Christianity has more flavors than Baskin Robbins and Jelly Belly combined.
Working on a book that ties tightly to this. Been to several different churches the past few years, and a synagogue a month ago.
People are desperate for community, and meaning, in an overly individualistic self absorbed culture. People are grasping at straws that seem like community, but in fact, are capitalizing on that need.
Capitalizing. Yes, that's the Christian MO. Paul capitalized on the Unknown God on Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Whatever existential longing you might have, some Christian church wants to fill it. And if you don't have such a longing, a church will help you create one. (That was my experience growing up in a church of Eastern Orthodox converts.) It's an aggressively opportunistic religion.
In my experience, the problem is a small amount of people who wield religion to manipulate others for power and profit, like you said. Then there are a ton of people who have little to no understanding of religio and harm people constantly with misinterpretation, judgement, and all the other sins of human stupidity. These people give the whole thing a bad name.
What Im trying to say is that I dont have a problem with god or religion, but a lot of people suck and do a lot of harm to all of us.
This is amazing. Such lively and funny writing. Consider me your southern correspondent. So much to say. I was raised southern Baptist, with those old time hymns, but also attended a mega-church in Atlanta with my dad. You characterize that scene so well. Dad always said, "Here comes Hendrix," when the Jesus rock started up. Just so you're aware, the Gen Z frat/sorority Trump Chic-fil-a baptist are everywhere down here. I'm a high school English teacher by day. These kids are reading the shit out of the bible. In the local coffee shops, the 20 somethings are holding bible study. Just when I thought it was dying out, young folks are filling the churches. Also, two of my students this year (again, this is rural Georgia) are freshly converted to orthodox. They wear the weird crosses outside of their shirts and everything. These kids converted from baptist to orthodox. I asked them why and they started spouting out Paul Kingsnorth youtube vids. I watched one, a speech, "Against Christian Civilization," and think I am orthodox now too. Freshly converted from Transcendentalism/Universalism.
In his usual humorous way Jamie mentions the troublesome influence of Opus Dei.
It turns out that Paul Kingsnorth is closely associated with Opus Dei via his Erasmus speech at First Things At least two of his essays have been featured on the First Things website too. As such and using his popularity and authority as "prophetic voice" he therefore endorses the politics that First Things promotes.
First Things is closely associated with Opus Dei and by extension the now notorious 2025 Project, the principal movers and shakers of which are Opus Dei operatives. Some many of the 100 or so outfits that have endorsed the 2025 Project in one way or another link into the First Things Opus Dei connection.
Some of Paul's essays have also been featured on the Unherd website. It is interesting to note that the American correspondent for Unherd, Emily Jashinsky is the culture editor for the Federalist society, the founder of which (Leo) is a full on Opus Dei propaganda hack.
Emily is also associated with Hillsdale College which again is closely associated with Opus Dei, it is also a sponsor of the 2025 Project.
Paul is also quite friendly with Rod Dreher who in turn tells us that J D Vance is a jolly good chap. Vance is of course closely associated with Opus Dei too. Rod is a very enthusiastic supporter of the new Trump regime, pretending that it is a turning point in US culture and that Trump is somehow going to re-invigorate America's presumed Christian heritage.
can you share anything on these lines? I'm not tracking it all at that fine level of detail. Are you saying that Kingsnorth is now in the tank for populists reactionary conservatism? And how does the Eastern Ortho square with Opus Dei?
On your first point re populist reactionary so called conservatism - yes.
As far as I know the Eastern Orthodox tradition does not have any direct connection to Opus Dei. But it could be said some/many of those who follow Rod Dreher are also inadvertently aligned with this populist reactionary conservatism.
Certain powerful elements in the Orthodox establishment in Russia/Moscow rail against the presumed evils of modernism and would like to resurrect the "good-old-days".
Hungary's Orban specializes in this trope. Dreher openly admires him. But if you do your home work it could be said that under Orban Hungary is one of the most corrupt and dysfunctional countries in Europe -possibly the most corrupt!
Recently I read somewhere that you even have to bring your own toilet paper with you when you go to hospital
I'd happily go back to the days of the good old fashioned Catholic church on Sundays and family brunch after plan I grew up with if I had to check a religion box. I bailed out of that for good around the time of the sex abuse scandals when the American bishops banned rice wafers (I had a first communion age daughter with an anaphylactic wheat allergy), but man... being a part of the church (while condemning the behavior of the priests) then seemed so much less convoluted and messed up than this recent wave of religiosity.
Of all the ways the left has failed to actually be a force for anything serious socially in the last 2 decades, I’d say completely making mainline Protestantism irrelevant might have been there most spectacular failure.
We had early megachurches in CO and you could tell 15-20 years ago what was coming.
Also, if I’m understanding correctly, you’re saying that JD Vance is part of a sect of Catholicism that is anti-freedom of religion. His wife is Hindu.
seems like for now she gets a MAGA hall pass that Krishnan (Trump AI czar/H1B visa controversy) and Ramaswamy (recently defenestrated DOGE lead) did not. conversions are the best kind tho, just ask Hirsan Ali!
Does it make sense that’s what he believes but is married to and has a family with someone who is not only not Christian but a devout believer of a different religion?
Ughhhhhh, don’t let the bros steal vitalism! Vitalism is generally linked to a “debunked” (read poorly understood, can’t make money off it in a clearly marketable and controllable way) health movement. The basic principles of vitalism are the basic principles of every traditional medicine system that i’ve ever learned and while i certainly don’t know even close everything, i have been studying herbal medicine for 20 years. The basic principles of vitalism is that the body would prefer to achieve homeostasis and it will always do its best to achieve that and we can help it along by either nourishing it or balancing it where it’s out of balance. It was a response to a lot of the cathartic and rather poisonous medicines and bloodlettings etc that were in vogue at the time. Vitalism is not about bros being muscley. I’m tired of them getting to have every good thing so please rescind your offer of giving them jurisdiction over vitalism, thank you!
Thank you for this. What a good idea. As a Canadian I hear about these cultural phenomenal but they are so abstract. I hear Americans hand wringing about "Christian Nationalists" and I'm like, "Is that even a thing?"
All I feel after reading this is a primal shudder.
we're only halfway through the survey! it gets way way weirder!
Christianity has more flavors than Baskin Robbins and Jelly Belly combined.
Working on a book that ties tightly to this. Been to several different churches the past few years, and a synagogue a month ago.
People are desperate for community, and meaning, in an overly individualistic self absorbed culture. People are grasping at straws that seem like community, but in fact, are capitalizing on that need.
Capitalizing. Yes, that's the Christian MO. Paul capitalized on the Unknown God on Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Whatever existential longing you might have, some Christian church wants to fill it. And if you don't have such a longing, a church will help you create one. (That was my experience growing up in a church of Eastern Orthodox converts.) It's an aggressively opportunistic religion.
In my experience, the problem is a small amount of people who wield religion to manipulate others for power and profit, like you said. Then there are a ton of people who have little to no understanding of religio and harm people constantly with misinterpretation, judgement, and all the other sins of human stupidity. These people give the whole thing a bad name.
What Im trying to say is that I dont have a problem with god or religion, but a lot of people suck and do a lot of harm to all of us.
This is amazing. Such lively and funny writing. Consider me your southern correspondent. So much to say. I was raised southern Baptist, with those old time hymns, but also attended a mega-church in Atlanta with my dad. You characterize that scene so well. Dad always said, "Here comes Hendrix," when the Jesus rock started up. Just so you're aware, the Gen Z frat/sorority Trump Chic-fil-a baptist are everywhere down here. I'm a high school English teacher by day. These kids are reading the shit out of the bible. In the local coffee shops, the 20 somethings are holding bible study. Just when I thought it was dying out, young folks are filling the churches. Also, two of my students this year (again, this is rural Georgia) are freshly converted to orthodox. They wear the weird crosses outside of their shirts and everything. These kids converted from baptist to orthodox. I asked them why and they started spouting out Paul Kingsnorth youtube vids. I watched one, a speech, "Against Christian Civilization," and think I am orthodox now too. Freshly converted from Transcendentalism/Universalism.
haven't even heard of this crew--any articles or links? "Gen Z frat/sorority Trump Chic-fil-a baptist are everywhere down here. "
In his usual humorous way Jamie mentions the troublesome influence of Opus Dei.
It turns out that Paul Kingsnorth is closely associated with Opus Dei via his Erasmus speech at First Things At least two of his essays have been featured on the First Things website too. As such and using his popularity and authority as "prophetic voice" he therefore endorses the politics that First Things promotes.
First Things is closely associated with Opus Dei and by extension the now notorious 2025 Project, the principal movers and shakers of which are Opus Dei operatives. Some many of the 100 or so outfits that have endorsed the 2025 Project in one way or another link into the First Things Opus Dei connection.
Some of Paul's essays have also been featured on the Unherd website. It is interesting to note that the American correspondent for Unherd, Emily Jashinsky is the culture editor for the Federalist society, the founder of which (Leo) is a full on Opus Dei propaganda hack.
Emily is also associated with Hillsdale College which again is closely associated with Opus Dei, it is also a sponsor of the 2025 Project.
Paul is also quite friendly with Rod Dreher who in turn tells us that J D Vance is a jolly good chap. Vance is of course closely associated with Opus Dei too. Rod is a very enthusiastic supporter of the new Trump regime, pretending that it is a turning point in US culture and that Trump is somehow going to re-invigorate America's presumed Christian heritage.
can you share anything on these lines? I'm not tracking it all at that fine level of detail. Are you saying that Kingsnorth is now in the tank for populists reactionary conservatism? And how does the Eastern Ortho square with Opus Dei?
On your first point re populist reactionary so called conservatism - yes.
As far as I know the Eastern Orthodox tradition does not have any direct connection to Opus Dei. But it could be said some/many of those who follow Rod Dreher are also inadvertently aligned with this populist reactionary conservatism.
Certain powerful elements in the Orthodox establishment in Russia/Moscow rail against the presumed evils of modernism and would like to resurrect the "good-old-days".
Hungary's Orban specializes in this trope. Dreher openly admires him. But if you do your home work it could be said that under Orban Hungary is one of the most corrupt and dysfunctional countries in Europe -possibly the most corrupt!
Recently I read somewhere that you even have to bring your own toilet paper with you when you go to hospital
I'd happily go back to the days of the good old fashioned Catholic church on Sundays and family brunch after plan I grew up with if I had to check a religion box. I bailed out of that for good around the time of the sex abuse scandals when the American bishops banned rice wafers (I had a first communion age daughter with an anaphylactic wheat allergy), but man... being a part of the church (while condemning the behavior of the priests) then seemed so much less convoluted and messed up than this recent wave of religiosity.
Of all the ways the left has failed to actually be a force for anything serious socially in the last 2 decades, I’d say completely making mainline Protestantism irrelevant might have been there most spectacular failure.
We had early megachurches in CO and you could tell 15-20 years ago what was coming.
Also, if I’m understanding correctly, you’re saying that JD Vance is part of a sect of Catholicism that is anti-freedom of religion. His wife is Hindu.
seems like for now she gets a MAGA hall pass that Krishnan (Trump AI czar/H1B visa controversy) and Ramaswamy (recently defenestrated DOGE lead) did not. conversions are the best kind tho, just ask Hirsan Ali!
Marraige is a much more serious testament to someone’s actual values than the politics they espouse
And I’m specifically talking about JD Vance, not MAGA. You spoke to his religious affiliation which is entirely different than other members of MAGA
But when speaking to the admin and who they with work with as opposed to Vance and who he is married to, Tulsi is also Hindu
Tulsi's not really hindu--she's an acolyte of a cult that's an offshoot of the hare krishnas.
and?
Does it make sense that’s what he believes but is married to and has a family with someone who is not only not Christian but a devout believer of a different religion?
Ughhhhhh, don’t let the bros steal vitalism! Vitalism is generally linked to a “debunked” (read poorly understood, can’t make money off it in a clearly marketable and controllable way) health movement. The basic principles of vitalism are the basic principles of every traditional medicine system that i’ve ever learned and while i certainly don’t know even close everything, i have been studying herbal medicine for 20 years. The basic principles of vitalism is that the body would prefer to achieve homeostasis and it will always do its best to achieve that and we can help it along by either nourishing it or balancing it where it’s out of balance. It was a response to a lot of the cathartic and rather poisonous medicines and bloodlettings etc that were in vogue at the time. Vitalism is not about bros being muscley. I’m tired of them getting to have every good thing so please rescind your offer of giving them jurisdiction over vitalism, thank you!
funny. you gotta take that up with Scott Alexander over at Astral Codex. He's the coiner of that hyphenate term!
i will see what i can do.
Thank you for this. What a good idea. As a Canadian I hear about these cultural phenomenal but they are so abstract. I hear Americans hand wringing about "Christian Nationalists" and I'm like, "Is that even a thing?"