be in Varanasi? In Rome? In Mecca, perchance? 

No, this pilgrimage is to Boston. Or, rather, to Hopkinton -- the starting line of the Boston Marathon. Yes, indeed, the annual Boston Marathon is more than a marathon, it's a quintessential example of (post)modern religious pilgrimage. 

While to some, running is a form of release and to others it’s simply exercise (read: torture), for a growing minion, running is religion. While some weekend warriors bemoan the fact that running hurts, that legs burn, lungs contract, brows sweat (along with a myriad of other body parts) and on long runs the minutes pass by like hours and the miles like molasses, many other athletes really enjoy the pentative part of running.

*For more on religion & culture follow Ken on Twitter

Indeed, in many ways, running is a new form of religious asceticism complete with its own austere disciplines, literature, fellowship, shrines, meditative practices and proselytizing prophets and priests. It also creates, as Emile Durkheim evinces, a "collective effervescence" of community cohesion and social interaction for the gathered faithful.

In this (post)modern world, running is but one of the ways that we "spiritual, but not religious" find religion. Running, in three key ways I explain below, is part of humanity's "quest for complex subjectivity" (Anthony Pinn) in which they seek to answer the fundamental questions of life (who we are, why we are here, what matters, how we fit into the cosmos) in order to invest life with meaning in relation to transcendent realities. 

Jogging with the gods -- running asceticism

Asceticism is defined as “severe self-discipline and avoidance of indulgence.” Whatever form asceticism takes, it always involves discipline for the sake of advancement. Typically, religious adherents use spiritual and physical disciplines, often quite austere ones at that, to grow closer to the divine and to follow a path of true religious devotion. To outside observers some of these grave disciplines seem strange.

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The gods of running, transversing hell so that we don't have to. 

For example, there is the story of a Christian ascetic who one day slaps a mosquito on his shoulder. Upon realizing that this was a denial of suffering and that such tribulation was a part of his walk with Jesus he promptly went down to a nearby swamp, shed his clothing and stood waist deep in the waters for several hours. Upon returning from the swamp he walked into the city and no one recognized him because he was so disfigured and swollen from the mass of mosquito bites he endured. 

Intense.

An observer might react in a similar way to the story of multiple runners who compete annually in the Badwater Ultramarathon, which runs from the depths of Death Valley to the heights of the Mt. Whitney portal amidst the searingly hot temperatures of mid-July. Enduring stomach illness, sunburn, melting shoes, festering blisters, tearing muscles, hallucinations and sheer exhaustion to complete a 135-mile course that gains some 8,000 feet in elevation.

Again, intense.

All for what? A belt-buckle, a certificate printed on cheap parchment and a technical tee?

Or is the experience about something more?

A perusal of recollections of Badwater Ultra experiences include references to the spiritual journey, the solitude of the course and even one reference to fellow Badwater “Mystics.”

The feelings of pain that a runner experiences in training and in racing all pale in comparison to the rush of completing a race or struggling through salt-crusted dehydration to attain a long awaited form of marathon moksha – a release from the pressures and suffering of this present world...or in the case, this present race.

The organizers of another ultra-marathon akin to Badwater, the Ocean Floor Race, which takes competitors through a torturous 160 miles in the Egyptian desert don’t shy away from such spiritual talk:

a theme that seems to be fairly constant among entrants is how liberating it can be. Many people are consumed with pressures of modern living….By totally removing a person from that environment and stripping away these interruptions they are briefly liberated and removed from the modern pressures society imposes on them and taken on an adventure that people will rarely get to experience in a location few will get to go.

Other runners engage in running asceticism for the simple pleasure of the “runner’s high.” The “runner’s high” is actually a physio-chemical reaction induced by the body’s release of endorphins during extreme conditions. There is a rush of emotion, physical relaxation and an overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquility. In many ways the “runner’s high” can be said to substitute the “mystical union” that people such as Bernard of Clairveaux or Teresa of Avila have described in their own mystical memoirs. As with running asceticism, these mystics engaged in austere practices for the sake of some ecstatic moment of release and overwhelming elation akin to a “runner’s high.”

Emile Durkheim called asceticism "the negative cult" and included it as an essential component of religious life in his collective musings on religion in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. He said that it is the aescetic virtuosos (the elite marathons and ultramarathoners of the world) that exist so that the laity (the everyday marathoners and weekend warriors) might follow their example, albeit in a limited and restrained fashion. He wrote concerning those ascetic virtuosos, "the contempt that they profess for all that ordinarily impassions men strikes us as bizarre. But those extremes are necessary to maintain among the faithful an adequate level of distaste for easy living and mundane pleasures. An elite must set the goal too high so that the mass does not set it too low. Some must go to extremes so that the average may remain high enough." (320-321) 

"By the very act of renouncing things, he has risen above things. Because he has silenced nature, he is stronger than nature," said Durkheim. Indeed, he intimated that the ascetic may even become "equal or superior to the gods." (316)

Replete with ascetic dimensions and ecstatic spiritual experiences for the individual runner, one can easily deduce how religion is like a personal spiritual discipline. However, the religious characteristics of running do not stop there. Beyond personal practices there is also a growing communal element of “religious running” that includes prophets, fellowships and spiritual gathering places.

Prophetic utterances

No more vocal and more outlandish than the Old Testament’s Isaiah, ultra-marathon legend and running spokesperson Dean Karnazes certainly qualifies as a running prophet.

Dean Karnazes sees running as more than a physical experience, but a spiritual awakening. He wrote in 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days – and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance, “The marathon is not about running; it is about salvation.”

To that end, Karnazes preaches the running gospel in word and deed by regularly appearing at running events and engaging in physical feats of running extremism such as the running of 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days that he recorded in the above book. The man is an animal for running extremes and has a voracious appetitive for publicity, all for the sake of converting you, the reader and couch potato, into a runner.

Then there is Kaj Arnö who founded "Runnism" the official religion of running. He wrote:

“Born out of the mental peace of mind instilled by long-distance running, Runnism worships physical well-being. It starts from a simple insight: looking at running as a religion holds the promise of a happier, more energetic everyday life.”

— Kaj Arnö, founder of Runnism

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Arnö makes it evident that "runnism isn’t a true religion" and that it can fit the lifestyles of Buddhists, Catholics, and even atheists. He says on his website, "runnists are tolerant and respectful of true religions, while at the same time approaching life with a light heart and lots of humour." 

Still, he recognizes that "[r]eligion is important for man. And runnism derives its power from the analogy with religion."

This is an example of a "hyper-real" religion. First coined by Adam Possamai in Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament, a hyper-real religion is "a simulacrum (an imitation) of a religion created out of, or in symbiosis with, commodified popular culture which provides inspiration at a metaphorical level and/or is a source of beliefs in everyday life." Thus, Runnism mimes religion and mines its meanings to give it shape, but is confessedly a fake. Even so, it can be, in the words of David Chidester, an "authentic fake" a fake religion that takes on "real" status in the minds and lives of its adherents to the point that their life interactions, investments, and inspirations are shaped by it. 

Indeed, as Dr. George Sheehan, former medical editor for Runner's World magazine, wrote concerning the prompt, "Is running a religion?" that, "running...is just a monastery -- a retreat, a place to commune with God and yourself, a place for psychological and spiritual renewal." Nowhere is this hyper-real communion of running religion more evident than when the collective community is gathered for its own form of pilgrimage -- the race. 

Come to me, all who are sweaty and fast-footed

Durkheim, though he may be critiqued on many levels, pointed out to us that religion is in many ways a sociological phenomenon as much as a spiritual one. When it comes to running religion there is ample evidence to attest to this fact. 

There are clubs across the world that provide runners a means of fellowship quite like the local synagogue or church. To be sure, in most running clubs you can find the traditional aspects of any church: fellowship, discipleship, worship, service and outreach. Runners fellowship via regular training runs, races and social events like “pub runs.” They learn from local talent and invite experts to come and speak at club meetings like disciples with a rabbi. They admire and revere their best runners and venerate the pros who set records and win races like saints. They volunteer at running events, raise money and organize around special needs in critical times supporting one another through conversation and comfort. Finally, running clubs and individuals who run engage in outreach by inviting friends to “join” the group and become part of the “growing running community.” This aspect of running was even recently encouraged in the December 2010 edition of Runner’s World when an author said that convincing her sluggish friends to run with what she calls a “missionary zeal” is the best part of running.

There are even shrines and holy places for the running faithful to flock to.

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'Pre's Rock' in Oregon. The running saint's shrine in the misty mountains of the West. 

Ultra marathon trail runner and writer Rachel Toor writes of her love affair with trail running in her op-ed piece, “Ode to Dirt.” In it she says, ”Because trail running is as close to church-going as I can get. Because you do not stand still to behold the sublime, but move through it, limbs hailing and exulting all there is in the world and whatever lies beyond. Because dirt is elemental.”

It seems that for this runner, and those who related to her article, the free trail is the new communion rail where the religious adherent and the “divine” meet in sublime encounter.

Some physical places even strike runner’s with a sense of “awe.” All you have to do is mention places like The Rift Valley, the Oregon University Track, or Tavern on the Green and runners are filled with a sense of excitement for the running lore of such a locale. Then there are literal running shrines, such as Pre’s Rock in Oregon where runners pay respects to a running legend with an uncanny resemblance to Jesus (facial hair, long locks, tragic death near 30…). Finally, there is Hopkington, Massachusetts -- the nucleus of world running and the holy center of marathoning worldwide. Although it was a marathon-mecca before the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the event is not imbued with even more transcendent significance. With shoes looped around makeshift shrines, statues lining the course, set apart sites dedicated to the marathon throughout the year, and throngs of devotees seeking darshan (a sacred glimpse) with runners-passing-by on race day Hopkington, and the entire Boston-marathon course, is teeming with spiritual undertones. At the starting line, with the crack of the starting gun, the entire crowd collectively feels the divine touch, a shiver that runs down their spine, the ethereal energy that enlivens their bodies, and the numinous adrenaline that will rapture them to the finish line. 

All of this contributes to running religion's "collective effervescence." Durkheim outlined "collective effervescence" as a magnified and adrenalized response of a group of people sharing an experience together. It not only excites those who experience, or emote, something in common, but this collective effervescence can also produce a religious experience that makes participants feel closer to their god. 

Durkheim wrote that, "god and society are one of the same…the god of the clan…can be none other than the clan itself, but the clan transfigured and imagined in the physical form of a plant or animal that serves as a totem." In this case, the totem is running itself and runners experience a loss of their individual running self in the unity with the running community, from the frontrunners to the final finishers. 

Conclusions & Musings

Certainly, running has its religious dimensions.

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The author in holy rapture at the finish line of the 2014 Boston Marathon. 

And surveying running’s religious aspects showcases a general spiritual trend in the (post)modern world that values a different path than what is offered in traditional religion. However, at the same time, this spiritual but not religious pursuit of the "runner's high" (you might say) also exhibits common elements of more institutional religions -- asceticism, prophetic leaders, and collective effervescence. But the similarities do not end there. 

Throughout religious history the ultimate suffering of death has remained at the forefront of theological thought. Through religion, humans attempted to make sense of death and the chaos it presents confronting the seeming order of human life. To alienate death as an experience that can be integrated into reality and foreseeably conquered, religion introduced suffering as a key element to the spiritual experience.

Religious asceticism serves as a way to mitigate the ultimate suffering of death with the end goal of hope, joy and release from all pain in mind. Prophets call people to live life to the fullest, or even unto its eternal dimensions. A collective feeling may enrapture a religious community so fully that they forget the limited run of their bodies on earth and be caught up in the liminal space between life and death. Call it what you want: nirvana, beatific vision or paradise, the eternal religious ideal has included some form of suffering on earth, whether the devotees’ own or someone else’s, that produces ecstasy beyond the grips of death.

In the same way, running’s religious adherents seek to minimize the sting of death by highlighting how the human body and spirit can overcome pain and adversity to claim the prize of finishing the race, pushing the limits of human achievement and the threshold for suffering and pain together with other human beings running the same race, pursuing the same goal, and experiencing the same struggle. 

At its core, the religious aspects of running reflect the human pursuit to understand death within a system that relegates it to being a minimal experience in relation to some form of communal ecstasy.

In the past, asceticism served to become a recapitulation of that cosmic reality and it is no different in running religion today. To run is to overcome suffering for the sake of the prize. Thus, for many, to run is to flee from death itself.

*For more on religion & culture follow Ken on Twitter

'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.