Encountering Krampus: Can Terror Keep the Holiday Sacred?
Joseph P. Laycock Krampus may not have the power to make Christmas sacred, but by bringing terror he at least staves off banality.
The Power of Names
Hussein Rashid While some of this discussion may seem to be semantic, it is about the power of naming. The questions of power and control depend on the ability to name. Without proper naming, we see conflict where there is none, and read politics as theology.
How the Ouija board got its sinister reputation
Joseph P. Laycock By now, most have vague notions of the Ouija board horror narrative, in which demonic spirits communicate with – even possess – kids…The Ouija board, however, didn’t always have this sinister reputation.
Ethiopia’s Heroic Marathoners from Rome to Rio
Arthur Remillard Heroes, then, ask uncomfortable questions because they have little concern for the world as it is.
Bonnaroo Spirituality and Collective Effervescence
Scott Muir Bonnaroovians overwhelmingly endorse the notion that the festival is a sacred collective experience.
Yee-haw! Guns and Civil Religion in Texas
William B. Parsons Which brings us to guns. There are many, many reasons why campus carry is a bad idea.
American Secularism: Seven Questions
In our interview series, “Seven Questions,” we ask some very smart people about what inspires them and how their latest work enhances our understanding of the sacred in cultural life. For this segment, we solicited responses from Joseph O. Baker and Buster G. Smith, co-authors of American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems (New […]
Accelerating the Contradictions with the Coen Brothers
Mark Hulsether “Would that it were so simple.”
On Being Spiritual but Not Religious: Past, Present, Future(s)
William B. Parsons What does “being spiritual but not religious” mean? It’s on dating sites, so it must be something! But is it clear-cut and easy to identify, or is it more like what Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland, California, namely: “There is no there there.” It’s a good question. We’ll shed some light on the spiritual but not religious movement (SBNRM) and on “being” spiritual but not religious (BSBNR).
Birth of the Klan’s Nation
Kelly J. Baker At midnight on November 25, 1915, seventeen men climbed to the top of Stone Mountain in Georgia with a large wooden cross. On that Thanksgiving night, they lit the cross on fire and pledged allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, American ideals, and “the tenets of the Christian religion. Read More…