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Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World
A sparklingly strange odyssey through the kaleidoscope of America's new spirituality: the cults, practices, high priests and prophets of our supposedly post-religion age.
In Strange Rites, Tara Isabella Burton takes a tour through contemporary American religiosity. As the once dominant totems of civic connection and civil discourse—traditional churches—continue to sink into obsolescence, people are looking elsewhere for the intensity and unity that religion once provided. We're making our own personal faiths - theistic or not - mixing and matching our spiritual, ritualistic, personal, and political practices in order to create our own bespoke religious selves. We're not just building new religions in 2019, we're buying them, from Gwyneth Paltrow's gospel of Goop, to the brilliantly cultish SoulCycle, to those who believe in their special destiny on Mars.
In so doing, we're carrying on a longstanding American tradition of religious eclecticism, DIY-innovation and "unchurched" piety (and highly effective capitalism). Our era is not the dawn of American secularism, but rather a brand-bolstered resurgence of American pluralism, revved into overdrive by commerce and personalized algorithms, all to the tune of "Hallellujah"--America's most popular and spectacularly misunderstood wedding song.
In Strange Rites, Tara Isabella Burton takes a tour through contemporary American religiosity. As the once dominant totems of civic connection and civil discourse—traditional churches—continue to sink into obsolescence, people are looking elsewhere for the intensity and unity that religion once provided. We're making our own personal faiths - theistic or not - mixing and matching our spiritual, ritualistic, personal, and political practices in order to create our own bespoke religious selves. We're not just building new religions in 2019, we're buying them, from Gwyneth Paltrow's gospel of Goop, to the brilliantly cultish SoulCycle, to those who believe in their special destiny on Mars.
In so doing, we're carrying on a longstanding American tradition of religious eclecticism, DIY-innovation and "unchurched" piety (and highly effective capitalism). Our era is not the dawn of American secularism, but rather a brand-bolstered resurgence of American pluralism, revved into overdrive by commerce and personalized algorithms, all to the tune of "Hallellujah"--America's most popular and spectacularly misunderstood wedding song.
301 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2020
About the author
Tara Isabella Burton
19 books652 followersTara Isabella Burton has followed a female hermit into the remote Caucasus, gotten love amulets from Turkish Islamic shamans, and held signs with the street preachers of Las Vegas.
Her work on religion, culture, and place can be found at National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, The Economist's 1843, Aeon, The BBC, The Atlantic, The American Interest, Salon, The New Statesman, The Telegraph, and more. Her fiction has appeared at The New Yorker's Daily Shouts, Great Jones Street, Tor.com, PANK, Shimmer, and other places. She has received The Spectator's 2012 Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and a 2016 Lowell Thomas Award.
Her first novel, Social Creature, is forthcoming from Doubleday (US) and Bloomsbury/Raven (UK) in June 2018, and will be translated into nine more languages, including Italian, French, and Russian. She is also working on a non-fiction book about new religious and "replacement religion" movements, Strange Rites: Cults and Subcultures After the Death of God, to be published by Public Affairs in 2019.
Tara recently completed a doctorate in theology as a Clarendon Scholar at Trinity College, Oxford. She is currently a staff writer on the religion beat at Vox.
Her work on religion, culture, and place can be found at National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, The Economist's 1843, Aeon, The BBC, The Atlantic, The American Interest, Salon, The New Statesman, The Telegraph, and more. Her fiction has appeared at The New Yorker's Daily Shouts, Great Jones Street, Tor.com, PANK, Shimmer, and other places. She has received The Spectator's 2012 Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and a 2016 Lowell Thomas Award.
Her first novel, Social Creature, is forthcoming from Doubleday (US) and Bloomsbury/Raven (UK) in June 2018, and will be translated into nine more languages, including Italian, French, and Russian. She is also working on a non-fiction book about new religious and "replacement religion" movements, Strange Rites: Cults and Subcultures After the Death of God, to be published by Public Affairs in 2019.
Tara recently completed a doctorate in theology as a Clarendon Scholar at Trinity College, Oxford. She is currently a staff writer on the religion beat at Vox.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews
January 7, 2021
Interesting, but ultimately a surface-level look at modern religions and what Burton believes to be the three most likely to dominate in the US going forward. Disappointing in that she spends so much time breathlessly espousing the wonders of mix-and-match, tarot-and-witchcraft, anything-goes self-made religions that she fails to discuss whether the individualistic nature of modern religions is truly a good thing - she mentions the context in which these religions are flourishing, late stage capitalism, but her discussion is cursory, briefly mentioning the isolation and loneliness these religions are attempting to fix.
(Weirdly, I feel like a brief article she wrote about a witchy spiritual subscription box back in 2018 pays more attention to the thornier aspects of modern remixed religions than this book does.)
Basically, this book could be much longer, much deeper, and much more complicated. I didn't hate it; I didn't love it. I found her obvious bias to be a little offputting (even though I agree with her), but mostly, I just wanted more.
(Weirdly, I feel like a brief article she wrote about a witchy spiritual subscription box back in 2018 pays more attention to the thornier aspects of modern remixed religions than this book does.)
Basically, this book could be much longer, much deeper, and much more complicated. I didn't hate it; I didn't love it. I found her obvious bias to be a little offputting (even though I agree with her), but mostly, I just wanted more.
March 8, 2020
-- I received an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review --
I have something of an interest in post-Internet nonfiction, such as Because Internet and Trick Mirror, and Tara Isabella Burton's Strange Rites piqued my interest as a title befitting that theme. While at times I found the author's writing style cumbersome to parse and prone to overkill, it was overall an educational read with perceptive insight.
First and foremost, the book is excellent about giving the numbers. Pew Research and other survey results abound summarizing how the US is becoming less institutionally religiously affiliated, and a big part of the take-home message is that it's primarily not accelerating atheism. Most of the Nones, or as Burton calls them the Remixed, ultimately believe in some kind of spiritual presence or transcendence, even if it's not based on easily nameable deity or faith. As an atheist, this book helped me gain some prospective why labels like "spiritual but not religious" are appealing to the current generation, when I myself find it a bit of a puzzling concept.
I also appreciated the chapter that recapped religious history in America, pointing to example of religious remixing that have been going on since the earliest days of the country's European colonization. For many years, people have been trying to turn inward, and make religion more individual, more intuitional. It's a process that resonates with Millennials, who are accustomed to the self taking center stage: selecting what they want to see on their social feeds and curating their digital selves according to their liking.
Thorough the bulk of the book, Burton goes on to discuss how things like fandom, wellness culture, the occult, sexual non-monogamy, social justice, or even atavism are our modern forms of remixing. Though not traditionally thought of as religious, they provide individuals with meaning, purpose, and a sense of community, i.e. the contexts religion has historically satisfied. Whether or not you agree if you want to call these things religions is largely immaterial. The book is diving into what younger generations are using to fill the void that has been left in the demise of traditional religion. This gives the book very real relevance, regardless of which entries we'd consider religion and which we perhaps would not.
My less positive feelings toward the book stem from the writing author's writing style. She's very prone to using long dashes, perhaps more than any book I've ever read. Many sentences are very long and I find it difficult to parse all the way through. For example, "But, at the same time, the refractory nature of these new institutional religions -- each one, at its core, a religion of the self -- risks creating an increasingly balkanized American culture: one in which our desire for personal authenticity and experiential fulfillment takes precedent over our willingness to build coherent ideological systems and functional institutions." I also thought some of the chapters we a little too long, with enough examples to feel like overkill. In particular, the fandom and social justice chapters seemed to beat the point to death.
Overall, I thought Strange Rites was worth the read, even if I found the sentences and chapters a bit long-winded. It's an ever-relevant topic and at the end of the day, you will go home remembering a swarth of new age Remixed religion insight.
I have something of an interest in post-Internet nonfiction, such as Because Internet and Trick Mirror, and Tara Isabella Burton's Strange Rites piqued my interest as a title befitting that theme. While at times I found the author's writing style cumbersome to parse and prone to overkill, it was overall an educational read with perceptive insight.
First and foremost, the book is excellent about giving the numbers. Pew Research and other survey results abound summarizing how the US is becoming less institutionally religiously affiliated, and a big part of the take-home message is that it's primarily not accelerating atheism. Most of the Nones, or as Burton calls them the Remixed, ultimately believe in some kind of spiritual presence or transcendence, even if it's not based on easily nameable deity or faith. As an atheist, this book helped me gain some prospective why labels like "spiritual but not religious" are appealing to the current generation, when I myself find it a bit of a puzzling concept.
I also appreciated the chapter that recapped religious history in America, pointing to example of religious remixing that have been going on since the earliest days of the country's European colonization. For many years, people have been trying to turn inward, and make religion more individual, more intuitional. It's a process that resonates with Millennials, who are accustomed to the self taking center stage: selecting what they want to see on their social feeds and curating their digital selves according to their liking.
Thorough the bulk of the book, Burton goes on to discuss how things like fandom, wellness culture, the occult, sexual non-monogamy, social justice, or even atavism are our modern forms of remixing. Though not traditionally thought of as religious, they provide individuals with meaning, purpose, and a sense of community, i.e. the contexts religion has historically satisfied. Whether or not you agree if you want to call these things religions is largely immaterial. The book is diving into what younger generations are using to fill the void that has been left in the demise of traditional religion. This gives the book very real relevance, regardless of which entries we'd consider religion and which we perhaps would not.
My less positive feelings toward the book stem from the writing author's writing style. She's very prone to using long dashes, perhaps more than any book I've ever read. Many sentences are very long and I find it difficult to parse all the way through. For example, "But, at the same time, the refractory nature of these new institutional religions -- each one, at its core, a religion of the self -- risks creating an increasingly balkanized American culture: one in which our desire for personal authenticity and experiential fulfillment takes precedent over our willingness to build coherent ideological systems and functional institutions." I also thought some of the chapters we a little too long, with enough examples to feel like overkill. In particular, the fandom and social justice chapters seemed to beat the point to death.
Overall, I thought Strange Rites was worth the read, even if I found the sentences and chapters a bit long-winded. It's an ever-relevant topic and at the end of the day, you will go home remembering a swarth of new age Remixed religion insight.
May 17, 2020
I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Strange Rites.” Author Tara Isabella Burton presents the spiritual and religious traditions alive in America today, represented through the words and actions of the followers and supporters. Other groups are included, ranging from the political to the cultish. Many of these I was aware of, some I had only a fleeting knowledge, and I gained a ton of knowledge on all the different opportunities for people to follow. I found it very interesting that the history of each way of thinking was explained and examined, providing a basis for the beginning of each movement.
While I had experienced examples of the “spiritual but not religious” feelings people exhibit, I had never named it as Ms. Burton has – Remixed. In the quest for spiritual satisfaction and enlightenment, folks mix and match from different religions, theologies, and interests (including politics) to come up with what works for them. The result makes for an intriguing subject, one that never allowed my interest to flag throughout the entire book.
This is also due to the author’s talented use of words, coupled with extensive research (note the large bibliography in the back of the book). Ms. Burton’s chapters discuss subjects like religion, magic and witchcraft, the wellness culture, social justice, and the drive for perfectionism (which also encompasses such topics as sexual appetite). Most of her examples are culled from the words of followers, who are as diverse as one might expect. Although one can ascertain a reasonable guess on the author’s thoughts, allowing each group to present their philosophy through the spoken and written words of those who are part of each movement helps the book maintain an objective feel. Highly recommended. Five stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Perseus Books for a complimentary electronic copy of this title.
While I had experienced examples of the “spiritual but not religious” feelings people exhibit, I had never named it as Ms. Burton has – Remixed. In the quest for spiritual satisfaction and enlightenment, folks mix and match from different religions, theologies, and interests (including politics) to come up with what works for them. The result makes for an intriguing subject, one that never allowed my interest to flag throughout the entire book.
This is also due to the author’s talented use of words, coupled with extensive research (note the large bibliography in the back of the book). Ms. Burton’s chapters discuss subjects like religion, magic and witchcraft, the wellness culture, social justice, and the drive for perfectionism (which also encompasses such topics as sexual appetite). Most of her examples are culled from the words of followers, who are as diverse as one might expect. Although one can ascertain a reasonable guess on the author’s thoughts, allowing each group to present their philosophy through the spoken and written words of those who are part of each movement helps the book maintain an objective feel. Highly recommended. Five stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Perseus Books for a complimentary electronic copy of this title.
August 21, 2020
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton (PublicAffairs, 2020)
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
Burton opens her book with a vivid description of Sleep No More, an immersive theatre show which developed a cult-like following. She describes the experience of attending one of these shows as a sort of multi-sensory ritual that feeds into man’s proclivity for the religious and sublime. This is but one example of how Americans nowadays are feeding their hunger for religion in unorthodox ways.
In this book, Burton documents and chronicles various newfangled “religions,” following Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion as “a set of rituals and beliefs that people affirm in order to strengthen their identity as a group” (pg. 27). Under this rather cynical rubric, religion has nothing to do with God or classical theology, per se; it has to do with providing people a social community and a sense of meaning and structure in their lives. In previous times, those communities were comprised of churches, synagogues, mosques and the like. But now, people increasingly reject those old-guard organizations and turn to alternative (usually virtual) communities for their religious fulfillment. About half of Americans fall into the religious category of what Burton calls “remixed” or “intuitive spirituality.”
Just as the Biblical prophet Ezekiel chronicled the idolatry of his times in all its sordid details, so does Burton explore the various inflections of remixed religions in our times. Throughout her book, she explains the underlying ideologies that inspire those communities. These “religions” consist of things like wellness culture, fandom, witchcraft, kink, social justice, and alt-right groups. Burton also visits such contemporary concepts as “safe spaces” and the “Law of Attraction,” which also serve to reinforce some of these ideas.
The common denominator amongst all these different lifestyles is that they are selfish, self-centered, and self-serving. Burton makes this point multiple times, but does not make anything more of it. In these cults of the self, almost nothing is said about real responsibility, hard work, or the quest for absolute truth. Instead, these post-modernist religions allow individuals to focus on their own personal goals, redefining such time-honored concepts as responsibility and truth according to their own whims.
In fandom, people choose what fads they will follow and enthusiastically embrace—whether it is a TV show, sports team, or book. With a cult-like fervor, these fans live vicariously through their favorite idols, using them to find their place in their world. In modern times, a large part of fandom is customization, typified by the proliferation of fanfics and fantasy booking.
Wellness culture ritualizes the fight against Big Pharma, thus giving people structure and purpose in their life. Fitness gurus who fill quasi-religious roles can be likened to the priests of yore who dispensed the eternal truths to those willing to listen.
Witches and Wiccans use pseudo-spiritual language and practices to allow them to vent their frustrations with the real world in an enchanted or magical way.
Adherents of remixed religions follow their own personal combination of various spiritual beliefs and practices, some might trend more to New Age thought and some might be a tad more traditional. “Spiritual” beliefs ubiquitous to Americans who self-identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) include the likes of astrology, reincarnation, the power of positive thought, and even subjective religious experiences based in music. The hybrid nature of remixing religions allows devotees to customize their spirituality to suit their needs. They do what works for them, and equate “what works for them” with the truth — or at least “their truth.”
The allure of paganism has always been that it (falsely) provides man the feeling that he is in control of his own destiny. The polytheist has a whole pantheon of acceptable gods and rituals to choose from, and he worships them to suit his needs. Under such conditions, no one god has a monopoly on a person’s religious expressions and no one god can unilaterally dictate what is expected of mankind. In ancient paganism, as in the remixed religions of our times, people essentially “pick and choose” which beliefs and practices they wanted to follow. In classical monotheism, there is no room for such relativism and fluidity. There is only One God to worship, and He—as the One Absolute God—is in charge. He alone determines how man ought to conduct himself.
Personally, I was hoping for more analysis of the phenomena documented, with less space devoted to detailed descriptive accounts of the pseudo-religions. However, it can be argued that Burton’s brilliant descriptions are so on-the-ball that they function as analysis. If the reader expects Burton’s book to provide a clear theology of this modern neo-paganism or an explanation of how contemporary practice mirrors Biblical paganism, she will be duly disappointed. This is because it is conceptually impossible to pin down rigid theologies and practices of a large swath of individuals who all do whatever they want to do. After all, the remixed eschew organized religion (or at least strict adherence to it) in favor of religions of the self.
Throughout most of the book, Burton’s personal stance on the matters she discusses are not readily apparent, because she skillfully presents all her information from an ostensibly neutral point of view. In her descriptions of these remixed religions, one catches glimpses of Burton’s sympathy and even agreement on some level, but she still trends towards neutrality.
In the last chapter, Burton’s true colors shine forth as she launches a more overtly partisan attack against the “right wing” and the “intellectual dark web.” She sees the progression from following such conservative intellectuals as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson as an almost-inevitable slippery slope that leads to mass shootings and other such horrors. When analyzing similar phenomena on the left side of the aisle, she fails to draw a comparison between, for example, the progressive politics of Bernie Sanders and his self-proclaimed follower who shot up a Congressional baseball game. Ultimately, she denounces the entire conservative wing of politics (whom she insists on referring to as “atavist”), without sufficiently differentiating between moderate right-wingers, alt-lite, and alt-right. However, she does not condemn the entire Left because of its fringe extremists (or even condemn the fringe extremists, for that matter).
In her concluding section, Burton sets up the “clash of the titans” as her closing question for what the future will hold. She leaves the reader with the question of which voice will win: the wellness people, the social justice people, the technology nerds, or the sex-starved incels who yearn for a return to a world run by alpha men. If those are humanity’s only options, then the future looks quite bleak. Fortunately, Burton fails to consider that traditional religion has a voice as well. If only about 50% of Americans are “Remixed,” that still leaves a lot who are more traditionally religious. In some ways, these stalwarts provide hope for America and there is still room to be optimistic about her future.
As a Doctor of Theology from Oxford University and a former Vox religion correspondent, Burton is well-positioned to offer her thoughts on contemporary popular culture and how it relates to religion/theology. Indeed, her insightful book brilliantly encapsulates the state of unorganized religion in our times. For the curious reader, her copious endnotes provide endless sources for further research (almost all of which refer to websites on the internet—a true testament to the internet’s role in the proliferation of these remixed religions). Her book is written in beautiful prose and the information is very densely packed in a readable, yet efficient way. Kudos to the author and her team for preparing this excellent work.
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
Burton opens her book with a vivid description of Sleep No More, an immersive theatre show which developed a cult-like following. She describes the experience of attending one of these shows as a sort of multi-sensory ritual that feeds into man’s proclivity for the religious and sublime. This is but one example of how Americans nowadays are feeding their hunger for religion in unorthodox ways.
In this book, Burton documents and chronicles various newfangled “religions,” following Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion as “a set of rituals and beliefs that people affirm in order to strengthen their identity as a group” (pg. 27). Under this rather cynical rubric, religion has nothing to do with God or classical theology, per se; it has to do with providing people a social community and a sense of meaning and structure in their lives. In previous times, those communities were comprised of churches, synagogues, mosques and the like. But now, people increasingly reject those old-guard organizations and turn to alternative (usually virtual) communities for their religious fulfillment. About half of Americans fall into the religious category of what Burton calls “remixed” or “intuitive spirituality.”
Just as the Biblical prophet Ezekiel chronicled the idolatry of his times in all its sordid details, so does Burton explore the various inflections of remixed religions in our times. Throughout her book, she explains the underlying ideologies that inspire those communities. These “religions” consist of things like wellness culture, fandom, witchcraft, kink, social justice, and alt-right groups. Burton also visits such contemporary concepts as “safe spaces” and the “Law of Attraction,” which also serve to reinforce some of these ideas.
The common denominator amongst all these different lifestyles is that they are selfish, self-centered, and self-serving. Burton makes this point multiple times, but does not make anything more of it. In these cults of the self, almost nothing is said about real responsibility, hard work, or the quest for absolute truth. Instead, these post-modernist religions allow individuals to focus on their own personal goals, redefining such time-honored concepts as responsibility and truth according to their own whims.
In fandom, people choose what fads they will follow and enthusiastically embrace—whether it is a TV show, sports team, or book. With a cult-like fervor, these fans live vicariously through their favorite idols, using them to find their place in their world. In modern times, a large part of fandom is customization, typified by the proliferation of fanfics and fantasy booking.
Wellness culture ritualizes the fight against Big Pharma, thus giving people structure and purpose in their life. Fitness gurus who fill quasi-religious roles can be likened to the priests of yore who dispensed the eternal truths to those willing to listen.
Witches and Wiccans use pseudo-spiritual language and practices to allow them to vent their frustrations with the real world in an enchanted or magical way.
Adherents of remixed religions follow their own personal combination of various spiritual beliefs and practices, some might trend more to New Age thought and some might be a tad more traditional. “Spiritual” beliefs ubiquitous to Americans who self-identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) include the likes of astrology, reincarnation, the power of positive thought, and even subjective religious experiences based in music. The hybrid nature of remixing religions allows devotees to customize their spirituality to suit their needs. They do what works for them, and equate “what works for them” with the truth — or at least “their truth.”
The allure of paganism has always been that it (falsely) provides man the feeling that he is in control of his own destiny. The polytheist has a whole pantheon of acceptable gods and rituals to choose from, and he worships them to suit his needs. Under such conditions, no one god has a monopoly on a person’s religious expressions and no one god can unilaterally dictate what is expected of mankind. In ancient paganism, as in the remixed religions of our times, people essentially “pick and choose” which beliefs and practices they wanted to follow. In classical monotheism, there is no room for such relativism and fluidity. There is only One God to worship, and He—as the One Absolute God—is in charge. He alone determines how man ought to conduct himself.
Personally, I was hoping for more analysis of the phenomena documented, with less space devoted to detailed descriptive accounts of the pseudo-religions. However, it can be argued that Burton’s brilliant descriptions are so on-the-ball that they function as analysis. If the reader expects Burton’s book to provide a clear theology of this modern neo-paganism or an explanation of how contemporary practice mirrors Biblical paganism, she will be duly disappointed. This is because it is conceptually impossible to pin down rigid theologies and practices of a large swath of individuals who all do whatever they want to do. After all, the remixed eschew organized religion (or at least strict adherence to it) in favor of religions of the self.
Throughout most of the book, Burton’s personal stance on the matters she discusses are not readily apparent, because she skillfully presents all her information from an ostensibly neutral point of view. In her descriptions of these remixed religions, one catches glimpses of Burton’s sympathy and even agreement on some level, but she still trends towards neutrality.
In the last chapter, Burton’s true colors shine forth as she launches a more overtly partisan attack against the “right wing” and the “intellectual dark web.” She sees the progression from following such conservative intellectuals as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson as an almost-inevitable slippery slope that leads to mass shootings and other such horrors. When analyzing similar phenomena on the left side of the aisle, she fails to draw a comparison between, for example, the progressive politics of Bernie Sanders and his self-proclaimed follower who shot up a Congressional baseball game. Ultimately, she denounces the entire conservative wing of politics (whom she insists on referring to as “atavist”), without sufficiently differentiating between moderate right-wingers, alt-lite, and alt-right. However, she does not condemn the entire Left because of its fringe extremists (or even condemn the fringe extremists, for that matter).
In her concluding section, Burton sets up the “clash of the titans” as her closing question for what the future will hold. She leaves the reader with the question of which voice will win: the wellness people, the social justice people, the technology nerds, or the sex-starved incels who yearn for a return to a world run by alpha men. If those are humanity’s only options, then the future looks quite bleak. Fortunately, Burton fails to consider that traditional religion has a voice as well. If only about 50% of Americans are “Remixed,” that still leaves a lot who are more traditionally religious. In some ways, these stalwarts provide hope for America and there is still room to be optimistic about her future.
As a Doctor of Theology from Oxford University and a former Vox religion correspondent, Burton is well-positioned to offer her thoughts on contemporary popular culture and how it relates to religion/theology. Indeed, her insightful book brilliantly encapsulates the state of unorganized religion in our times. For the curious reader, her copious endnotes provide endless sources for further research (almost all of which refer to websites on the internet—a true testament to the internet’s role in the proliferation of these remixed religions). Her book is written in beautiful prose and the information is very densely packed in a readable, yet efficient way. Kudos to the author and her team for preparing this excellent work.
December 18, 2023
In Strange Rites, Burton examines "remixed" religiosity, diverging from the dominant "nones" (non-religious) narrative. It tracks with observations I've had, with people who are zealous, even evangelistic, about whatever space they've carved out for themselves.
Burton has an eye for history that helps set each chapter in context. Though the internet has created a public square where people can find each other, communicate, and galvanize a movement, most of the ideas are quite old, many not even new at all, but rehashed versions of nineteenth century (failed) utopic communes or interwar religious trends.
Burton identifies ritual, community, meaning, and purpose as part of her warrant for calling these largely internet-based movements religions. In each chapter, she succeeded at arguing for a few of these signifiers but I rarely understood how each one marked a movement. Especially in the hyper-online spaces (yes, she talks about Snapewives, and I hate that I knew what that was before reading the book) I didn't feel like she properly explored community. "Community" on the internet is so new (where did we have such widespread disembodied community before this strange place?) and I've seen other commentators explore particular online communities in a more helpful way. Since much of what she studied was on message boards, forums, fanfic sites, internet shops, et c., I was left wondering how participants experience the community aspect of remixed religiosity.
Not to Burton's shame, of course, but Strange Rites is already outdated. (Facebook who? Meta rebranded in a last-ditch effort to dodge consequences of their actions!) Things just move too fast on the internet for widespread studies like this to be "relevant" for very long. Only three years after publication, I couldn't help but feel that if Burton had done a single deep dive into a community, applying her observations and method on a broader scale, this book would have been more timeless than a breezy jaunt through trendingTwitter X hashtags. I spent way too much time wondering where QAnon and the January 6 insurrection were, before remembering that this book was written pre-pandemic, over a year before that occurred.
10/10 made me want to log off the internet and go to church. But I was left a little empty, wanting a meatier analysis.
Burton has an eye for history that helps set each chapter in context. Though the internet has created a public square where people can find each other, communicate, and galvanize a movement, most of the ideas are quite old, many not even new at all, but rehashed versions of nineteenth century (failed) utopic communes or interwar religious trends.
Burton identifies ritual, community, meaning, and purpose as part of her warrant for calling these largely internet-based movements religions. In each chapter, she succeeded at arguing for a few of these signifiers but I rarely understood how each one marked a movement. Especially in the hyper-online spaces (yes, she talks about Snapewives, and I hate that I knew what that was before reading the book) I didn't feel like she properly explored community. "Community" on the internet is so new (where did we have such widespread disembodied community before this strange place?) and I've seen other commentators explore particular online communities in a more helpful way. Since much of what she studied was on message boards, forums, fanfic sites, internet shops, et c., I was left wondering how participants experience the community aspect of remixed religiosity.
Not to Burton's shame, of course, but Strange Rites is already outdated. (Facebook who? Meta rebranded in a last-ditch effort to dodge consequences of their actions!) Things just move too fast on the internet for widespread studies like this to be "relevant" for very long. Only three years after publication, I couldn't help but feel that if Burton had done a single deep dive into a community, applying her observations and method on a broader scale, this book would have been more timeless than a breezy jaunt through trending
10/10 made me want to log off the internet and go to church. But I was left a little empty, wanting a meatier analysis.
January 30, 2021
What a load of bullshit! I don't think that I have read a bigger pile of crap in a long time. The author spends the first chapter of the book defining "religion" and then proceeds to ignore her own definition for the rest of the book. She takes huge leaps that things that have a common community are religion, ie Harry Potter shares a mythos and there is an online community of people that like Harry Potter so therefore Harry Potter is a religion. Um what? She is fantastic at manipulating random data to "prove" her points and making vast sweeping assumptions, ie there area bunch of people that are in chat groups about paganism so therefore they are actively practicing witchcraft. She constantly equates morals and religion (apparently you can't have one without the other) and assumes that if you take part in any community- wellness, movie/book/tv fan culture, have sex outside the norm, take part in social justice movements or ever use a tarot deck or Ouija board you are "remixing" your religion. She assumes that everyone that rejects traditional religion it is because you want to "opt out of existing religious categories.... because you are too special, too unique, too singular for the communal demands of ordinary traditional religion" Seriously?? This is certainly no academic study, not even an interesting look at changing culture, this is a 300 plus page meandering blog post. Save yourself and read something else.
October 26, 2020
Strange Rites is an important book for those interested in the religious landscape of America. Burton brings together many sources to show the different strains of thought vying for our post-Christian souls. Well-written and recommended.
Read
March 1, 2023Essential reading to understand the shape of the new "religions"/spiritualities which people embrace for a sense of meaning. People are not necessarily less spiritual ("Rise of the Nones") but are less enthrall to institutions in general. Thanks to Anne Michal and Grant for gifting this to me.
December 31, 2022
TL;DR In general, society is not becoming less religious, but less *traditionally* religious.
I am glad strange was in the title, because this was a strange book. The question at the heart of this debate is whether religious "nones" are truly nonreligious or have found new proxies that amount to religious worship. The author explains how most people are not rejecting religion as much as they are remixing it with other trends.
The remixes outlined range widely from Star Trek fandom, white supremacy, yoga, politics, LGBTQ advocacy, and technology, to the erotic worship of Severus Snape (yes, you read that right).
The best section for me, however, discussed how companies are racing to fill the spiritual void by marketing their products as what amounts to religious substitutes. They aim to make the purchase of their product akin to a recurring spiritual sacrament. That rang true as it seems nowadays you can't buy a pair of socks without taking some kind of moral stance.
Overall, there were a lot of really fascinating insights accompanied by bizarre tangents I didn't feel were effectively tied back to the book's main argument.
I am glad strange was in the title, because this was a strange book. The question at the heart of this debate is whether religious "nones" are truly nonreligious or have found new proxies that amount to religious worship. The author explains how most people are not rejecting religion as much as they are remixing it with other trends.
The remixes outlined range widely from Star Trek fandom, white supremacy, yoga, politics, LGBTQ advocacy, and technology, to the erotic worship of Severus Snape (yes, you read that right).
The best section for me, however, discussed how companies are racing to fill the spiritual void by marketing their products as what amounts to religious substitutes. They aim to make the purchase of their product akin to a recurring spiritual sacrament. That rang true as it seems nowadays you can't buy a pair of socks without taking some kind of moral stance.
Overall, there were a lot of really fascinating insights accompanied by bizarre tangents I didn't feel were effectively tied back to the book's main argument.
July 30, 2020
Disappointing. This barely comes together as a book. It's one of those collections of articles with a very loose theme that became a book.
The loose theme is that Americans are becoming anti-institutional and getting their religious experiences from somewhere else. Chapters explore some of those "somewhere else" places including witchcraft, polyamory, Soul-Cycle, social justice, "techno-utopianism" (think Peter Thiel), and the alt-right. It's a good overview of how people throw themselves into those things, but it's never convincing that they are truly religions as opposed to just hobbies or ideologies. The author fails to convince because she can't seem to decide if a religion is merely what Durkheim meant by religion (essentially, a bunch of people get together and do stuff that makes them feel great) or if it was something more profound.
Worse, the author is inconsistent in some of her descriptions. For example, she talks about how social justice warriors are majority white, but she mostly uses extreme nonwhite queer voices to represent them. She also describes some of the most extreme social justice ideologies and equates them with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but I don't think either of those politicians would have endorsed what was quoted in this book. I was disappointed in how the author didn't take the longer view in some areas. For example, she is traces the history of "self-care" to Audre Lorde (1988), but she does not trace social justice to Catholic teachings (e.g., Rerum Novarum and its successors). That would seem important if you're going to argue that social justice is a religious movement... Still, I appreciate that she didn't put moral equivalence to social justice warriors and the alt-right.
Her description of the alt-right is a good introduction. But again, I think she put people like Robin Hanson and Jordan Peterson (both mostly harmless in my opinion) too close to internet trolls and atavistic insane incels. To carry on her religion analogy, this is like describing contemporary Islam and giving equal weight to (1) the vast majority of Muslims and (2) the 9/11 terrorists. The murderers among Jordan Peterson's fanbase don't merit more than a footnote in a discussion about religion.
Overall, the book reminded me of Microtrends , a book by a Hillary Clinton pollster from 2008 who tried and failed to find common meaning across small groups of people across the United States. I liked reading bits of it here and there, but I felt I was getting a bunch of articles that were hastily packaged together with a half-baked thesis. Good observations, not a convincing story. For a deep dive on one of these contemporary religions, I recommend To Be a Machine , which the author cited in her chapter on techno-utopians.
The loose theme is that Americans are becoming anti-institutional and getting their religious experiences from somewhere else. Chapters explore some of those "somewhere else" places including witchcraft, polyamory, Soul-Cycle, social justice, "techno-utopianism" (think Peter Thiel), and the alt-right. It's a good overview of how people throw themselves into those things, but it's never convincing that they are truly religions as opposed to just hobbies or ideologies. The author fails to convince because she can't seem to decide if a religion is merely what Durkheim meant by religion (essentially, a bunch of people get together and do stuff that makes them feel great) or if it was something more profound.
Worse, the author is inconsistent in some of her descriptions. For example, she talks about how social justice warriors are majority white, but she mostly uses extreme nonwhite queer voices to represent them. She also describes some of the most extreme social justice ideologies and equates them with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but I don't think either of those politicians would have endorsed what was quoted in this book. I was disappointed in how the author didn't take the longer view in some areas. For example, she is traces the history of "self-care" to Audre Lorde (1988), but she does not trace social justice to Catholic teachings (e.g., Rerum Novarum and its successors). That would seem important if you're going to argue that social justice is a religious movement... Still, I appreciate that she didn't put moral equivalence to social justice warriors and the alt-right.
Her description of the alt-right is a good introduction. But again, I think she put people like Robin Hanson and Jordan Peterson (both mostly harmless in my opinion) too close to internet trolls and atavistic insane incels. To carry on her religion analogy, this is like describing contemporary Islam and giving equal weight to (1) the vast majority of Muslims and (2) the 9/11 terrorists. The murderers among Jordan Peterson's fanbase don't merit more than a footnote in a discussion about religion.
Overall, the book reminded me of Microtrends , a book by a Hillary Clinton pollster from 2008 who tried and failed to find common meaning across small groups of people across the United States. I liked reading bits of it here and there, but I felt I was getting a bunch of articles that were hastily packaged together with a half-baked thesis. Good observations, not a convincing story. For a deep dive on one of these contemporary religions, I recommend To Be a Machine , which the author cited in her chapter on techno-utopians.
Read
July 22, 2020An engaging, well-researched look into the spiritual lives of the religiously unaffiliated, who Burton refers to as the "Remixed." This includes those who are "spiritual but not religious," practice a hybrid or relaxed version of a traditional religion, or simply demonstrate a sense of personal spirituality through their actions and beliefs. Burton identifies the four main pillars of what religion has traditionally provided--meaning, purpose, community, and ritual--then uses this framework to identify the ways individual parts of contemporary culture often provide those things to the Remixed in lieu of religion. Maybe you get your sense of meaning and purpose from political activism, but your sense of ritual and community comes from your yoga studio, for example.
She dives deep into fan culture, the wellness/self-care industry, "woke capitalism," witchcraft,
and more, analyzing their historical basis and modern day iterations. One of her most interesting observations is that the social justice movement can be treated as a kind of civil religion, complete with its own theology, worldview, and practices--but on the flip side, so can its "dark mirror" alt-right online counterpart based in atavism.
Overall, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in religion and contemporary spirituality! I'll leave you with a quote that I think captures Burton's thesis: "We do not live in a godless world. Rather, we live in a profoundly anti-institutional one, where the proliferation of Internet creative culture and consumer capitalism have rendered us all simultaneously parishioner, high priest, and deity. America is not secular but simply spiritually self-focused."
She dives deep into fan culture, the wellness/self-care industry, "woke capitalism," witchcraft,
and more, analyzing their historical basis and modern day iterations. One of her most interesting observations is that the social justice movement can be treated as a kind of civil religion, complete with its own theology, worldview, and practices--but on the flip side, so can its "dark mirror" alt-right online counterpart based in atavism.
Overall, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in religion and contemporary spirituality! I'll leave you with a quote that I think captures Burton's thesis: "We do not live in a godless world. Rather, we live in a profoundly anti-institutional one, where the proliferation of Internet creative culture and consumer capitalism have rendered us all simultaneously parishioner, high priest, and deity. America is not secular but simply spiritually self-focused."
January 30, 2023
Very thin! Wellness culture, Harry Potter fandoms, and Proud Boys are all interesting essay topics, but trying to contextualize them as "new religions" felt extremely weak to me. This book basically skims the surface of various subcultures in America, and while they're mildly interesting to learn about, it fails to connect them into a greater thesis about the state of religion in the 21st century. Which is obviouslyyyy gonna be a big swing, but hey - that's what it says it's gonna do!! 🤷♀️
February 13, 2021
Perfect analyzing of new thought on religion, fringe health, and fake science. All belief evolves.
February 21, 2021
Strange Rites presents a fascinating overview of the rise of the religiously unaffiliated, a group Tara Isabella Burton refers to as the "Nones." Religious non-affiliation has exploded in recent years, largely due to the ubiquity of the internet and how various internet sites facilitate the formation of groups of people with disparate interests who find others with common views.
Burton claims that these groups, be they pagan spiritualists, adopters of new age beliefs, witches, alt-right trolls, futurists, proponents of social justice, congregate around shared values, create meaning, purpose and ritual by bonding over episodes of collective effervescence. This is the foundation of any church, according to Burton, who adopts this view from sociologist Emile Durkheim, and these new (loosely categorized) religions are, because of the internet, able to flourish unlike ever before in human history.
Almost all of these new religious movements create these values, meaning and collective effervescence without god. This inverts the traditional religious notion that meaning comes from outside the world (i.e. god/heaven), but rather comes from within the world, or the self. We are able to create our own bespoke identities and form our own doctrines. But, as Burton poignantly asks, "When we are all our own high priests, who is willing to kneel?"
Another common facet of the new godless religions is the prevalence of self-care within each ideology. For social justice culture, self-care is an act of political rebellion through which we can become our authentic selves. For techno-utopians, self-care is a means through which we can perfect the body through technology, hacking our way to better more fulfilling lives. "Contemporary wellness culture," Burton writes, "combines moral relativism with a comforting veneer of metaphysical universalism: and inherently meaningful world where you can sill, ethically, do whatever you want."
Burton repeatedly demonstrates that consumer capitalism is at the root of each of these burgeoning belief systems. "Meaning, purpose, community, ritual--all of these are things that we not only can buy with our hard earned dollars, but should," Burton writes as she describes a trend in social justice thinking. "As we increasingly consume our religious information the way we do the rest of our media--curated, like our facebook feeds--so, too, does our religious 'feed' become increasingly bespoke." This connection to consumerism exists within social justice culture, techno-utopianism, sexual utopianism, woke culture, and even far-right atavistic trolls.
The American religious landscape is certainly changing, but Burton wonderfully contextualizes the recent changes within the broader scope of American religious history. America is a land of many "Great Awakenings," the most recent of which is described here. Previous great awakenings led to new religions like Mormonism and Seventh Day Adventists, movements like transcendentalism, notions of prosperity gospel and new thought. The current awakening is an awakening that leads away from organized religion and civic institutions, and looks for meaning not beyond the world, but within it, in society generally, but especially within the self.
Burton claims that these groups, be they pagan spiritualists, adopters of new age beliefs, witches, alt-right trolls, futurists, proponents of social justice, congregate around shared values, create meaning, purpose and ritual by bonding over episodes of collective effervescence. This is the foundation of any church, according to Burton, who adopts this view from sociologist Emile Durkheim, and these new (loosely categorized) religions are, because of the internet, able to flourish unlike ever before in human history.
Almost all of these new religious movements create these values, meaning and collective effervescence without god. This inverts the traditional religious notion that meaning comes from outside the world (i.e. god/heaven), but rather comes from within the world, or the self. We are able to create our own bespoke identities and form our own doctrines. But, as Burton poignantly asks, "When we are all our own high priests, who is willing to kneel?"
Another common facet of the new godless religions is the prevalence of self-care within each ideology. For social justice culture, self-care is an act of political rebellion through which we can become our authentic selves. For techno-utopians, self-care is a means through which we can perfect the body through technology, hacking our way to better more fulfilling lives. "Contemporary wellness culture," Burton writes, "combines moral relativism with a comforting veneer of metaphysical universalism: and inherently meaningful world where you can sill, ethically, do whatever you want."
Burton repeatedly demonstrates that consumer capitalism is at the root of each of these burgeoning belief systems. "Meaning, purpose, community, ritual--all of these are things that we not only can buy with our hard earned dollars, but should," Burton writes as she describes a trend in social justice thinking. "As we increasingly consume our religious information the way we do the rest of our media--curated, like our facebook feeds--so, too, does our religious 'feed' become increasingly bespoke." This connection to consumerism exists within social justice culture, techno-utopianism, sexual utopianism, woke culture, and even far-right atavistic trolls.
The American religious landscape is certainly changing, but Burton wonderfully contextualizes the recent changes within the broader scope of American religious history. America is a land of many "Great Awakenings," the most recent of which is described here. Previous great awakenings led to new religions like Mormonism and Seventh Day Adventists, movements like transcendentalism, notions of prosperity gospel and new thought. The current awakening is an awakening that leads away from organized religion and civic institutions, and looks for meaning not beyond the world, but within it, in society generally, but especially within the self.
March 31, 2022
What an interesting and depressing read. It provides a deep dive into the spiritual thinking of western culture, with some comparison and contrasting to Christianity as it is often practiced currently in the US. I read it to better understand the mindset of both the "nones" (people who check "none" when asked their religious affiliation) and the "Spiritual but not religious." It was both helpful and depressing. Lots of people searching, lots of people picking and choosing what they want to believe, lots of people hungry for community and clarity in their values, and lots of people clamoring for something real...or something that they feel is real. I found one chapter especially interesting where it describes a mindset that makes a very rational case for the irrationality of life. I think the last chapter is one I will return to - it provides a number of the author's conclusions. I think it will be interesting to re-read the conclusions in 10-15 years to see in particular whether the anti-authority consumerism in religious/spiritual life is ultimately fulfilling or empty.
April 12, 2021
This book is an interesting overview of some aspects of modern culture that fill religion's roles as a community and a set of meanings for the world. It's a very quick overview of wellness culture, fandoms, SJWs, polyamorists/BDSMers, the alt-right/manosphere, and modern witchcraft. Each profile is pretty surface-level, including a few historical precedents for each (except, puzzlingly, the online alt-right) then describing them at about the same level as any thinkpiece on the same topic. I was hoping that a book-length treatment could give space for delving into the deeper ideologies of these subcultures.
Unfortunately, the book has a slightly judgemental tone about each of the alternatives, focussing on their most shocking aspects (the fandom chapter, for instance, starts with Severus Snape erotica). The concept of a "Durkheimian religion" - anything that provides a set of meanings and a sense of "collective transcendence" - is very useful and flexible, but since so many pages are spent dwelling on the shockingness or weirdness (in extremely normie terms) of each subculture the book spends less time discussing what makes them so appealing or transcendant-seeming to their followers. Maybe I'm jaded from growing up on the internet, but people dressing up in leather and hitting each other or teenagers getting a bunch of candles and trying to cast spells aren't particularly shocking to me.
Additionally, as the author observes, the key element giving rise to all these subcultres is late capitalism's individualizing and isolating effects. The author mentions this but quickly drops it, leaving the reader with the impression that subculture participants are to be judged for shallowness or individualism, rather than contextualized as parts of a society that ironically gives us few meaningful alternatives by giving us so many meaningless ones. Maybe their strange rites actually do have some deeper ideology to them. This book doesn't really say whether they do or don't, which is the biggest problem with it. There are so many ways the author could have pushed her analysis further, so it's very disappointing that the book stays surface-level and thus comes off as more judgemental than I believe was intended.
Unfortunately, the book has a slightly judgemental tone about each of the alternatives, focussing on their most shocking aspects (the fandom chapter, for instance, starts with Severus Snape erotica). The concept of a "Durkheimian religion" - anything that provides a set of meanings and a sense of "collective transcendence" - is very useful and flexible, but since so many pages are spent dwelling on the shockingness or weirdness (in extremely normie terms) of each subculture the book spends less time discussing what makes them so appealing or transcendant-seeming to their followers. Maybe I'm jaded from growing up on the internet, but people dressing up in leather and hitting each other or teenagers getting a bunch of candles and trying to cast spells aren't particularly shocking to me.
Additionally, as the author observes, the key element giving rise to all these subcultres is late capitalism's individualizing and isolating effects. The author mentions this but quickly drops it, leaving the reader with the impression that subculture participants are to be judged for shallowness or individualism, rather than contextualized as parts of a society that ironically gives us few meaningful alternatives by giving us so many meaningless ones. Maybe their strange rites actually do have some deeper ideology to them. This book doesn't really say whether they do or don't, which is the biggest problem with it. There are so many ways the author could have pushed her analysis further, so it's very disappointing that the book stays surface-level and thus comes off as more judgemental than I believe was intended.
October 9, 2022
There are so many books out that discuss the decline of religion in America and then say “[insert blank] is the new religion”. I enjoy those types of books, but they’ve become a little repetitive. When I first started reading this book, that’s what it felt like, and I kept taking breaks from it. Then, after getting passed the same old stuff, Tara Isabella Burton had me hooked. I legitimately binged the last 3/4 of the book. It was so damned good.
The book covers such great topics and how people are adopting them as a sort of religion, but she covers so much more and provides way more insight than the others. The book discusses the health and wellness industry like the people obsessed with Soul Cycle. Then, it dives into witchcraft, social justice, the far right trolls, and so much more. She also provides a lot of interesting data that I was unaware of.
This book was really good, and it’s definitely one I recommend.
The book covers such great topics and how people are adopting them as a sort of religion, but she covers so much more and provides way more insight than the others. The book discusses the health and wellness industry like the people obsessed with Soul Cycle. Then, it dives into witchcraft, social justice, the far right trolls, and so much more. She also provides a lot of interesting data that I was unaware of.
This book was really good, and it’s definitely one I recommend.
June 12, 2021
super kooky insane hot takes in here, like how Harry Potter gave rise to both BLM and the incel community. in essence, lost in the desert of the ecumenical, evangelicals saw the light in some tired dorm room Thoreau and Emerson’s deity of man gospel (re-upped for the gilded/consumerist age by hypnotist charlatan Phineas Quimby). And as fast as you can say amen, we were reborn in the waters of self-care and cultural resistance
November 17, 2021
Absolutely fascinating. This book is something of a sociological survey of the current religious landscape in America. Burton is not offering solutions or even commentary, necessarily, but I highly recommend for those curious about the many overlapping factors involved in western cultural religion/spirituality.
January 31, 2021
What a fascinating glance into this current cultural moment. I’d highly recommend to gain insight of this generations’ religious beliefs and understand those around us.
April 8, 2021
1/4 of Americans claim to be non-religious, while among millennials (1990s) it rises to 2/5. These religious unaffiliates “are the single biggest religious demographic in America, as well as the fastest growing one...significantly [outnumbering] white evangelicals...whose numbers are now dwindling at 15%.”
So this rise of the (non-Catholic) Nones tells a story of disenchantment, secularisation & atheism, right? Not so fast. A meagre 7% of the American popular are atheist or even agnostic, & for years now this has barely shifted one or two percentage points. Instead, a clear majority of this new non-religious bloc believe in a higher power of some variety. In fact, no less than 17% of Nones believe in the Abrahamic God himself! Some of the most striking findings were that half of the unaffiliated believe that physical objects have ‘spiritual energy’, 40% believe in psychics, over 1/3 believe in reincarnation, & just under a third adhere to astrology. But maybe most significantly, 62% of the religiously unaffiliated believed in at least one of those four. Cue Burton’s thesis: the rise of the Nones does not display a West disenchanted of religion, superstition & ritual. It showcases a West that is enchanted along different lines to ‘traditional’ religions like Christianity.
Burton’s first chapters overview this new Remixed group, the history of American religion thus far, & why the latest trends are so markedly different from what’s come before. But the body of the book consists of four in-depth case studies that sample some of these new religions.
The first goes back to the beginning of remix culture, in which we see the coincidental rise of both the internet & Harry Potter. These two sensations tell the story of “contemporary millennial culture –– its tendency toward Internet-driven communities, its obsession with individuation, its propensity to [re-]writing scripts & recreating worldviews.” Between the publication of the first & fourth entries to J.K. Rowling’s saga, there was an explosive 500% increase in American internet users, from 19m to a cool 100m. And the same year that brought us Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone saw the website fanfiction.net change Western culture forever.
The stories of today’s Remixed are always subject to revision & improvement & customisation: not from the original author, but from the rest of us in what Henry Jenkins calls ‘participatory culture’. Harry Potter’s birth-twin––the internet––led to transformation of the individual from content-consumer into content-creator through social media & fan fiction, thus precipitating this death of the author. Parallels with Scriptural narratives suggest themselves: no longer content to submit our values to those of our Maker, we want to write our own scripts. Consumers not only expect the TV series they watch to fit with their own values, preferences & beliefs; they even expect to be able to rewrite their beloved stories in their own image, whether in fan fiction or in social media protests that force writers to bend to their ill. So it is unsurprising that a culture which turns authority on its head then despises the suggestion of a God who refuses to revise his revealed Scripture in light of readers’ preferences. Yet producers can rub their hands with Glee at this newfound opportunity to ensure profitability, which allows the fans to get the character arcs that they want. Viewers’ loud fanfare for The OC’s Summer Roberts got her promoted from “a glorified extra” to a “series lead”, while they forced the writers of Breaking Bad to revise the storyline & renege on killing off Jesse for a similar reason. But authors like J.K. Rowling who refuse to bow to the demands or ideologies of their readers end up being portrayed as the nemesis of the very characters they created.
The promise of the internet is to construct a ‘community’ in which geographic restrictions are not merely shrunk but eliminated altogether. This new online tribe is defined only by the interests with which they identify, with no local commitments required of any kind. Such communities range from Harry Potter fan fictions which spawned ‘Snapewives’ to Facebook groups aligned with narrower & narrower brands of Reformed theology. Dr. Paul Maxwell has just argued that “the next seeker movement will be hobby-specific churches. Crossfit. LOTR, RPG or COD. Academics.”
Readers might not be surprised to learn that the BDSM best-seller 50 Shades of Grey began when E.L. James wrote 90 chapters of fan fiction based on the romantic vampire saga Twilight. Yet they may be surprised by the juxtaposition of this with the birth of probably the most significant (and certainly the most thorough going) scientifically minded faction in the West. Even this prominent ‘Rationalist Movement’, centred on Silicon Valley, can traced back to 400,000 words that Less Wrong founder Eliezer Yudkowski wrote of Harry Potter fan fiction, in which evil is countered through metacognitive hacks & super-forecasting.
Joss Whedon “the creator of cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel—called fandom the ‘closest thing to religion there is that isn’t actually religion.’ Christians, & certainly preachers, need to know that the public no longer get their moral categories from the Bible, but from Star Wars & Harry Potter. Just 39% in America know the biblical story of Job & only 50% of Christians could identify the 4 Gospels. Since 61% have seen “at least one Harry Potter film, it is very likely that more Americans can name the four Hogwarts houses than can name the Gospels.” Now it’s true that while media like this may provide values & meaning to believe in, such ‘Remixed Religions’ do not provide “formal beliefs about either the metaphysical realm or the world we live in now”, let alone require lifelong commitment to such a set of beliefs. For that, today’s many Westerners look to the object of our 2nd case study.
“If fandom provided us with a structure for today’s Remixed religious culture,” Burton writes, “wellness provides its implicit theology”. Yes, it is an extension of consumerist capitalism again, where big tech & savvy start-ups go about, “marketing personal self-improvement & commodified self-care [such as essential oils] as quasi-religious experiences.”
But far more than that:
While your diet must be purged of foods which contain toxins, your social life also requires cleansing of those haters with ‘toxic energy’.
Burton traces a fascinating history of this remixed, re-enchanted, self-help religion. It starts from the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson & William James, which convinced Little Women author Louisa May Alcott among others that reality is often formed by human willing & positive thinking. Its inheritors range from Mary Eddy’s Christian Science (which, ironically, is neither), to the Prosperity Gospel in the Word of Faith movement. It made its way to the top of the West’s food chain in Donald Trump, whose pastor-of-choice was & is the positive thinking guru Norman Vincent Peale. Just under 1 in 5 Americans subscribes to the Prosperity Gospel –– a surprisingly high number. Moreover, 31% believe its central tenet: if you give money to God, he will reward you with more. But these numbers are dwarfed by the whopping 61% of Americans who agree that “God wants you to be rich”.
While the religion of Wellness enshrines the self, Burton persuasively portrays the 3rd case study as undergirding a more political & radical feminism. We’re talking about the Wiccan religion of witchcraft & the broader resurgence of ‘the magic resistance’. (How such self-focused self-pampering wellness––“you do you”––fits with the radically corporate claims of contemporary social justice is just one of our many Remixed contradictions.) This ‘Magical Revolution’ may a backwater affair compared to the ubiquities of Wellness & fandom, but 3 considerations should give us pause:
1) Much that starts in the more sectarian New Age moves into mainstream Wellness: transcendental meditation, yoga, channeling, energy, Reiki, & healing crystals all started in the former but transitioned to the latter. Witchcraft seems to set the trend for what later morphs into benign & individualist self-care.
2) The causation runs the other way, too: “Harry Potter was definitely my gateway drug to the world of witchcraft,” says witch & activist Sarah Lyons.
3) Its reach in popular culture is perhaps wider than one might anticipate. Wicca is in fact the fastest growing religion in America. Between 1992-2001, it went from 8,000 Americans to 134,000, while the number today looks something like 1 million; meanwhile, “throughout 2017, around 13,000 [witches gathered weekly on social media] to cast spells to 'bind' Donald Trump.”
Wicca is "a reconstructionist religion that was created in England in the 1950s [by Gerald Gardener]".
But today, it's a fun & potent identity that I can tap into on days when I need some self-empowerment. In contrast to ‘patriarchal Christianity’, Wicca posits a feminist theology where there are two deities: Horned God, yes, but also Mother Goddess. Dabblers range from Adele, Katy Perry, & Sam Smith, who have all used healing crystals like Rose Quartz in an attempt to calm pre-performance nerves or solve romantic problems. Practitioners range from Lorde, who professes to be a witch, to Lana del Ray, who used witchcraft to hex Donald Trump. California pastor Jeremy Treat has often pointed out that Hollywood, for example, never has really been a secular or atheist place, instead always trending towards spiritualism or paganism.
The fourth & final case study is of Westerners’ preoccupation (read: obsession) with sex. As one practitioner admitted, “If we had a God... it would be consent.” Many today, who Burton labels ‘perfectionists’, think that we’d reach ‘a new utopia’ socially if we just unleashed our desires for polyamory, BDSM & other such predilections, not to mention Rationalist relationship ‘hacks’. This makes crystal clear one central motivation for jettisoning traditional religions, which have historically not facilitated sexual kink, in favour of remixed ones, which can & do. This worldview leads its adherents to an understandable but still remarkable conclusion: “Day-to-day life, she says, ‘is a trite fantasy world where you conceal who you are, where you conceal your feelings, where you conceal the truth...And the fantasy world, that’s the reality because that’s where people come out, that’s where you see who people are & people see who you are.” Yet this is an argument for being lost in the immersive world of “virtual reality” video games or pleasure machines, since only they remove all obstacles to the whims of my uninhibited self. Indeed, this is exactly what happens: “I find myself in a bed with my prom date.… At 3:30am, my cell phone started going nuts...He told me I needed to get home, get on my computer, & help kill one of the Emerald Dragons that had just spawned...I’m an 18-year-old dude with this girl, and I had to say ‘I’ve gotta go kill this dragon.’ We weren’t hanging out for much longer.” Ironically, does the fantasy world of the sexual perfectionists end up preventing the very kind of intimacy & freedom that they seek to champion?
Overall, Burton is a modern-day prophetess. She not only has a Seer’s eye to expose what is going in Western–& especially American–civilisation, but a Writer’s pen to tell its story like a gifted novelist. There are a few limitations to the book, though. Firstly, it's focused on the U.S., & self-consciously so. Does this research hold up in the UK?
According to the BSA 2018, just 1% of 18-24 year olds identify as Church of England & 52% of the overall population are non-religious. There’s our decline in religion along traditional lines. Yet still less than half of these non-religious are actual atheists. It’s not mentioned in report (which doesn’t show much if any awareness of Remixed religion), but even if you add those who don’t believe in God with those who don’t know, you’re still in a minority of the non-religious. The clear majority express at least sometimes believing in a God of some kind. The BSA also notes that scientists & bodies like the NHS lie near the top of who Brits trust the most. Vanilla atheism & mainstream science are clearly more popular than in the U.S. and it stands to reason that Remixed religions are less powerful on this side of the pond as well. However, the rates of Islam & Hinduism are also far higher here than in the U.S.. And the BSA didn’t ask non-religious Brits about beliefs in reincarnation, astrology, psychics, ghosts, or spiritual energy. This remains an underexplored aspect of life in contemporary Britain, where I expect we’d find a slightly smaller but still very sizable adherence to Remixed religions.
The bottom line is that Burton's vision penetrates beneath the surface of the West in all its contemporary chaos, to reach the swirly currents beneath. And with her as our guide, we can navigate those choppy waters, discover our self-contradictions & the way Remixed religion stokes the longing for deep roots and organic bonds, while also ultimately preventing us from forming them.
But, most importantly, may we end up experiencing something like what Tara Isabella Burton has herself encountered. She has since found a lavish but as yet untapped banquet. And the master of this banquet is One who not only Remix the religions of the day but to Revolutionise them in his stunning death to bridge the gulf between us and God. What if the One we’re longing for and the answers we’re searching for were sitting untouched on one of dusty shelves, in the pages of ancient Scripture and the One of whom it speaks? He came not just to Remix our civilisation but to Redeem us body and soul two millennia ago. We’re talking, of course, about Jesus Christ, the followers of whom Burton now numbers herself among.
So this rise of the (non-Catholic) Nones tells a story of disenchantment, secularisation & atheism, right? Not so fast. A meagre 7% of the American popular are atheist or even agnostic, & for years now this has barely shifted one or two percentage points. Instead, a clear majority of this new non-religious bloc believe in a higher power of some variety. In fact, no less than 17% of Nones believe in the Abrahamic God himself! Some of the most striking findings were that half of the unaffiliated believe that physical objects have ‘spiritual energy’, 40% believe in psychics, over 1/3 believe in reincarnation, & just under a third adhere to astrology. But maybe most significantly, 62% of the religiously unaffiliated believed in at least one of those four. Cue Burton’s thesis: the rise of the Nones does not display a West disenchanted of religion, superstition & ritual. It showcases a West that is enchanted along different lines to ‘traditional’ religions like Christianity.
Burton’s first chapters overview this new Remixed group, the history of American religion thus far, & why the latest trends are so markedly different from what’s come before. But the body of the book consists of four in-depth case studies that sample some of these new religions.
The first goes back to the beginning of remix culture, in which we see the coincidental rise of both the internet & Harry Potter. These two sensations tell the story of “contemporary millennial culture –– its tendency toward Internet-driven communities, its obsession with individuation, its propensity to [re-]writing scripts & recreating worldviews.” Between the publication of the first & fourth entries to J.K. Rowling’s saga, there was an explosive 500% increase in American internet users, from 19m to a cool 100m. And the same year that brought us Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone saw the website fanfiction.net change Western culture forever.
The stories of today’s Remixed are always subject to revision & improvement & customisation: not from the original author, but from the rest of us in what Henry Jenkins calls ‘participatory culture’. Harry Potter’s birth-twin––the internet––led to transformation of the individual from content-consumer into content-creator through social media & fan fiction, thus precipitating this death of the author. Parallels with Scriptural narratives suggest themselves: no longer content to submit our values to those of our Maker, we want to write our own scripts. Consumers not only expect the TV series they watch to fit with their own values, preferences & beliefs; they even expect to be able to rewrite their beloved stories in their own image, whether in fan fiction or in social media protests that force writers to bend to their ill. So it is unsurprising that a culture which turns authority on its head then despises the suggestion of a God who refuses to revise his revealed Scripture in light of readers’ preferences. Yet producers can rub their hands with Glee at this newfound opportunity to ensure profitability, which allows the fans to get the character arcs that they want. Viewers’ loud fanfare for The OC’s Summer Roberts got her promoted from “a glorified extra” to a “series lead”, while they forced the writers of Breaking Bad to revise the storyline & renege on killing off Jesse for a similar reason. But authors like J.K. Rowling who refuse to bow to the demands or ideologies of their readers end up being portrayed as the nemesis of the very characters they created.
The promise of the internet is to construct a ‘community’ in which geographic restrictions are not merely shrunk but eliminated altogether. This new online tribe is defined only by the interests with which they identify, with no local commitments required of any kind. Such communities range from Harry Potter fan fictions which spawned ‘Snapewives’ to Facebook groups aligned with narrower & narrower brands of Reformed theology. Dr. Paul Maxwell has just argued that “the next seeker movement will be hobby-specific churches. Crossfit. LOTR, RPG or COD. Academics.”
Readers might not be surprised to learn that the BDSM best-seller 50 Shades of Grey began when E.L. James wrote 90 chapters of fan fiction based on the romantic vampire saga Twilight. Yet they may be surprised by the juxtaposition of this with the birth of probably the most significant (and certainly the most thorough going) scientifically minded faction in the West. Even this prominent ‘Rationalist Movement’, centred on Silicon Valley, can traced back to 400,000 words that Less Wrong founder Eliezer Yudkowski wrote of Harry Potter fan fiction, in which evil is countered through metacognitive hacks & super-forecasting.
Joss Whedon “the creator of cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel—called fandom the ‘closest thing to religion there is that isn’t actually religion.’ Christians, & certainly preachers, need to know that the public no longer get their moral categories from the Bible, but from Star Wars & Harry Potter. Just 39% in America know the biblical story of Job & only 50% of Christians could identify the 4 Gospels. Since 61% have seen “at least one Harry Potter film, it is very likely that more Americans can name the four Hogwarts houses than can name the Gospels.” Now it’s true that while media like this may provide values & meaning to believe in, such ‘Remixed Religions’ do not provide “formal beliefs about either the metaphysical realm or the world we live in now”, let alone require lifelong commitment to such a set of beliefs. For that, today’s many Westerners look to the object of our 2nd case study.
“If fandom provided us with a structure for today’s Remixed religious culture,” Burton writes, “wellness provides its implicit theology”. Yes, it is an extension of consumerist capitalism again, where big tech & savvy start-ups go about, “marketing personal self-improvement & commodified self-care [such as essential oils] as quasi-religious experiences.”
But far more than that:
[Wellness Culture] is a cohesive philosophy of life: one rooted in both ethical notions of the self and metaphysical notions about energy...It’s a theology, fundamentally, of division: the authentic, intuitional self––both body and soul–– and the artificial malevolent forces of society, rules, and expectations. We are born good, but we are tricked, by Big Pharma, by processed food, by civilization itself, into living something that falls short of our best life. Our sins, if they exist at all, lie in insufficient self-attention or self-care: false modesty, undeserved humilities, refusing to shine bright.
While your diet must be purged of foods which contain toxins, your social life also requires cleansing of those haters with ‘toxic energy’.
Burton traces a fascinating history of this remixed, re-enchanted, self-help religion. It starts from the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson & William James, which convinced Little Women author Louisa May Alcott among others that reality is often formed by human willing & positive thinking. Its inheritors range from Mary Eddy’s Christian Science (which, ironically, is neither), to the Prosperity Gospel in the Word of Faith movement. It made its way to the top of the West’s food chain in Donald Trump, whose pastor-of-choice was & is the positive thinking guru Norman Vincent Peale. Just under 1 in 5 Americans subscribes to the Prosperity Gospel –– a surprisingly high number. Moreover, 31% believe its central tenet: if you give money to God, he will reward you with more. But these numbers are dwarfed by the whopping 61% of Americans who agree that “God wants you to be rich”.
While the religion of Wellness enshrines the self, Burton persuasively portrays the 3rd case study as undergirding a more political & radical feminism. We’re talking about the Wiccan religion of witchcraft & the broader resurgence of ‘the magic resistance’. (How such self-focused self-pampering wellness––“you do you”––fits with the radically corporate claims of contemporary social justice is just one of our many Remixed contradictions.) This ‘Magical Revolution’ may a backwater affair compared to the ubiquities of Wellness & fandom, but 3 considerations should give us pause:
1) Much that starts in the more sectarian New Age moves into mainstream Wellness: transcendental meditation, yoga, channeling, energy, Reiki, & healing crystals all started in the former but transitioned to the latter. Witchcraft seems to set the trend for what later morphs into benign & individualist self-care.
2) The causation runs the other way, too: “Harry Potter was definitely my gateway drug to the world of witchcraft,” says witch & activist Sarah Lyons.
3) Its reach in popular culture is perhaps wider than one might anticipate. Wicca is in fact the fastest growing religion in America. Between 1992-2001, it went from 8,000 Americans to 134,000, while the number today looks something like 1 million; meanwhile, “throughout 2017, around 13,000 [witches gathered weekly on social media] to cast spells to 'bind' Donald Trump.”
Wicca is "a reconstructionist religion that was created in England in the 1950s [by Gerald Gardener]".
But today, it's a fun & potent identity that I can tap into on days when I need some self-empowerment. In contrast to ‘patriarchal Christianity’, Wicca posits a feminist theology where there are two deities: Horned God, yes, but also Mother Goddess. Dabblers range from Adele, Katy Perry, & Sam Smith, who have all used healing crystals like Rose Quartz in an attempt to calm pre-performance nerves or solve romantic problems. Practitioners range from Lorde, who professes to be a witch, to Lana del Ray, who used witchcraft to hex Donald Trump. California pastor Jeremy Treat has often pointed out that Hollywood, for example, never has really been a secular or atheist place, instead always trending towards spiritualism or paganism.
The fourth & final case study is of Westerners’ preoccupation (read: obsession) with sex. As one practitioner admitted, “If we had a God... it would be consent.” Many today, who Burton labels ‘perfectionists’, think that we’d reach ‘a new utopia’ socially if we just unleashed our desires for polyamory, BDSM & other such predilections, not to mention Rationalist relationship ‘hacks’. This makes crystal clear one central motivation for jettisoning traditional religions, which have historically not facilitated sexual kink, in favour of remixed ones, which can & do. This worldview leads its adherents to an understandable but still remarkable conclusion: “Day-to-day life, she says, ‘is a trite fantasy world where you conceal who you are, where you conceal your feelings, where you conceal the truth...And the fantasy world, that’s the reality because that’s where people come out, that’s where you see who people are & people see who you are.” Yet this is an argument for being lost in the immersive world of “virtual reality” video games or pleasure machines, since only they remove all obstacles to the whims of my uninhibited self. Indeed, this is exactly what happens: “I find myself in a bed with my prom date.… At 3:30am, my cell phone started going nuts...He told me I needed to get home, get on my computer, & help kill one of the Emerald Dragons that had just spawned...I’m an 18-year-old dude with this girl, and I had to say ‘I’ve gotta go kill this dragon.’ We weren’t hanging out for much longer.” Ironically, does the fantasy world of the sexual perfectionists end up preventing the very kind of intimacy & freedom that they seek to champion?
Overall, Burton is a modern-day prophetess. She not only has a Seer’s eye to expose what is going in Western–& especially American–civilisation, but a Writer’s pen to tell its story like a gifted novelist. There are a few limitations to the book, though. Firstly, it's focused on the U.S., & self-consciously so. Does this research hold up in the UK?
According to the BSA 2018, just 1% of 18-24 year olds identify as Church of England & 52% of the overall population are non-religious. There’s our decline in religion along traditional lines. Yet still less than half of these non-religious are actual atheists. It’s not mentioned in report (which doesn’t show much if any awareness of Remixed religion), but even if you add those who don’t believe in God with those who don’t know, you’re still in a minority of the non-religious. The clear majority express at least sometimes believing in a God of some kind. The BSA also notes that scientists & bodies like the NHS lie near the top of who Brits trust the most. Vanilla atheism & mainstream science are clearly more popular than in the U.S. and it stands to reason that Remixed religions are less powerful on this side of the pond as well. However, the rates of Islam & Hinduism are also far higher here than in the U.S.. And the BSA didn’t ask non-religious Brits about beliefs in reincarnation, astrology, psychics, ghosts, or spiritual energy. This remains an underexplored aspect of life in contemporary Britain, where I expect we’d find a slightly smaller but still very sizable adherence to Remixed religions.
The bottom line is that Burton's vision penetrates beneath the surface of the West in all its contemporary chaos, to reach the swirly currents beneath. And with her as our guide, we can navigate those choppy waters, discover our self-contradictions & the way Remixed religion stokes the longing for deep roots and organic bonds, while also ultimately preventing us from forming them.
But, most importantly, may we end up experiencing something like what Tara Isabella Burton has herself encountered. She has since found a lavish but as yet untapped banquet. And the master of this banquet is One who not only Remix the religions of the day but to Revolutionise them in his stunning death to bridge the gulf between us and God. What if the One we’re longing for and the answers we’re searching for were sitting untouched on one of dusty shelves, in the pages of ancient Scripture and the One of whom it speaks? He came not just to Remix our civilisation but to Redeem us body and soul two millennia ago. We’re talking, of course, about Jesus Christ, the followers of whom Burton now numbers herself among.
August 21, 2023
Okay, so reading this book less than a week after Katherine May's Enchantment was AN EXPERIENCE.
Because May is talking about finding ways to do what many of these secular religions offer, albeit often in a terrifying fashion.
And, despite being a rabbi, apparently I ALSO have a knee-jerk response that describing something as a religion is a way of saying its adherents are unreasonable and its tenets aren't true. Anyway, some cheshbon hanefesh (soul searching) to be done there, clearly.
But I also think that Burton is doing something extremely interesting in the way she framed her book and how she brought us into it through history and her own experiences. She's convincing that religion as such is at least necessary if not good.
And simmering in the background of the entire book is the commodification of religions that become practiced through individual purchases and aesthetics. Especially wellness (tm), which is part of nearly every secular religion she mentions, as the religion of buying your way into eternal life...if you'd indulge me. In some ways, that's my biggest problem with taking the goodness of her secular religions seriously (even the ones that inform my own behavior) because of the impossibility of any lasting meaning coming from a religion where I am supplicant, priest, temple, and God and the road to heaven is paved with dollars spend on self care. *checks yarn collection guiltily* What does it mean to take a social justice community and turn everything into demands for "free labor"? (There's arakhin stuff going on here too, but that's getting way too far afield.) Even granting that the alternative is worse, the idea that justice is a commodity rather than what we are obligated to give to the world upsets me. But also I am used to balancing obligation and the limits of the self so IDK. Solving yet another problem with UBI.
What is also fascinating about this book is that, when you line up her secular religions next to each other, it becomes much easier to discuss the measure of a religion in terms of how much good or evil it does. The atavistic alt-right and similar ideologies is the only religion with a death toll. If we're evaluating new religions not (just) on their truth claims, but on the good they do in their rituals, communities, and eschatological future, it's pretty clear which one is the actual worst. (Not leaving aside the truth claims, IDW is also the one with the least amount of actual evidence behind it's beliefs, but I digress). That does not make dealing with it easier, but it does change the conversation about the value of each individual idea when only one of them creates murderers. (What this says about theistic religions is an exercise I leave to the reader.)
The question I keep getting stuck on, though, is that Burton talks about the deployment of bodies and lived experience in the social justice movement and notes that it's a very this-world approach with no concept of the soul. And I keep trying to figure out whether that's true.
Also, this book was written pre-COVID and it feels like it's ALSO describing things that no longer exist and it's weird to feel that a 3 year old book is out of date.
Because May is talking about finding ways to do what many of these secular religions offer, albeit often in a terrifying fashion.
And, despite being a rabbi, apparently I ALSO have a knee-jerk response that describing something as a religion is a way of saying its adherents are unreasonable and its tenets aren't true. Anyway, some cheshbon hanefesh (soul searching) to be done there, clearly.
But I also think that Burton is doing something extremely interesting in the way she framed her book and how she brought us into it through history and her own experiences. She's convincing that religion as such is at least necessary if not good.
And simmering in the background of the entire book is the commodification of religions that become practiced through individual purchases and aesthetics. Especially wellness (tm), which is part of nearly every secular religion she mentions, as the religion of buying your way into eternal life...if you'd indulge me. In some ways, that's my biggest problem with taking the goodness of her secular religions seriously (even the ones that inform my own behavior) because of the impossibility of any lasting meaning coming from a religion where I am supplicant, priest, temple, and God and the road to heaven is paved with dollars spend on self care. *checks yarn collection guiltily* What does it mean to take a social justice community and turn everything into demands for "free labor"? (There's arakhin stuff going on here too, but that's getting way too far afield.) Even granting that the alternative is worse, the idea that justice is a commodity rather than what we are obligated to give to the world upsets me. But also I am used to balancing obligation and the limits of the self so IDK. Solving yet another problem with UBI.
What is also fascinating about this book is that, when you line up her secular religions next to each other, it becomes much easier to discuss the measure of a religion in terms of how much good or evil it does. The atavistic alt-right and similar ideologies is the only religion with a death toll. If we're evaluating new religions not (just) on their truth claims, but on the good they do in their rituals, communities, and eschatological future, it's pretty clear which one is the actual worst. (Not leaving aside the truth claims, IDW is also the one with the least amount of actual evidence behind it's beliefs, but I digress). That does not make dealing with it easier, but it does change the conversation about the value of each individual idea when only one of them creates murderers. (What this says about theistic religions is an exercise I leave to the reader.)
The question I keep getting stuck on, though, is that Burton talks about the deployment of bodies and lived experience in the social justice movement and notes that it's a very this-world approach with no concept of the soul. And I keep trying to figure out whether that's true.
Also, this book was written pre-COVID and it feels like it's ALSO describing things that no longer exist and it's weird to feel that a 3 year old book is out of date.
November 23, 2020
“Strange Rites” put a lot of the pieces together for me as far as understanding the various “religions” of the Nones. I notice a lot of these trends (just hop on Instagram for five minutes) and enjoyed this thorough dissection of everything from wellness culture to super-fan obsession to the social justice movement.
What most of these trends or movements have in common: a focus on the self (expressive individualism). A prioritization of the body over the mind. A belief in perfectibility. Also, they’re way more than trends, but are effectively new religions (Burton uses Durkheim’s criteria to argue this).
Burton proves that the Nones are no more free from belief than those faithful to a traditional, organized religion, but rather that they pick and choose elements of religion from a variety of places (I get my group identity with these people, my meaning here, and the rituals that make me feel ‘spiritual’ over here). What’s new is this pick-and-choose, “bespoke” religious culture.
I felt the handling of Jordan Peterson was somewhat unfair, and I noticed some sentence-level repetition. Other than that, I would recommend this as an essential and entertaining read.
What most of these trends or movements have in common: a focus on the self (expressive individualism). A prioritization of the body over the mind. A belief in perfectibility. Also, they’re way more than trends, but are effectively new religions (Burton uses Durkheim’s criteria to argue this).
Burton proves that the Nones are no more free from belief than those faithful to a traditional, organized religion, but rather that they pick and choose elements of religion from a variety of places (I get my group identity with these people, my meaning here, and the rituals that make me feel ‘spiritual’ over here). What’s new is this pick-and-choose, “bespoke” religious culture.
I felt the handling of Jordan Peterson was somewhat unfair, and I noticed some sentence-level repetition. Other than that, I would recommend this as an essential and entertaining read.
Read
October 2, 2023It was *almost* like reading a version of The Screwtape Letters specifically about today's America. Insightful, but heartbreaking with palpable darkness.
In the end, she summarizes with the three remixed religions she feels are fighting for prominence in America and states that "Only time will tell which one will win.". I'm grateful that I live with hope knowing that none of those religions can come close to comparing with the person of Jesus who has already "won".
Some memorable quotes:
"America is not secular but simply spiritually self-focused."
"Today’s Remixed reject authority, institution, creed, and moral universalism. They value intuition, personal feeling, and experiences."
"Today’s Nones have grown up seeing religion as a social or communal institution—a “nice to have” teaching “good values” or solidifying family bonds—but not necessarily as a core part of their meaning or purpose."
"new religions provide their various Remixed flocks with these four elements: meaning, purpose, community, and ritual."
"For the vast majority of Remixed spiritualists, this new religious landscape heralds an era of untrammeled self-expression, of spirituality conceived first and foremost as an instrument of self-betterment, a necessary and easily consumable product designed to optimize one’s life."
In the end, she summarizes with the three remixed religions she feels are fighting for prominence in America and states that "Only time will tell which one will win.". I'm grateful that I live with hope knowing that none of those religions can come close to comparing with the person of Jesus who has already "won".
Some memorable quotes:
"America is not secular but simply spiritually self-focused."
"Today’s Remixed reject authority, institution, creed, and moral universalism. They value intuition, personal feeling, and experiences."
"Today’s Nones have grown up seeing religion as a social or communal institution—a “nice to have” teaching “good values” or solidifying family bonds—but not necessarily as a core part of their meaning or purpose."
"new religions provide their various Remixed flocks with these four elements: meaning, purpose, community, and ritual."
"For the vast majority of Remixed spiritualists, this new religious landscape heralds an era of untrammeled self-expression, of spirituality conceived first and foremost as an instrument of self-betterment, a necessary and easily consumable product designed to optimize one’s life."
December 26, 2021
Strange Rites is a strange book. Do you expect a coherent book when you hear the subjects are witchcraft, self-help, social justice, Fifty Shades of Grey, and the Alt-Right? Well, Burton has managed to do that by showing that in today's America, individualism drives religion. Increasingly Americans of all religions and/or none are "remixing" their religious beliefs to fit their own self-narratives and new subcultures emerge and realign to provide meaning in a world where traditional institutional religion is not epistemically authoritative.
December 29, 2020
"When we are all our own high priests, who is willing to kneel?"
We are all too familiar with the cultural conflict between Christianity (or religion) against the forces of secularism that continue to challenge the foundations of the generation that came before. However, while many are leaving traditional Christianity behind, they are not necessarily running to the open arms of atheism either.
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World makes a convincing case that today's society is not necessarily becoming less religious, but that the nature of religiosity is changing dramatically. Tara Isabella Burton draws our attention to an ever-expanding group known as the religiously remixed, who have found themselves alienated by the rigid structure of institutional religion and have instead pursued their own bespoke faith systems. They take the positive aspects of Christian practice and mesh it with various other faiths and traditions that suit their preference (i.e. wellness culture, witchcraft, social justice, fandom, new age, etc.).
Burton provides us with a very useful definition of religion that helps to categorise this vast and diverse range of beliefs and practices. In summary, religions provide 4 things:
1) Meaning - a narrative of the world we live in.
2) Purpose - how we fit into that narrative.
3) Community - connecting with people who help us carry out our purpose.
4) Ritual - events or actions that unite the community around the shared purpose.
When we look at today's society through this lens, we can clearly see that people are looking for the very same thing that institutional religions have provided for centuries - just in very different locations.
Many may find this liberating, especially those who struggle to integrate into the churches or synagogues of organized religion. With the growth of the internet, there is not the same need for acceptance within an immediate community or fear of exclusion. One can find much larger communities of like-minded individuals that match their own desires and interests. These new communities are supported by many companies who have seen the lucrative value of commercialized spirituality and have begun to market values along with their products. With this new burst of spiritual freedom comes a cost, however. As many now seek to associate with others that are 100% like themselves, their communities become far more tribal and are less likely to compromise or find common ground with others.
One of my favorite chapters discussed the nature of storytelling and the modern-day fandom that has sprung up around major franchises. For some, it is not simply enough to be an avid reader of the Harry Potter novels. The characters, the world, the mythos becomes part of their identity and infuse their lives with meaning even know they are fictional. With the growth of internet chat rooms and fan fiction, stories are no longer set in stone or designed to inform and teach the author's view. Rather stories are made to serve their audience. In a larger sense, many today are unwilling to conform to values outside of themselves - the world must be conformed to their values and vision.
Many of the ideas and groups described in this book sound crazy and hard to process. Some of the examples given are extreme, but many appear to be very commonly held positions. However, the author helps us to understand the framework that each group is working in, and while I may still fundamentally disagree with the worldviews presented, they have become significantly less alien to me. For the most part, these incredibly individualistic subcultures generally view humanity and their many desires to be inherently good, so any attempt to restrict or repress these desires are viewed as evil. The book also attempts to explain how people have come to embrace moral relativism and the idea that the only truth you can really know is doing what is right for you. Taking time to understand why people view the world in the way that they do, no matter how crazy it may seem, is crucial if you wish to open up a dialogue in the public square.
It is difficult to represent so many different people both accurately and honestly. Even the Jordan Peterson phenomenon, centered around an individual who is often branded simply as a right-wing extremist, was addressed fairly. I am unlikely to agree with the author in her politics or her view on God, but I greatly respected her handling of the movements discussed. I found her insights surprising, thought-provoking, and deeply beneficial in my attempt to understand how the modern world operates.
Strange Rites is an important read. It is clear that people are still looking for meaning, purpose, and community in the modern world just as much as they have been for centuries. However, while our Saviour calls us to be born again, and transformed by the Spirit, our modern individualistic society has created many new religious cultures in which the adherent is now the authority. The chaos of this spiritual free-for-all makes me yearn for something steadfast, objective and knowable.
If you are looking to understand religious sentiment outside of that standard institutions, this is a must-read. One of my favourite books of 2020.
We are all too familiar with the cultural conflict between Christianity (or religion) against the forces of secularism that continue to challenge the foundations of the generation that came before. However, while many are leaving traditional Christianity behind, they are not necessarily running to the open arms of atheism either.
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World makes a convincing case that today's society is not necessarily becoming less religious, but that the nature of religiosity is changing dramatically. Tara Isabella Burton draws our attention to an ever-expanding group known as the religiously remixed, who have found themselves alienated by the rigid structure of institutional religion and have instead pursued their own bespoke faith systems. They take the positive aspects of Christian practice and mesh it with various other faiths and traditions that suit their preference (i.e. wellness culture, witchcraft, social justice, fandom, new age, etc.).
Burton provides us with a very useful definition of religion that helps to categorise this vast and diverse range of beliefs and practices. In summary, religions provide 4 things:
1) Meaning - a narrative of the world we live in.
2) Purpose - how we fit into that narrative.
3) Community - connecting with people who help us carry out our purpose.
4) Ritual - events or actions that unite the community around the shared purpose.
When we look at today's society through this lens, we can clearly see that people are looking for the very same thing that institutional religions have provided for centuries - just in very different locations.
Many may find this liberating, especially those who struggle to integrate into the churches or synagogues of organized religion. With the growth of the internet, there is not the same need for acceptance within an immediate community or fear of exclusion. One can find much larger communities of like-minded individuals that match their own desires and interests. These new communities are supported by many companies who have seen the lucrative value of commercialized spirituality and have begun to market values along with their products. With this new burst of spiritual freedom comes a cost, however. As many now seek to associate with others that are 100% like themselves, their communities become far more tribal and are less likely to compromise or find common ground with others.
One of my favorite chapters discussed the nature of storytelling and the modern-day fandom that has sprung up around major franchises. For some, it is not simply enough to be an avid reader of the Harry Potter novels. The characters, the world, the mythos becomes part of their identity and infuse their lives with meaning even know they are fictional. With the growth of internet chat rooms and fan fiction, stories are no longer set in stone or designed to inform and teach the author's view. Rather stories are made to serve their audience. In a larger sense, many today are unwilling to conform to values outside of themselves - the world must be conformed to their values and vision.
Many of the ideas and groups described in this book sound crazy and hard to process. Some of the examples given are extreme, but many appear to be very commonly held positions. However, the author helps us to understand the framework that each group is working in, and while I may still fundamentally disagree with the worldviews presented, they have become significantly less alien to me. For the most part, these incredibly individualistic subcultures generally view humanity and their many desires to be inherently good, so any attempt to restrict or repress these desires are viewed as evil. The book also attempts to explain how people have come to embrace moral relativism and the idea that the only truth you can really know is doing what is right for you. Taking time to understand why people view the world in the way that they do, no matter how crazy it may seem, is crucial if you wish to open up a dialogue in the public square.
It is difficult to represent so many different people both accurately and honestly. Even the Jordan Peterson phenomenon, centered around an individual who is often branded simply as a right-wing extremist, was addressed fairly. I am unlikely to agree with the author in her politics or her view on God, but I greatly respected her handling of the movements discussed. I found her insights surprising, thought-provoking, and deeply beneficial in my attempt to understand how the modern world operates.
Strange Rites is an important read. It is clear that people are still looking for meaning, purpose, and community in the modern world just as much as they have been for centuries. However, while our Saviour calls us to be born again, and transformed by the Spirit, our modern individualistic society has created many new religious cultures in which the adherent is now the authority. The chaos of this spiritual free-for-all makes me yearn for something steadfast, objective and knowable.
If you are looking to understand religious sentiment outside of that standard institutions, this is a must-read. One of my favourite books of 2020.
August 23, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up
November 12, 2022
TL;DR: people are not less religious, they are just less traditionally religious: they are “religiously remixed”
the “religiously remixed” create for themselves their own bespoke religions— mixing and matching spiritual and aesthetic and experiential and philosophical traditions. “REMIXED hunger for same things human beings have always longed for: a sense of meaning in the world, purpose… community… ritual…” “today’s remixed reject authority, institution, creed, and moral universalism… value intuition, personal feeling, experiences.” “don’t want to receive doctrine… want to choose… PURCHASE… the spiritual path that feels more authentic.” “want freedom to mix and match.” ; INTERNET important in this remixed religious climate… just as printing press created Protestantism.
a godless world? jerry falwell (moral majority) thinks so; Sam Harris, too (… at some point it’s just going to be too embarrassing to believe in God)… secularization theory… numbers SEEM to bear out secularization theory…. 2007 only 15% were religiously unaffiliated… 2012 that number was 20%… now higher still…. 40% of young millennials… but let’s look closer… only 7% identify as atheist/agnostic… 72% of nones believe in (if not god of bible) at least “something”… 55% of nones…believe in higher power distinct from god of bible… 17 percent believe in god of bible… our nones are not traditionally religious, but not exactly secular, either. three distinct groups of REMIXED people: 1. spiritual but not religious (27%) [people are moving away from religious but NOT from spirituality] Who are SBNR? white, left-leaning; 6% more likely to have college degree; 70% are religiously affiliated and have some kind of religious identity (cultural catholics, Creaster catholics, for example) SBNR just means that although they may be religiously affiliated, their primary sources of meaning making do not derive from religious practice but from music or art, for example 2. faithful nones… religiously unaffiliated… pretty similar to SBNR’s with the exception that they do not belong to any religious community or religious identify in any way; don’t have access to structural or institutional supports SBNR’s might have 3. religious hybrids [TBR: _Without Buddha, I Could Not Be A Christian_] joaquin noah NBA star is “spiritually fluid” or “a little bit of everything” … “unbundling” (harvard divinity school)… Alpers “rise of bricolage religion inextricably connected to consumer capitalism”; “strictly personal packages of meaning based on tastes and preferences”; AT LEAST 50% BELONG TO ONE OF THESE THREE CATEGORIES! “remixed culture is ubiquitous.”…
most new remixed religions are intuitional religions: locust of authority on gut instinct/emotions; value authenticity; suspicious of moral or truth claims not rooted in subjective experience; 3/4 millennials believe that ”whatever works best for you is the only truth you can know”; agency and creative ownership; “I make my own religion”; “spirituality sells” is slogan for post 2016 ad agencies; “the refractory nature of these new intuitional religions…. risks creating a balkanized american culture”; “WHEN WE ARE ALL OUR OWN HIGH PRIESTS, WHO IS WILLING TO KNEEL?”
the “religiously remixed” create for themselves their own bespoke religions— mixing and matching spiritual and aesthetic and experiential and philosophical traditions. “REMIXED hunger for same things human beings have always longed for: a sense of meaning in the world, purpose… community… ritual…” “today’s remixed reject authority, institution, creed, and moral universalism… value intuition, personal feeling, experiences.” “don’t want to receive doctrine… want to choose… PURCHASE… the spiritual path that feels more authentic.” “want freedom to mix and match.” ; INTERNET important in this remixed religious climate… just as printing press created Protestantism.
a godless world? jerry falwell (moral majority) thinks so; Sam Harris, too (… at some point it’s just going to be too embarrassing to believe in God)… secularization theory… numbers SEEM to bear out secularization theory…. 2007 only 15% were religiously unaffiliated… 2012 that number was 20%… now higher still…. 40% of young millennials… but let’s look closer… only 7% identify as atheist/agnostic… 72% of nones believe in (if not god of bible) at least “something”… 55% of nones…believe in higher power distinct from god of bible… 17 percent believe in god of bible… our nones are not traditionally religious, but not exactly secular, either. three distinct groups of REMIXED people: 1. spiritual but not religious (27%) [people are moving away from religious but NOT from spirituality] Who are SBNR? white, left-leaning; 6% more likely to have college degree; 70% are religiously affiliated and have some kind of religious identity (cultural catholics, Creaster catholics, for example) SBNR just means that although they may be religiously affiliated, their primary sources of meaning making do not derive from religious practice but from music or art, for example 2. faithful nones… religiously unaffiliated… pretty similar to SBNR’s with the exception that they do not belong to any religious community or religious identify in any way; don’t have access to structural or institutional supports SBNR’s might have 3. religious hybrids [TBR: _Without Buddha, I Could Not Be A Christian_] joaquin noah NBA star is “spiritually fluid” or “a little bit of everything” … “unbundling” (harvard divinity school)… Alpers “rise of bricolage religion inextricably connected to consumer capitalism”; “strictly personal packages of meaning based on tastes and preferences”; AT LEAST 50% BELONG TO ONE OF THESE THREE CATEGORIES! “remixed culture is ubiquitous.”…
most new remixed religions are intuitional religions: locust of authority on gut instinct/emotions; value authenticity; suspicious of moral or truth claims not rooted in subjective experience; 3/4 millennials believe that ”whatever works best for you is the only truth you can know”; agency and creative ownership; “I make my own religion”; “spirituality sells” is slogan for post 2016 ad agencies; “the refractory nature of these new intuitional religions…. risks creating a balkanized american culture”; “WHEN WE ARE ALL OUR OWN HIGH PRIESTS, WHO IS WILLING TO KNEEL?”
June 30, 2020
This book is going to leave me with a lot of things to think about.
A few quick points.
1) I think a lot of people will get hung up on Burton calling all these different things religion, seeing them more as ideologies. It's a fair point, but I think this is just a part of the challenge of book writing. My advice is don't sweat this too much.
2) I honestly think most readers will be fine reading the opening vignette about SLEEP NO MORE then skipping to chapter 2, reading all of that, and then skipping to Chapter 4. The first 3 chapters kinda darn the air in the same spot (with a lot of poll numbers) for a lot of pages. It's fine but... I think maybe save yourself some time.
OK, beyond that, the middle part of this book is sort of fun pop culture review where she unpacks the fundamental self-centeredness of our culture and illuminating what people do when you Hoover God out of their lives.
Could benefit from a Nordic Death Metal chapter but you know... I'm not her editor.
Burton is pretty critical of Jordan Peterson but I think he would point at a lot of those sections and say that this is an excellent, detailed articulation of what he has been saying happens in a Godless world (actually he says it's what Nietzsche says but I digress)
Anyway that's all just an appetizer before the last two chapters where she sets up the three way battle for the future between the rationalists, the SJWs and the neoreactionaries/atavists.
This is really the meat of the book and what she's leading up to. I came out of it NOT LIKING ANY OF THEM. Which is discouraging. But a lot of food for thought.
And she draws out some nice themes they have in common, particularly how they all fixate on our bodily selves (rationalists are bit more into the brain than the brawn, but still the physical brain).
So that part is going to leave me thinking.
I know Burton is fairly religious herself so I thought maybe she would make a pitch at the end but if you're bracing for that the whole time: she does not. FWIW.
A few quick points.
1) I think a lot of people will get hung up on Burton calling all these different things religion, seeing them more as ideologies. It's a fair point, but I think this is just a part of the challenge of book writing. My advice is don't sweat this too much.
2) I honestly think most readers will be fine reading the opening vignette about SLEEP NO MORE then skipping to chapter 2, reading all of that, and then skipping to Chapter 4. The first 3 chapters kinda darn the air in the same spot (with a lot of poll numbers) for a lot of pages. It's fine but... I think maybe save yourself some time.
OK, beyond that, the middle part of this book is sort of fun pop culture review where she unpacks the fundamental self-centeredness of our culture and illuminating what people do when you Hoover God out of their lives.
Could benefit from a Nordic Death Metal chapter but you know... I'm not her editor.
Burton is pretty critical of Jordan Peterson but I think he would point at a lot of those sections and say that this is an excellent, detailed articulation of what he has been saying happens in a Godless world (actually he says it's what Nietzsche says but I digress)
Anyway that's all just an appetizer before the last two chapters where she sets up the three way battle for the future between the rationalists, the SJWs and the neoreactionaries/atavists.
This is really the meat of the book and what she's leading up to. I came out of it NOT LIKING ANY OF THEM. Which is discouraging. But a lot of food for thought.
And she draws out some nice themes they have in common, particularly how they all fixate on our bodily selves (rationalists are bit more into the brain than the brawn, but still the physical brain).
So that part is going to leave me thinking.
I know Burton is fairly religious herself so I thought maybe she would make a pitch at the end but if you're bracing for that the whole time: she does not. FWIW.
October 28, 2020
An insightful exploration into the world of religiosity in the Western world in the early 21st century.
The author has deeply investigated a lot of religious trends and presents them well. She begins with a version of Hamlet that is interactive and how so many were drawn to it. She asks what religion is and what it's supposed to look like, and introduces her claim for religiosity in the 21st century: the Remixed, those who are quite skeptical of inherited authority and institutions but take a bit here and there and develop a spirituality that works for them. She explores the heritage of the esoteric and the intuitional, the kind of awakening that is going on in America with the spiritual trends of the time, how the Internet has facilitated community and spiritual groups, the spiritual dimensions of wellness culture, the growth of magic and Wicca, the spiritual side of modern sexuality, and then the connections with political movements: the "religiosity" of social justice vs. the redpill and blackpill cultures in the right-wing web. She concludes by suggesting we do not live in a godless secular society, but one full of spirituality that does not take well to institutions.
I've never seen "bespoke" used more often in a work, but this is a great work to help understand religious trends in the twenty first century. Highly recommended.
The author has deeply investigated a lot of religious trends and presents them well. She begins with a version of Hamlet that is interactive and how so many were drawn to it. She asks what religion is and what it's supposed to look like, and introduces her claim for religiosity in the 21st century: the Remixed, those who are quite skeptical of inherited authority and institutions but take a bit here and there and develop a spirituality that works for them. She explores the heritage of the esoteric and the intuitional, the kind of awakening that is going on in America with the spiritual trends of the time, how the Internet has facilitated community and spiritual groups, the spiritual dimensions of wellness culture, the growth of magic and Wicca, the spiritual side of modern sexuality, and then the connections with political movements: the "religiosity" of social justice vs. the redpill and blackpill cultures in the right-wing web. She concludes by suggesting we do not live in a godless secular society, but one full of spirituality that does not take well to institutions.
I've never seen "bespoke" used more often in a work, but this is a great work to help understand religious trends in the twenty first century. Highly recommended.
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