062 THE MARK (Vaccine passports and Marjorie Taylor Greene's Mark of the Beast)

The Mark of the Beast strikes again. We break down a 53-second Facebook rant by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in which the claim is made that vaccine passports are Joe Biden’s satanic plot. And we affirm the enduring power of the Book of Revelation.
The video: https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1376900032184586245?s=20
The Late Great Planet Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Late,_Great_Planet_Earth
Marjorie Taylor Greene: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene

061 THE NEWS (Roundup #1: Foxmania, halal tacos, mummified bodies, politics as religion, and emotional men)

A new segment on recent religious-themed stories in the news! Fasting, Foxmania, halal tacos, mummified bodies, Trump worship, exvangelicals, the spiritual weirdness of airports, politics as religion, the Gates divorce, ancient goddesses and emotional men.

Links to our stories:
Orange County mosques, tacos, and vaccinations: https://religionnews.com/2021/04/28/how-a-halal-taco-truck-is-helping-vaccinate-muslims-in-orange-county/
Mummified body in Colorado home: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-carlson-remains-found-love-has-won-colorado-home-arrests/
Lawyer says capitol-rioter client had “Foxmania”: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony-antonio-foxmania-capitol_n_60946e8ee4b0ae3c687c07f1
Chaplains in America: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epnd8e/why-chaplains-are-in-high-demand-in-an-increasingly-secular-america
Secular redemption through politics: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/
Pastors are quitting: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/07/for-some-pastors-the-past-year-was-a-sign-that-it-was-time-to-quit/
Biden communion stories are stupid: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/04/the-biden-communion-stories-are-stupid/ 
Svengali-like executive coaches: https://hbr.org/2002/06/the-very-real-dangers-of-executive-coaching
John Piper’s son’s exvangelical TikTok: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/abraham-piper-tiktok-exvangelical.html; https://www.tiktok.com/@abrahampiper/video/6932509054828825861
White evangelicals don’t want the vaccine: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/us/covid-vaccine-evangelicals.html 
Gates divorce: https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-prenup-settlement.html 
Lindsay Graham cannot live without Trump: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-trump-future_n_6094c57ce4b0f73e530b56d0; https://twitter.com/ericswalwell/status/1390486318568726529?s=20

060 THE REVIEW (internet review culture invades the classroom)

To celebrate the end of the academic year in the university calendar, we discuss student evals, internet review culture, negativity bias, the Iran Contra Affair, depression, and religious authority in an age of reviews.
Footnotes:
(1) Ronald Reagan’s Oval Office address on the Iran Contra Affair: https://youtu.be/rYdvBZxPhLY
(2) Gottman research on magic ratio of good vs. bad interactions between partners (5:1): https://bit.ly/3h6l0UO
(3) Erik Gilbert articles on assessment on the Chronicle: https://www.chronicle.com/author/erik-gilbert
(4) @subparparks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/subparparks/?hl=en
(5) Bad Yelp reviews of churches: https://observer.com/2016/04/bad-yelp-reviews-of-churches-are-as-hilarious-as-youd-expect/
(6) Scene from the BBC show Rev where fashionable young people take over church: https://youtu.be/mGfsd03KZAQ

059 THE LICENSE (X-Files maybe-psychic killer sings a song that is sort of like another song)

A Weird Religion mystery: Why does a particular episode of the X-Files, “Beyond the Sea,” have subtitles for a song playing in the background that are actually from a different but similar song? We investigate.
The X-Files, S1E13, “Beyond the Sea”: https://www.hulu.com/watch/17db9bbb-aa0e-4973-8099-b277c2bd1312
Spoiler alert (only read this after listening to our ep!!): Calum Marsh, NYT (23-April-2021), “Why Don’t Some TV Shows Sound the Way They Used To?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/arts/television/tv-soundtracks-dawsons-creek-freaks-and-geeks.html

058 THE CROWN (death of Prince Philip, religious dimensions of monarchies ancient and modern, royal etiquette)

Here we discuss the Netflix series The Crown (https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678). And: The religious dimensions of monarchy, etiquette rituals, and our social class insecurities.
The Crown, Season 3 finale scene (Queen Elizabeth walks to the carriage): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpUSil0_0zU
Etiquette expert reacts to The Crown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWo6pG9AXQ4
The Kennedys meet Queen Elizabeth (on The Crown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWNXZFvs-w

057 THE QISAPPOINTMENT (failed QAnon prophecies, prediction disappointment)

The 2020 election and the inauguration have come and gone, leaving the predictions of the QAnon prophets…hanging in the air. What happens to a religious movement when its key prophecies fail to come true in real time? Are adherents disappointed? Is/was Q a “religion”? Did they ever care in the first place? And did the biblical prophet Ezekiel make a false prediction, and then try to correct it?
Chris Bader, “When Prophecy Passes Unnoticed”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387588?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Dr. Christopher Bader: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/christopher-bader
Cat Transcendence - limitless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmeH6Rnj2E
NPR, “The QAnon ‘Storm’ Never Struck”: https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958907699/the-qanon-storm-never-struck-some-supporters-are-wavering-others-steadfast
Clips of Q adherents from: CNN reporting from 2018 at a Trump rally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGVXmuLmEM )
Clips from “Satanic Panic” reporting from: CBC/Radio-Canada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEImKEIRm8)