Hearing Christian music in strange places

I finished Stranger Things and it wasn’t quite as Satanic-y Panic-y as I was hoping, but it was still a story beat and I had a good time (even if the episodes were too long). Also, director of Public Theology at Christianity Today Russell Moore has decided to bring back the Satanic Panic for some reason? All good fodder for a project I’m working on, which I’ll link here soon.

By the way, we made it over 200 subscribers! Hi everyone — I hope you enjoy. Please introduce yourself in the comments and give any constructive feedback you like.

Hearing Christian music in strange places

Today in the Modern Relics Discord Michael was talking about hearing contemporary Christian music unexpectedly in public, and it reminded me of the time I was in a gay bar in Tokyo in 2018 and they played Stacie Orrico’s ‘(There’s Gotta Be) More To Life’, a CCM hit originally released in 2003. An extremely weird experience!

I thought it was a rogue playlist entry, but they also played her other major single, ‘Stuck’. I guess Stacie is just big in Japan?

There’s also the other phenomenon, where you hear a mainstream band and suddenly think, wait… are these guys Christians?

I had this when I heard Half Alive’s single ‘Still Feel’ — the lyrics “rid me of my pride” and “pull me from the grave” are just really Christiany you know? And the dancing is extremely youth group talent show, but like, in a really good way.

Turns out yes, the band initially formed at a non-denominational church in California, and faith-based lyrics are still a big part of what they do.

The same thing happened after I listened to Gang of Youths’ album Angel in Realtime a few times — did these guys go to Hillsong? Turns out, yes (but not anymore). This is probably common knowledge, but it had escaped my attention until I ~picked up the vibe~ and heard David Le’aupepe sing the phrase “I wanna lay me down”.

I’m not saying there’s gaydar for God, but I’m not not saying that.

Have you ever heard CCM in an odd place, or correctly identified unexpected religious influences in mainstream music? What were the clues? Put it in the comments.

Can’t wait to be orb

Previously in Modern Relics on the orb beat.

“Finding the Pre Proto Indo-European Gods”

Something I haven’t talked about in this newsletter is that I’m fascinated with early human and now-extinct human species. Is there a difference between anatomically modern humans of 200,000 years ago and behaviorally modern humans today? If you took an anatomically modern human infant and raised them in the mordern day, would they be any different? When did humans become human, or were we always like this?

I’ll boot up those Wikipedia pages every year or so and see what people have added about how Homo sapiens and our cultures came to be.

This video is about where Indo-European gods came from. It’s cool to speculate how geological and climate changes probably affected religious beliefs in human culture — something that’s relevant again, unfortunately.

Checking in on Ms Penny Cost

Penny Cost was going to be my drag name, but last year I learned a candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church is going by the name Ms Penny Cost as part of her drag ministry. Sad for me, but good the name is actually getting use because I don’t actually do drag!

I was just thinking about Penny and realised I don’t think I’ve mentioned her in this newsletter before. She has a website!

A good tweet

Two TikToks about Islam

I tend to focus pretty heavily on Christianity in this newsletter partly because that’s what I’m mostly exposed to, and partly because I won’t post something if I think there’s a risk people will think I’m making fun of someone for their religion.

But I also don’t want to ignore or be ignorant of what people of other faiths post online! Readers send me things pretty frequently, and I especially encourage you to do so if it’s from a faith tradition you don’t hear about all that often.

Anyway here are two videos about Islam.

By the way, I came across this video yesterday from a woman pointing out that TikTok’s For You page means people are able to come across Muslims defining themselves outside of mainstream media portrayals. That’s something I’ve never thought about before and I think that’s cool!

Every blue Muppet is Jewish

@nathanielrosenbergEVERY BLUE MUPPET— #jewish #sesamestreet #muppets #cookiemonster

Tiktok failed to load.

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Here’s a meme I found on Google Images while I was looking for something else

A few extra links:

• Ethan Hawke and Stephen Colbert talk about religion and nonviolence [short video]
• Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s photo discovered by descendant after nearly 180 years [Religion News Service]
• “Kermit the frog arriving at heaven to kill god, realistic painting” [Tweet]
• Lyle the Terapy Gecko: “I once masturbated at the Vatican” [TikTok]