Not the TMZ of religion (I swear)

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Shia LaBeouf is hanging with Capuchins

Hmm at the risk of this newsletter turning into the TMZ of religion, there was another celebrity saying nice things about the Catholic Church this week.

Shia LaBeouf is hanging out with some Capuchin friars to research a new role playing St Padre Pio (reported as a ‘comeback role’ after facing serious allegations from his former girlfriend last year, which he denies). In the process one of the friars recorded the above Instagram video where he says very nice things about them.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean he’s converting, although a lot of people think he might because he has a track record: He apparently converted from Judaism to Protestant Christianity after filming Fury in 2014. From Interview Magazine:

I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a fucking bullshit way—in a very real way. I could have just said the prayers that were on the page. But it was a real thing that really saved me. And you can’t identify unless you’re really going through it. It’s a full-blown exchange of heart, a surrender of control. And while there’s beauty to that, acting is all about control. So that was a wild thing to navigate.

Or… DID HE?? Shia goes on to talk about how Brad Pitt and David Ayers’ different experiences of Christianity helped him get into a Christian headspace, so it’s possible to interpret this as describing method acting.

The thing about celebrity conversion stories is it’s difficult to tell if it’s “genuine” (whatever your standard for that is) because unlike most people, they have professionally managed public personas.

But I also feel weird about trying to work out if it’s real or not because it’s none of my business and doesn’t really matter! Anyway, it looks like he had a nice time with those friars.

I would be remiss to mention this particular celebrity in a newsletter about the internet and not include Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf - particularly appropriate because this is the 13th edition of the newsletter. Spooookyyy!!! (Shia later participated in the elaborate remake of this).

Psssst

Spoilers but… I’m going to be part of this.

The Josh Harris scandal

Oh geez this is really TMZ territory. I won’t dwell on this too long, but for those unfamiliar, here’s the thing in a nutshell:

Joshua Harris is a guy who, in 1997 in his early 20s, published I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a key text for evangelical purity culture. In 2018 he repudiated his previous work and apologised for it, and later on announced he was no longer a Christian.

Last week he announced a five-week course about deconstructing faith called “Reframe Your Story”, which was marketed at $275 (although free for “anyone harmed by purity culture” or his books).

This made a lot of exvangelicals mad, because he’d already made a career and a substantial amount of money from his previous work, and now that seemed to be continuing, albeit in a modified form. After taking on the criticism, he withdrew the course.

This is the kind of thing I was trying to get at in my previous post about the deconstruction phenomenon and associated marketplace - although I don’t think I explained myself particularly well. I think I’m potentially too close to the subject matter.

If you’re interested in the ins-and-outs of this, Blake Chastain from the Exvangelical podcast wrote his own reflections in The Post-Evangelical Post.

Snoopy is a Christian

‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None The Richer is 23 years old this week

You’d think it would be more appropriate to wait until the 25th anniversary, but we might all be dead by then.

Also I saw this tweet, which I thought was very funny.

I always thought it was common knowledge they were a Christian band, but apparently not. Having Leigh Nash sing “There She Goes” without changing the pronouns was a bit of a red herring for the 90s I guess.

Only youth group kids are allowed to laugh at this

The Latin rite? More like the Latin… wrong

I’m very sorry for the heading - I write these newsletters very late at night after a full day’s work.

After Pope Benedict allowed use of the Latin mass as an extaordinary form in 2007, Pope Francis has restricted its use again, claiming it has been hijacked by people who want to split the church. This has obviously upset a lot of trads. My timeline and all of Catholic media has been flooded with hot takes.

Some background: During the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church moved from running their services only in Latin, to using the local vernacular. It also meant that the priest would face the congregation like in most Protestant churches instead of having his back to them.

Some Catholics found this change very upsetting. Some broke away from the church altogether (meaning there is a ‘Pope’ in Topeka, Kansas who has 181 Twitter followers). Others, like the Society of Saint Pius X technically, sort of, stayed in the fold while retaining traditionalist practises against the wishes of Rome.

The ABC recently did a good article about the situation in Australia.

So this has been bubbling away for a while. It made me think of how several media outlets reported on ‘Weird Christians’ as if it was purely about young traditionalists and not about Extremely Online shitposters vibing theologically. Anyway, here’s a tweet about young people craving tradition.

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If you have a tip or a post I should see, especially about a religion you don’t hear about all that often, please email me: rohansalmond@gmail.com. Also, follow me on Twitter: @RJSalmond.

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