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Week 10

What do people really know about Scientology? With a small demographic and an emphasis on secrecy concerning its teachings, this new religion (founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard) is often received with negative reception and critical publicity. Of course, the introduction of new religions are not as quick to be embraced as traditional religions are, given the long-standing histories and practices of the latter. But there is a crucial dynamic in contemporary Western culture that “contributes powerfully to rendering Scientology ‘familiar’ and ‘mainstream.’ (Sappell)“

Scholar Carol M. Cusack highlights the diminishing public role of traditional structures, including religion, to the emergence of the individual self as “the locus of identity and personal choice” as the foundation of identity construction. Yet recent decades have seen a re-enchantment in the divine emerge in the culture of rational and scientific discourse, inspired by the legacy of Romanticism which is reflected in contemporary Western culture’s patterns of consumption. Aspects of “daydreaming” and “fantasy” play a key role in the creation of modern consumerism fuels the “imaginative speculation about the gratification novel products might bring” and “encourages desires that know no limits. (Cusack)”

Before the 21st century, identity was a relatively stable construct. An individual was understood through inherited traditions—family, religion, socio-political status—but as society has moved away from tradition, the sources upon which identity is developed are now secular, consumerist, and driven by media, resulting in fluctuating and impermanent identities. The proliferation of consumerism shifts the focus of identity from character to personality, or as Cusack notes, “from inner virtues to external image. (Cusack)” And with the development of mass media came the construction of ‘fame’.

Where the media was once associated with the circulation of information and political commentary, throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it has become increasingly dominated by entertainment and diversion, paralleling an increased importance of ‘celebrity’ for media consumers to the extent where they function as “contemporary saints.” (Sappell) Celebrities are perceived as icons with the ‘perfect’ life of wealth, beauty, and high profile, worthy of adoration and emulation.

On the contrary, traditional Christian role models celebrated by the church earned (praise) through religious or virtuous merit. It is often the reputation and lifestyle of the celebrity which is cherished, rather than their achievements or character. Not only do individuals today have an array of available identities for which they can construct their own, but the construction of self that occurs through imagination avoids “the risk of attempting to do so in reality. (Cusack)”. The nonstop media coverage of celebrities in conjunction with celebrity affiliations with Scientology not only renders it desirable, but familiar and friendly.

Hubbard himself held a strong interest in Hollywood and actively recruited “stars” by promoting the Church of Scientology among the rich and famous. The Church opened its first Celebrity Centre in Hollywood towards the end of the 1960’s, and they have since expanded in the United States and towards France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and England. The most notable Scientologists include actors John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Pulp Fiction) and Tom Cruise (Risky Business, Top Gun, Mission: Impossible), who credit Hubbard’s teachings to their success.

Travolta’s involvement in Scientology has been negatively received, with “news articles alleging that his elder child, son Jett, has autism and that Travolta and Preston have concealed this because of Scientology’s teaching that auditing cures all aberrant conditions, both physical and mental (Cusack).” And yet despite heavy criticism of his faith and Scientology itself, his popularity is unrelenting and his fans remain as loyal and passionate as ever; they are almost always aware of his faith, but are not disapproving. As Barry Divola remarks, “blind devotion, sense of ownership and need to defend the honour of your beloved are what being a fan is all about (Cusack)”

The Church of Scientology’s choice to mobilize prominent celebrities is apparent given the emergence of the individual self and the power of the media in not only offering a vast selection of contemporary role models to base identity off of, but the dissemination of information that familiarizes and entices people towards Scientology. The Church’s efforts of endorsement prove to be a modern manifestation of proselytism, understanding the shift from sacred to secular attitudes.

 Works Cited

Cusack, Carole M. “Celebrity, the Popular Media, and Scientology: Making Familiar the Unfamiliar.” Scientology, by James R. Lewis, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 389–410.

Sappell, Joel, and Robert W. Welkos. “The Courting of Celebrities.” The Los Angeles Times, 25 June 1990, www.latimes.com/local/la-scientology062590b-story.html.

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Week 12

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s God, and she’s female.

Ariana Grande asserts her agency in her recent music video for God is a Woman, which surprisingly doesn’t assert that God is a woman. But that is only where the controversy starts. In the video, she ties religious and historical themes with sexuality and femininity in order to paint herself with the prowess of a divine being. And while many critics are highlighting the blasphemy of it all, Grande’s interpretation is a strong artistic understanding of sex as a spiritual endeavour, and as a vehicle for female empowerment.

Where God has been traditionally depicted as male, where sex has always been centred around male pleasure, where men have institutionally wield power, Grande challenges those ideas by putting herself in the image she was supposedly made after. The general message of the song refers to sexual gratification that encourages female pleasure and dominance:

You, you love it how I move you You love it how I touch you My one, when all is said and done You'll believe God is a woman

Here, Grande is reminding us of the spiritual—sometimes religious—feeling people derive from sex, and that her sexuality is nuanced enough that an encounter with her will have you believing that you’ve encountered God. Her power and confidence is evident from the directness of her lyrics, which also encourage women to own their sexuality as a form of revolution. Her use of Christian imagery in spite of the faith’s historical interpretation of ‘virginity as purity’ concept reclaims the way female sexuality has been used against women as a tool for attaining domination.

Women have been demonized for being promiscuous as much as they have been demonized for being chaste. Grande shows us that she is truly bigger than all of the hate and misogyny she is subjected to by her image and reputation as a sexually empowered woman. She sits as The Thinker, larger than life, unaffected by the words literally being thrown at her by her critics from below. And her own lover is aware of her strength:

And I can be all the things you told me not to be When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing And he see the universe when I'm the company It's all in me

           The Bible is not the only thing Grande references. The singer of ‘God is a Woman’s predecessor, the controversial 1989 hit Like a Virgin, also pairs religious symbolism with sexual intimacy and romantic devotion in her music video, so it is without a doubt that Madonna is featured in Grande’s work as well. Using her power to protect her fellow females from the same negativity she is subjected to, she reads Ezekiel 25:17 in Madonna’s voice, swapping the word “brothers” for “sisters”, before flinging a hammer upwards and smashing the (stained) glass ceiling:

“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my sisters. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”

           The sacrilege Grande is being condemned for is understandable. Sex and the sacred rarely seem to mesh well together, but rather than her statement being blasphemous, it may parallel what the authors of the Bible intended—"placing God on the side of the oppressed and describing God in ways that are relevant and needed at that time. (Keay 2019)” She ends the video with a recreation of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, entirely comprised of females, reminding us that women are sacred and should be treated that way.

 Works Cited

Keay, Elijah. “Ariana Grande and a Female God.” Pop Culture and Theology, WordPress.com, 10 June 2019, popularcultureandtheology.com/2019/06/10/ariana-grande-and-a-female-god/.

Meyers, Dave, director. Ariana Grande - God Is a Woman. YouTube, YouTube, 13 July 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHLHSlExFis.

Woodford, Alaina. “Ariana Grande's ‘God Is a Woman’ Video Is More Than Just Pop Feminism.” Medium, Medium, 22 Sept. 2018, medium.com/@alainawoodford/ariana-grandes-god-is-a-woman-video-is-more-than-just-pop-feminism-b567b64bec9b.

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Week 6

It’s 2019, and marriage has yet to fall out of fashion.

In high school, I smoked a fat bowl of weed and registered as an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church Monastery (ULC). It’s that easy. What’s not easy is remembering who’s and how many weddings I’ve promised to officiate. Luckily, I might not have to.

The ULC is not only an non-denominational, non-profit religious organization, but the most popular resource for those interested in obtaining their ordination online. It’s free and simple: all you need is your legal name, e-mail, country and city of residence, and your certificate is sent to your inbox. Since its foundation, over 20 million people have become ministers through their website (Universal Life Church Monastery, 2016). But how is an individual’s basic information solely enough for them to become a minister? 

There is no background check or ministry training required. The ULC’s ‘About’ page reads, “The communication and fellowship of our scattered millions of ministers, we believe, is just as valid a form of worship as the weekly services held in some of the world’s more segregated and elitist religious institutions.” They believe in empowering people to fulfill the spiritual needs of the many by providing them the position to be able to, regardless of any affiliation (Universal Life Church Monastery, 2015). Yet they consistently align themselves with a Christian aesthetic, using terminology like ‘minister’ and ‘church’, outlining the process of performing a baptism, and selling clergy cassocks and other traditionally Christian garments (Universal Life Church Monastery).

More and more, anticipating couples are looking outside primary institutions, and instead towards a close friend or family member to conduct their ceremony. Marriage has always had cultural, religious, and spiritual significance and remains a time-honoured tradition, but we forget that it’s as much a union of souls as it is a legal contract. Because the ULC mainly operates online, it’s difficult to validate the legitimacy of the authority it hands out as laws differ worldwide. There is no unanimous jurisdiction that considers the ULC minister a legally allowed to officiate a wedding (Sipher 2007).

Not only may the officiant be unauthorized to perform a marriage, but it could render the union itself invalid. Along with divorce, there are several other legal situations that exist on the periphery of the legitimacy of the marriage ceremony, like inheritance rights, pensions, tax liability, etc. (Mallozi 2012). Multiple cases involving ULC annulments primarily concern divorce where one partner refuses to honour a prenuptial agreement or pay spousal support, claiming that the marriage was not valid to begin with. But for the most part, couples are granted the benefit of the doubt. If the pair believes the marriage to be valid regardless, it may continue to be unless it is challenged (Sipher 2007).

This is not the first time the divine and the digital have intersected. The Internet has evolved beyond a space for information, but also a space for spiritual and social connection. Where a traditional pilgrimage involves a physical journey travelling to sacred sites and interaction with divine practice, online pilgrimages have emerged as a substitute for religious meaning and connection in a post-modern context. The Internet allows for individuals to not only view a sacred space, but interact and participate in the event despite space-time limitations, making the experience accessible to all (Campbell, 2001). And if online pilgrimages are able to facilitate a unique spiritual engagement in a contemporary context, why not online ordination?

Reverend Kent Winters-Hazelton, who has been a pastor at the Presbyterian Church for 34 years, earned his four-year bachelor’s degree in religious studies followed by a three-year master’s in Divinity before he was able to be ordained. “My colleagues in ministry who have received extensive training to become eligible for ordination are recognized by the state in the same way that the state recognizes an attorney who has passed the bar exam,” he argues “You wouldn’t go to an attorney if you knew he got his degree online and paid $20 for it. (Mallozi, 2012)” Does the effortless achievement of such a title infringe on the sanctity of the ministry or marriage itself?

Counsel to the City Clerk of New York Patrick Synmoie says no, and finds that stance outdated. The office even issued its own rule allowing ULC ministers to perform wedding ceremonies in the five boroughs back in October of 2012 (Sipher 2007). The Universal Life Church’s President Andre Hensley defends the church and the authenticity of its practitioners, “Not every minister excels at all the functions of the ministry. Some people are more comfortable preaching. Others aren’t, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t want to serve or pastor in a certain way. (Sipher 2007)”

The ULC is founded on the principle that all humans are “children of the same universe” and its two core tenets for which their ministers to follow:

1. Do only that which is right.

2. Every individual is free to practice their religion in the manner of their choosing, as mandated by the First Amendment, so long as that expression does not impinge upon the rights or freedoms of others and is in accordance with the government’s laws (Universal Life Church Monastery, 2015).

With respect to the law—a different kind of ‘higher’ system—the ULC allows us to define divinity for ourselves, which may be the spiritual notion of all.

Works Cited

“About the Universal Lfe Church.” Universal Life Church Monastery, Universal Life Church Ministries, 8 Sept. 2015, www.themonastery.org/aboutUs.

“Universal Life Church - Official Site - Est. 1977.” Universal Life Church Monastery, Universal Life Church Ministries, 20 Apr. 2016, www.themonastery.org/.

“Universal Life Church Store.” Universal Life Church Monastery, Universal Life Church Ministries, www.themonastery.org/catalog/.

Campbell, Heidi A. “A New Forum for Religion: Spiritual Pilgrimage Online.” The Bible in Transmission (2001): pp. 1-3. Print.

Mallozi, Vincent M. “Reconsidering the Rev. Best Friend.” The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/fashion/weddings/making-sure-that-online-officiant-is-legal.html.

Sipher, Devan. “Great Wedding! But Was It Legal?” The New York Times, 5 Aug. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/fashion/05marry.html.

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Week 11 Blog Post

Humanity had not truly understood the potentials of globalization until the rise of the digital age and network. As mass media continues to be our communicative life line to a collective world experience, we have sought to understood the various ways in which media can be used as a tool (ie. art, news, socialization, etc.) The amount of content and power accessible at your fingertips can feel overwhelming, and with great power comes great responsibility. Using the educational element of children’s television, Paul Vischer and Mark Nawrocki developed children’s program Veggie Tales as a way of conveying moral themes in Christian culture through stories featuring anthropomorphic fruits and vegetables.

Characters like Bob the Cucumber and Larry the Tomato aid in the retelling and recreation of stories from the Bible. In Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, they parallel two stories to illustrate the themes of compassion and mercy from the biblical story of the prophet Jonah. When family bickering causes a mishap on a roadtrip, Dad Asparagus uses the story of Jonah as a way of reconciling his kids Laura and Junior. Archibald Asparagus plays the prophet Jonah, unwilling to deliver God’s message to Nineveh (a town notorious for crime and corruption) for he believes they are undeserving. His unreluctance to show mercy to these people, despite God’s will, leads to his demise. Through both stories, viewers learn that they should be compassionate and that all people deserve a second chance.

When Vischer set out to create Veggie Tales, he initially hoped that he could simply create a film successfully, later wondering if he could add ‘Sunday School’ values to it. Once the series found its footing, and a studio, he would take the series deeper. Unfortunately the popularity of Veggie Tales was so massive that he was soon consumed by the business affairs, like hiring and merchandising, rather than the creative process. And although the series was popular amongst many Christian families, there was criticism that the religious content was too shallow and deviated from Scripture; however, it was only a couple of weeks before the show aired on NBC that Vischer learned non-historical references to God and the Bible would be removed. Surprisingly, he agrees with his critics. Without time for creative exploration, he reflects:

“I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, “Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,” or “Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!” But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.”

Consider the interpolation of religion and media and how they can use each other for their own advantage. Looking at such a successful religiously-motivated children’s program, Veggie Tales could have been either a forced religious agenda or a commercial appropriation of Christianity. Although Vischer’s original religious content was widely appreciated, his negotiations for a Veggie Tales reboot has been met with backlash.

A group of American college students protested the cartoon, saying it was dangerous and that it promoted racial stereotypes due to the racial-coding of the villains. Their perspective is understandable; all the villains in the Veggie Tales filmography have Latino or other non-white accents while the protagonists spoke clear English. Its popularity in popular culture surpasses a strict religious demographic, proving that the program was enjoyed by a variety of audience members, but are these members reliable in returning to a program now being morally questioned further?

Vischer seems to understand the intelligence of his young audience, and a commitment to delve deeper the second time around. “Kids can go deeper than you think,” he explains. “And when I talk to senior pastors, I say their parents are less willing to go deep than you would hope. So we underestimate what kids are capable of learning […] I would rather go too deep and lose some, than raise another generation of superficial Christians.” Perhaps its racial implications will also be considered, as racial relations have developed since its previous run. But he might not have much to worry about: the lack of other strong family-friendly Christian content has guaranteed his reliability as a resource.

Whether or not the new reboot of Veggie Tales is religiously or financially motivated, all there is left is to trust Vischer and his plans. To—as he teaches us—have some faith.

Works Cited

Foust, Michael. “Phil Vischer Shares Regrets about Veggie Tales – and How He's Making It Right.” Christian Examiner Newspaper, Christian News, Christian Commentary, Church Events, Christian Examiner, 9 Oct. 2015, www.christianexaminer.com/article/phil.vischer.shares.regrets.about.veggie.tales.and.how.hes.making.it.right/49630.htm.

Parke, Caleb. “'VeggieTales' Is 'Racist' and 'Dangerous' for Children, California Students Claim.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 5 Dec. 2018, www.foxnews.com/entertainment/veggietales-is-racist-and-dangerous-for-children-california-students-claim.

  Notes: Description of Veggie Tales and Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie is from personal experience

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Week 9 Blog Post

In 2 months, I will once again not be invited to the only costume party I’ve actually wanted to attend.

The Met Gala is an annual fundraising effort for Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City, marking the grand opening of the Costume Institute’s seasonal exhibit. The event celebrates the theme of the year and all guests are expected to dress accordingly. The exhibition alone is a sight to behold, but my friends, the real drama happens when the paragons of our modern society—celebrities, emerging creatives, and industry professionals—walk down that red carpet adorned in grandiose textile masterpieces.

People aren’t wrong to refer to the Met Gala as “fashion’s biggest night out”, which is why the theme is of such importance. It is a shared agreement between a collective of cultural Samaritans that decide which part of human life to exonerate this year, 2018 seeing Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. With all eyes on this event, there’s no surprise the theme was received with some protest. Luckily for the Met people, the theme was intended to be provocative and invite us to ponder “the role dress plays within the Roman Catholic Church and the role the Roman Catholic Church plays within the fashionable imagination.”

There’s a longstanding dispute between Catholicism and high fashion. Pop culture tends to approach religion in a confrontational manner—think of a sexually-charged, cross-bearing Madonna singing in ‘Like a Virgin’. But even though the event received approval from the Vatican, and was even loaned various garments and artefacts for the show, many Catholics felt that their religion, or culture, was being “appropriated”, believing the depictions as sacrilegious since religious symbols wre removed from their original context for another (perhaps contrasting) purpose.

Cultural or religious appropriation is predicated on a power imbalance and occurs when the dominant group takes aspects of the minority/oppressed group’s culture—often out of original context and without respect—for their own benefit. It’s problematic because often the minority culture is unable to practise their own (lifestyle) without a lifetime of systematic oppression and discriminatory stereotypes from the dominant culture, but the dominant culture can pick and choose when it is convenient for the minority culture to be practiced.

The red carpet was littered with Catholic imagery out of context: Zendaya dressed as Joan of Ark, Chadwick Boseman’s medieval cloak was covered in crosses, and Rihanna came as pearl-and-jewel-encrusted version of the Pope in a skirt (so really, just herself). While these symbols aren’t being placed in a religious context, they’re still treated with the utmost respect. What more would you have expected from the Western world where Catholicism and Christianity is the dominant culture? While the Met Gala may be honouring the faith, the same cannot be said for all Catholic fashion imagery, which the event subsequently enables.