Data Check

In this month's episode of discourse we have an update from Australia. Professor Carole Cusack (University of Sydney) and Ray Radford (University of Sydney and RSP) sit down with Dr. Breann Fallon (Sydney Jewish Museum and RSP) to discuss religion in Australian current affairs. This team of three first consider a conservative article on the amendments Equal Opportunity Bill in Victoria which claims "religion cancelled" and "parents cancelled." Yet, there is no denying that the three are speaking from lockdown and the conversation turns to religious exemption from vaccination, including the history of this in Australia, as well as religious symbolism at anti-lockdown protests. To end the episode, the trio discuss the interesting timing of opening up in time for Christmas — is this an offering at the temple of consumerism? Whilst there is no answer, it is an interesting take on the impact of COVID-19 on religious festivals.

• "Is there likely to be a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine?"
• "A pattern of anti-family, anti-religion legislation is emerging in Victoria"
• "‘Australians are very sceptical’: Michael Kirby warns against ‘excessive protection’ of religious freedoms"
• "Scott Morrison pushes premiers to stick to vaccination plan and allow interstate travel by Christmas"

Check out the video of this episode!

In this episode, Dr. Breann Fallon sits down with Professor Daniel Boyarin to discuss his monograph Judaism: Genealogy of the Jewish Notion makes the bold argument that the very concept of a religion of ‘Judaism’ is an invention of the Christian church. Before discussing the monograph, Boyarin outlines how Judaism is commonly defined in religious studies, as well as the potential problems with those definitions, particularly with regard to the sometimes competing conceptualisations of Judaism as a 'religion' or a 'culture'.

Boyarin highlights the importance of memory and memorialisation as deeply-rooted elements of Jewish practice, especially of moments of genocide and massacre such as the Shoah, which subtly addresses notions of the World Religions Paradigm discussed in previous episodes. Boyarin also argues against “religifying” studies of Jewish texts and instead emphasises both the ideas of inclusivity inherent in the Talmud and its broader applicability, regardless of the religiosity of the reader, in order to fully encapsulate all the life forms and practices that exist in the Jewish community. To bring the conversation to a close, Fallon asks of the humour in the Talmud and Boyarin’s favourite comical moments in the text.

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For our final interview of the semester, tune in to our co-founder David G. Robertson discussing his new book Gnosticism and the History of Religions with our co-editor Andie Alexander. In this episode, Robertson outlines the history and use of the term 'gnosticism' to examine how gnosticism has come to work as a 'free-floating' signifier. Robertson then considers how the 'strange charm of gnosticism' has helped keep the term and idea prevalent in the study of religion, particularly in how understanding gnosticism as a special knowledge is linked with notions of religious experience. It's a great episode—be sure to check it out!

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In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the “psychedelic renaissance” for the development of medical psychotherapy and spiritual growth in countries of the global north. From alternative therapy centers in the USA and Canada, to tourist retreats in the Amazon, and spiritual communities in Europe, psychedelics have taken a new breath of life for the past 20 years in each of these locations. Their current popularity is due to the surprising results they achieve in the betterment of mental health disorders and personal fulfillment. Thus, plants and substances like the San Pedro cactus, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis, LSD, MDMA, and more prominently, ayahuasca, have become “magic bullets” of sorts, all-powerful solutions to all-pervasive problems of the western world. Unfortunately, critical issues related to their consumption are lost from sight in the face of the enthusiasm and amazement of their effects.

On the other hand, psychedelic substances, i.e., substances that enable powerful bodily and visionary experiences, have been used in different societies across the world, and for a wider array of purposes than the previously described. For instance, indigenous peoples of the Peruvian rainforest like the Awajún, Huni Kuin, or Matsigenka ritually consume ayahuasca for purposes of divination, rite of passage, bolstering of social bonds, healing, exercise and countering witchcraft, etc. Thus, a key question comes forward, why does such a gap of emphasis exist between the purposes that arise in western contexts and the ones from other societies? Moreover, in the case of ayahuasca, why the particular concoction of the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the Chacruna plant (Psychotria viridis) has become so salient in the contemporary psychedelic landscape, despite being one of the possible plant admixtures among the many that indigenous people use?

In this episode, Sidney Castillo talks with Dr. Bernd Brabec de Mori and Dr. Olivia Marcus about their respective research on critical approaches for studying ayahuasca. Both have carried out ethnographic research in the Peruvian amazon in different settings; Brabec de Mori with the Shipibo of the Ucayali region, and Marcus among the mestizo populations of Tarapoto and Iquitos. Their critical discussion elaborates on the meanings and motivations for the indigenous and mestizo people to use ayahuasca, framing into context the major socio-cultural processes that allowed for it to be discovered, spread, and “rediscovered” in recent times. In this sense, they address issues of inequality, power relations, ownership, and reciprocity that lie at the core of ayahuasca consumption in the Peruvian Amazon. In consequence, they discuss what would decolonize our approaches to ayahuasca entail, if this is a possibility at all, and what would be the course of action for this to happen.

This episode results from the workshop “From Ritual to Justice: Towards a Decolonial and Feminist Approach to Ayahuasca”, organized by Olivia Marcus and Silvia Mesturini. It was part of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA) XIII Biennial Conference, June 21-June 25 and June 28-July 2, 2021. Hosted virtually by the University of Virginia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How does the media report religion when religion doesn't "behave"? What happens when religion becomes part of discourse that promotes civil disobedience, or to promote conspiracy theories? What if someone wants to make a robot rabbi or name their child something you think is blasphemous? When religion doesn't behave — that is, doesn't fit the implicit idea that it should be quiet, personal, liberal and "nice" — we are given an opportunity to observe boundary-making in the public sphere in real time.

The first Discourse! of 2022 is hosted by Michael Munnik (Cardiff), who is joined by guests Beth Singler (Cambridge) and Richard Newton (Alabama) to discuss how the media is talking about "religion" this month.

Watch the video episode here:

Further Reading

• "Tim LaHaye had some choice words for Wheaton College when the evangelical school hosted a memorial service for Martin Luther King Jr."
• "After opposition to her MLK Day speech, Nikole Hannah-Jones swapped her words for his"
• Mason Mennenga on Twitter
• "Presenter Maajid Nawaz is axed by LBC: Anti-extremism activist who was accused of tweeting 'deranged rubbish' about vaccines by host Iain Dale and faced criticism for spreading Covid conspiracy theories leaves radio station"
• "Lior Cole Is the Model Combining Artificial Intelligence With Religion"
• "Parents hit back at trolls over baby name and say 'we are not Satanists'"

What sort of discursive traps to we fall into when talking about 'Islam' or 'the West'? How might we reframe our discussions with a critical humanist approach? In this episode, Khurram Hussain joins Andie Alexander to discuss his recent book, The Muslim Speaks (Zed Books, 2020). Hussain unpacks issues of binary discourses about "the Muslims world" and "the west" and explores the benefits of critically engaging Islam in a way that works to re-politicize rather than de-politicize Muslim voices by taking seriously the human-focused study of religion.

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Over the past few years, a number of religious studies scholars have collaborated on events on the theme of 'spiritual abuse'. While this has been a topic of research and debate for some time, these events have worked especially hard to bring together survivors, researchers, practitioners and pastoral workers in respectful dialogue. This roundtable brings together a few of those scholars, in the wake of the Spiritual Abuse conference at the University of Chester, and a series of online seminars for INFORM. Join host Theo Wildcroft and panelists Wendy Dossett, Dawn Llewellyn, Suzanne Newcombe, and Lisa Oakley as they discuss the difficulties and opportunities of such events, where they might develop next, interdisciplinary boundaries, and the limits of professional commitments to justice. Is this perhaps the start of an 'ethical turn' in the study of religion?

In this edition of RSP Remix, we go deep into our archives to explore the insider/outsider problem in the study of religion. We explore questions such as "What is an 'insider' or 'outsider'?" and "How do scholars of religion study and engage 'insiders'?" to begin unpacking what all is at stake in this process of group formation.

This episode features clips from the following episodes:

• "The Insider/Outsider Problem" with George Chryssides (2012)
• "Should Scholars of Religion be Critics or Caretakers?" roundtable with excerpts from Russell T. McCutcheon and Linda Woodhead (2012)
• "Identity or Identification?" roundtable with excerpts from Steven Ramey and K. Merinda Simmons (2013)
• "The Critical Study of Religion" with Bruce Lincoln (2015)
• "Categorising 'Religion': From Case Studies to Methodology" with Teemu Taira (2016)
• "Discourse Analysis & Ideology Critique in the Study of Religion" with Craig Martin (2021)

Check out our classroom-ready video episode below:

This month's episode of Discourse! is hosted by Candace Mixon who's joined by Craig Martin and Suzanne Owen. Their articles all coalesced into thinking through the importance of technicalities and words in the study of religion—when we are used to seeing the big picture, why does it matter to pay attention to things that seem small? Whether legalism comes through within a church community, local or federal judicial and legislative bodies, or nationalistic rhetoric, the stories we review all deal with the small details that make a big difference, and of course considers power and who gets to decide which details count, and why.

Watch the video episode here:

Articles Discussed:

• Dhume, Sadanand (2022). "India’s Hijab Debate Is Both Nuanced and Nasty." The Wall Street Journal.
• Liptak, Adam (2022). "Supreme Court to Hear Case of Web Designer Who Objects to Same-Sex Marriage." The New York Times.
• Migdon, Brooke (2022). "Virginia House passes bill to exempt religious organizations from nondiscrimination laws." The Hill.
• Triesman, Rachel (2022). "An Arizona priest used one wrong word in baptisms for decades. They're all invalid." NPR.

Throughout the entirety of WWII and the Cold War, U.S. intelligence agencies invested an immense amount of resources into the "religious approach" to information gathering and distribution. Beginning with the leadership of William Donovan, the OSS and CIA implemented these religion-focused initiatives with the assistance of Orientalist scholarship, such as the World Religions Paradigm. Imperial Japan, Colonial Vietnam, Soviet Russia, and the Puppet-state of Iran all felt the impacts of these operations, often resulting in widespread propaganda, resistance, and war. In this episode, Dr. Michael Graziano and Jacob Noblett discuss the misguided strategies used by these agencies and their partners with the goal of establishing the United States as a global champion of freedom over "Atheistic" Communism.