Pope Michael has died

Last week was a bit of a challenge because I cleared out all my memes the week before, and then some serious religion discourse kicked off that I didn’t really want to get into. Here’s what I didn’t cover:

The Pope went to Canada to say sorry for colonialism; does not know what the doctrine of discovery is. Unrelated — might retire. Coach puts rainbows on the Manly Sea Eagles football jerseys, players boycott, all hell breaks loose. Lambeth Conference: Anglicans don’t agree about gays either. Lavern Spicer claims there are no pronouns in the Bible, eventually deletes tweet.

All caught up? Great! I’m not expanding further about any of it. This post will definitely cut off if you read it in email so please click through so you can read to the end, thanks!

Pope Michael, of Topeka, Kansas, has died

With great sadness I report that Pope Michael, of the self-declared Holy See of Topeka, Kansas, has died. Born David Allen Bawden, he was elected pope “by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the Catholic Church has apostatized from the Catholic faith since Vatican II.”

Pope Michael was almost universally beloved on Christian Twitter, at least in my circles, and when news of his sickness and later death broke, there was an outpouring of prayers and sincere mourning from across the spectrum of posters. A subsequent rumour that he recanted his claim to the papacy and died in communion with Rome seems to be false.

With the ongoing controversy over Pope Francis’ restrictions around the Traditional Latin Mass, it’s remarkable that a schismatic, ultra-traditionalist figure like Pope Michael could be regarded with genuine affection from so many different types of people.

The unofficial Pope Michael account, which is a mainstay of Weird Christian Twitter, may shut down now that its muse has passed away, but I don’t know for sure yet. The official Vatican in Exile Twitter account continues to post, and it’s unclear at this stage if there will be a conclave to elect a new pope for the group.

The vibes are off the charts

I’ve been really enjoying the new pop culture podcast Schmeitgeist, made by my colleagues at ABC Everyday. I’ve been looking for an excuse to include it here for weeks, and thankfully this week’s episode is about why there’s been a revival in 1960s New Age-y vocabulary among Millennials and Zoomers.

They’re also going to do an episode about astrology soon! Subscribe!

Hund the Hound is a Christian furry

I came across this video via this piece on Religion News Service about the religious demographics of the furry community. Turns out there’s a Christian sub-subculture that exists in groups like the Christian Furry Fellowship (CFF).

Furry subculture is overwhelmingly queer and sex-positive, so it’s pretty interesting to see a relatively conservative Christian group exist there.

From RNS:

Christians in the furry community are cautious about who knows about both their furry and faithful selves. Christian furries interviewed for this story, including leaders of the group that calls itself the Christian Furry Fellowship, asked to be anonymous, fearing “doxxing” from within the largely secular furry community for their Christian identity and ostracization from their professional lives for their furry hobby.

I know one or two Christian furries, but had no idea that CFF was founded as early as the late 1990s, and furry culture goes back to the 1970s. Personally, I have a bit of a phobia of furry mascot-type suits, so this is not the scene for me. Still, I wish them all the best!

There’s a whole book

@imhotheshowhe/hymn #imhotheshow @alexisbevels @thedarbylynn

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“Tongue-Speaking Preacher But It’s REGGAE/SKA”

This is really amazing. According to the video description: “No pitch-correction/autotune software was used. Video was not sped up or slowed down either.” The horns. The rhythm. The anti-gambling message. It’s perfect.

Emo CCM… wait no… it’s CCM emo

While on the subject of music, Michael posted this cover of Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls done in the style of CCM in the Modern Relics Discord. It kind of triggers my fight or flight response, but I’ve listened to it about five times now lmao.

Okay THIS is emo Christian music

Not sure if you’re cool enough to have found your way to Lead Sarcophagus Under Notre Dame TikTok, but I am

@taniberloWHY ARE THEY LEAVING US HANGING LIKE THIS? I feel like im being constantly led on by archeologists 😭 who do you think is in there? @taniberlo @taniberlo @taniberlo #history #archeology #historynews #stopwhatyouredoing

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HistoryToker @TaniBerlo made this video about a mysterious grave discovered under the cathedral, getting 1.3m views. Curious to know more? Here’s an update.

Some articles

• I promise you: Scientists at CERN are not communicating with demonic entities after opening a portal to hell
• Joel Hodge explores the religious ideas in Thor: Love and Thunder in this piece, from the film's nihilistic beginning to a more nuanced message at the end
• Evangelical Christianity is quietly thriving in Gulf states, as churches step in as de facto unions and crisis centres for poor migrant workers
• A great reflection on the blend of the sacred and profane in Beyoncé’s song ‘Church Girl’

Something is happening. Everywhere, Black women of faith are refusing to accept the lie that we cannot live into what we know to be true about who we are — and it be counted as sacred. We are sexual, sensual and spiritual. We are religious, ratchet and righteous.

I hope this TikTok sound trends forever

My friends send me links:

• Britney Spears not only anagrams to Presbyterians, she also invented Protestantism (thanks Liam)
• A trailer for an unintentionally hilarious new Christian movie called ‘Journey to Hell’ (thanks Jimbo)
• A riff on Peach Mom: “One of the [many] differences between me & St. Augustine” (thanks… Pat? Travis? I can’t remember anymore)