I feel like this video absolutely exemplifies why it's important that those who are able to tell their stories tell them. Being able to contextualize your own experiences through someone else's experiences is such a healing thing, an absolutely fantastic way to ease into unpacking your own baggage without re-traumatizing yourself. I've definitely been obsessed with cults in general and Scientology in particular for a lot of the same reasons you have. Yeah, there's the absolutely WILD stuff and being able to give someone the rundown on it and watch their reactions is amazing...but there's also the insidious stuff, the language, the history that...really hits home and has helped me also understand my own upbringing.
I LOVE this content from you. Came for the booktube stayed for the deep dive into American religious history. I hope you do more in this format, I'm here for it.
This was so interesting. My family is very religious as a whole. When I was twelve, after spending my entire life thus far going to church, my parents told me it was now my choice whether or not I wanted to continue going. I had to believe in God on my own. That was the first time I felt freedom in regards to religion. Real freedom. I had never had good experiences at the church. For example, as a child one of the elderly church ladies told me I was going to go to hell if I had even thought of a cuss word in church. I had never thought of one before, but I could not stop after she told me that. I was in tears by the time I had to go home. Suffice it to say, I can count the number of times I went to church after that on one hand. I couldn’t imagine getting involved in a church like Scientology where freedom is not being free at all.
@@bookslikewhoa I very much did!! I think it's well thought-out and put together. I also loved the detail of tying it in with the book, which I interpret as a sort of alternative book review (in the sense that the it seems like the book got you thinking about these things and I love a book that inspires curiosity or triggers questions in our lives)
I love your definition that a cult is a religion where there is only fundamentalism. I think that's really easy to grasp. Definitely something I'm going to have to think about more.
This is so dang interesting. I had no idea what I was actually getting into and I loved every single second. So compelling, informative and wait for it… interesting.
Wow wow wow. I love how you tied all these topics together so seamlessly. As a former Christian, I'm always interested in discussions specifically about how Christianity (and its offshoots) has affected and been affected by American culture and economics, and this was really wonderful. Also added some more books to my tbr.
Not expecting this format/specific content from the channel, but thoroughly enjoyed it! Reminded me of my philosophy undergrad in the best way possible
Loved this Mara! I have really been enjoying these essay type videos. They remind me of my college classes, and I would have loved to have you as a professor!
Mara, I can only imagine the reason for this mess down in the comments is because these are viewers who have or are currently watching videos about people getting out of cults, and here is your video in the recommended section on the side, “Why am I so obsessed with Scientology.” Haha! I hope through this algorithm shuffle, some awesome book lovers find you
I found this so fascinating. I look forward too more videos like this. I have lots of thoughts that I need to sit with before I can comment further. I’m not religious but I find fundamentalist groups fascinating. Gave me a lot to think about.
Idk if there’s any other categories that you’re heavily invested in but this was absolutely amazing! I learned so much and through such a respectful approach to the topic. It definitely makes me question why I heavily favor certain topics when it comes to nonfiction and even fiction at times.
Some excellent insights: you've sent me back to finish off reading 'Cultish'. Two other worthwhile books specifically about Scientology are 'Barefaced Messiah', Russell Miller's biography of Hubbard, and Jon Atack's 'Let's Sell These People A Piece Of Blue Sky'.
This was an absolutely phenomenal exploration of so many different disciplines and I learned a lot! This talk covered so much more territory than I was expected, it blew me away. I've got so much to think about now...!
The biggest shock to me here was the relationship between Puritanism and Prosperity Gospel. I had always thought they were exact opposites. So informative ! Makes a lot of sense.
this topic is absolutely fascinating. I am in awe of how thorough you were on this topic. it could have easily been a two part video. would love to hear more of this from you. it is also giving me references to research for my thesis lol thanks!
I'm not usually into cult nonfiction, I tend to see it as kind of ghoulish in the realm of true crime, but I love learning about the history of religions and their underlying ideologies, so this was great! Been loving the video essays, keep it up!
Great video!!! I took a couple religious studies classes while I was getting my Sociology degree. This led to me heavily questioning and really distancing myself from my personal upbringing of conservative southern Baptist. I still have great interest in studying religions and cults and all the aspects of them! So very fascinating!
So I’m Canadian, but l’ve live most of my life in South-East Asia. People who aren’t Canadian or American always ask me what’s the difference between Americans and Canadians because they think that our cultures are interchangeable. I’ve always tried to figure out how to explain how we’re different. Your discussion about American’s view of religion, individualism and definitions of success contrasted with Canada’s more ‘socialist’ leanings kind of helps me be able to give a more defined answer. I’m not sure if I’m expressing this well. Anyway, super interesting. Thanks!
I lived in Canada for 3 years, and someone told me that the highest Canadian value is fairness. I'd say that contrasts to the US where our highest value is freedom - it's amazing how many small and big changes ripple out from those slightly different wants of looking at issues!
this was such an interesting video and hopefully one i rewatch. I really enjoyed all of the sources and the complete amount of information packed into this. I never had any strict religion coming from my family, although I did go to a Christian school until 3rd grade that gradually got stricter until it no longer allowed Halloween (which me as a 10 year old didn't understand). However, as a LA native, Scientology has always been something I always been fascinated with, and this has given me so many avenues to go down. So thanks for such an interesting video, for linking it to your own experience, and for just explaining the links of scientology to capitalism and puritanism so eloquently because that argument was my favorite part of the video.
I knew this was gonna be good, and by gum, I was right. really interesting subject matter and a great analysis as always! would be happy to see more videos like this. and still very much rooted in reading so that's always there to tie everything together
I love these video essay you've been doing. keep them coming! I love learning about religion as a non believer I like hearing what makes people believe and learning more about different religions.
I was raised to be a Christian but I wouldn't say that I ever actually practiced it. It was a strange realization one day that I did not believe what I was saying or reading rather it had just been constant messaging I received growing up so I was used to it. It was very easy to step away after this realization without guilt because I don't think that belief is a choice, it's a compulsion based on convincing arguments facts and trust. It's not that I chose to 'defect' it's that there wasnt really another option. Though I have never really been religious myself I find religion to be fascinating and enjoy studying their histories. I think there is a lot of great take aways and insights to pull from religion
Yes, it's hard to get out of the daily grind of a way of life to evaluate it - even if folks stay in their faith system, I think it's healthy to step back and look around every once in a while
First of all, wonderful video. I guess I never realized you had this interest in Scientology, but I’m glad it’s helped you! I was also raised in a evangelical fundamentalist Christian environment and have spent a long time unlearning/analyzing a lot of my beliefs and thoughts.
I am not a religious person and realized this as a teenager introduced to Evangelicals. I knew absolutely that it wasn’t for me and felt like I was watching my best friend become a pod person from Invasion of the Body Snatchers when she became born again. Nightly calls telling me I was going to hell reinforced my convictions. Your interest in Scientology is so much more thoughtful than what what I have gleaned from reading Going Clear and watching some of Leah Remini’s series. I have kind of regarded it with the same fascination as I’ve had for the Titanic disaster or the Donner Party. Basically that these people are all doomed, which of course isn’t true. Thank you for a more enlightened and kinder perspective.
Hi Mara, I was mesmerized by your video. You can take parts of it and apply it to other things. For example when you’re writing a memoir, instead of looking at your own life straight on, it’s better to slant it. Sort of what you said about studying Scientology to better understand your own feelings about evangelical Christianity. For example, write poetry about an incident to understand the deeper meaning without looking at the trauma straight on. This makes it more palatable. I remember in 1976, I stayed with a couple Who met at a Scientology retreat. They gave me the book Dianetics. I couldn’t understand a damn thing. My thoughts then were if I as a reasonable person can’t understand it, it’s crazy making and not valid for me. I am Jewish but not raised religiously. I’m just now getting into Orthodox Judaism. But in Judaism we are encouraged to ask questions. Even if the questions are Skeptical ones, as long as we’re asking with honesty and sincerity. Jews are told that every Torah verse has 70 meanings. My problem is I don’t like rules and every religion has rules. Some I can deal with and some I can’t. But I’m never ostracized if I don’t follow the rules. I belong because Belonging is tied to who my mother was. I’m not saying people don’t convert to Judaism but it’s a difficult process. And once you convert you are treated the same as if you were born into the religion. I love your new format. It’s funny that you can be talking about this subject and the milking story romance. Lol I enjoyed both videos. Aloha
I enjoyed this video so much! I'm fascinated by religion and cultic thinking (not meant as an insult, as I'm religious). I really need to read Cultish.
I too am interested in this cult, and I never new what books to read to get a broader perspective. Thanks for the interesting discussion and resources!!!
This one caught my eye from almost a year ago, but piqued my interest enough to watch and want to comment. We used to live in FL right near Clearwater, and those who know their Scientology know what that is like. Young SeaOrg people wearing the same uniform clothes, briskly walking up and down, always busy... and of course all the properties being bought up to add to their "alleged collection". I read Going Clear- loved it- read Leah Remini's chatty book- loved it- and also watched her series on it. The FL newspapers every once in a while did an expose on this "alleged" religion and it would stir the hornet's nest for awhile. Believe me, you don't want to be on their bad side because they emotionally attack people by stalking them, taking their photos, "allegedly" doxxing them.... Sorry to ramble a year after the fact, but I too have an over the top interest in this! Thanks for such a well-spoken commentary! I don't know your profession but would assume you are a college professor or researcher, lol.
Excellent analysis and a lot of food for thought about the cultural and philosophical aspects of Scientology and also how cultish philosophies or organizations behave.
This is probably the most interesting video of yours that I’ve watched. I have also grown up in an evangelical community and I’ve raised my children there as well. I related 100% to being afraid to question my taught beliefs. For at least 30 years, I was afraid to question almost any Christian teaching. It wasn’t until my children came out as gay that I was really forced to frame that within my faith, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t believe what my faith told me about my children- the part about them being sinners because they are attracted to the same gender. My religion tells me their sexuality is a wrong choice, therefore, it’s a sin. Neither of my children chose to be gay. In fact, they prayed for years that they wouldn’t be gay anymore. They prayed for God to take it away. I still believe in the core of my religion, but I’m wrestling with so many social issues that my faith has very cut and dry answers around. I’m glad to no longer be afraid to ask questions and doubt facets of what I was taught. In the end, I figure I don’t actually believe many things that I haven’t questioned at some point; I’ve merely accepted it. There’s a huge difference between acceptance and belief.
I’m an on/off Scientology watcher. If you haven’t checked it out, the podcast Oh No Ross and Carrie did a series where they joined Scientology for a little while. Like they took classes and went to events and all and just documented their very strange experience as outsiders coming into the church. It’s very good, and they did a few revisits to Scientology throughout the years and even had Mike Rinder and some other ex Scientologists on the show.
YES, I cut it for time, but they were the other stream that got me to have more awareness of my own cognitive dissonance, particularly their Mormonism episodes
Really interesting video 🧐 I’ve never been religious and I honestly don’t know much about Scientology but it’s really fascinating how you pointed it out as being an American sort of “phenomenon”
They're gonna come get you girl. I just bought Cult Following: My escape from the Children of God by Bexy Cameron. I find cults and Scientology fascinating as well, especially the psychology and NLP that goes with it.
This is so weird to see this title - because I could do a vlog of my own and it would be hours and hours long LOL! I have been morbidly what my husband Would call obsessed about Scientology ever since Katie Holmes divorced oh I mean escaped from Tom Cruise and that whole bunch! I spent about four years listening to every single thing I could and had it all memorised down to a fine point. My husband was seriously ticked off. He said that was all I wanted to talk about. I got over it when the power of Scientology definitely began to Wane and people are now mostly coming out of it rather than going in. I think it’s just such a powerful cult- or was for awhile anyway - that it was like a scary movie!! I am really looking forward to your own Journey with this thing which I’m sure will prove to be fascinating….
It's not about scientology, but I just found out that Amanda Montell co-hosts a podcast called "Sounds like a Cult". It's similar to Cultish where it's looking at things that have cult-like aspects, and it's been a fun listen so far.
Fantastic timing as I recently found myself going down a Scientology rabbit hole 😆 I’m not religious - grew up as a lazy catholic and if I were to label myself I guess I’d say agnostic. But I find “fundamentalism” and “cultish” like groups/religion fascinating and dangerous. I do think there is good in “normal” religious practices even though I am not drawn to them, but there are so many dangers to fundamentalism and I’m so curious as how these extreme religions are formed and how so many seemingly smart people are pulled into them. And how they shape people, governments, wars etc. I need to def check out the books you mentioned
I was really interested in cults and their origins until I noticed the similarities to the evangelicalism I was involved in at the time. I really appreciate this video and your personal story and analysis. It is kind of a relief to hear your summary of many of my own similar thoughts and questions.
In a memoir called the last black unicorn tiffany haddish talks about her experience with scientology while she was homeless she was never actually a member she got kicked out her first week but it's an interesting story
I was raised as a Catholic. I no longer identify as religious in any way. However, I love learning about all religions, I view them as the backbone of culture. Would you consider doing more videos on this topic?
Excellent. Thanks for expressing so we'll my own similar obsessions, similar experiences. I am now a "non-denominational" believer, definitely not fundamentalist.
Thank you for this video Mara. I grew up in the Catholic Church in the 70s and the church at that time was mostly about love and compassion and very non fundamentalist. (I saw God Spell maybe 10 times before graduating college and also Jesus Christ Superstar) We had a folk band in church and I loved it as a kid. I have watched with horror and dismay in the years since then as the Catholic Church becomes more and more turned towards fundamentalist ideals. So much so its almost embarrassing to admit you are a Catholic now and I have taken to studying Buddhist and Hindu Philosophy and telling people I'm a Buddhist☺. I still love Jesus but my spirituality has become more New Age in reaction to the Fundamentalist change which I don't like and don't understand. It seems so anti what Jesus's message is. So this video you did was enlightening and helpful to me to see your perspective growing up fundamentalist and how your philosophy has evolved through time. So great job and I love the new direction you are taking your channel😍
I am interested in what you have to say. However, having known someone dying of AIDS and a Scientology person did not have time to come to the hospital and speak to him, but a Catholic person did I have my doubts.
I grew up roman catholic (which is the main religion in my country). Did the whole shabang.. choir, altar girl, ... I officially cancelled my church membership when I was 18. I never believed and I did not want to pay church tax. I continued to take religious studies in school (you can opt out of it) until graduation because we had a.) a great teacher who - while being Christian himself - was very open-minded and talked to us about abortion and euthanasia and other religions in a way that you don't usually get to explore these subjects and b.) I always felt you need to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. If it comes up I call myself agnostic or atheist - depending on context. Religion is not something anyone cares about here. It's part of our cultural tradition (Christmas, baptism, confirmation, wedding, ...) but I don't know any Christians who regularly attend church and even the Muslims in my social circle [who generally seem a bit more religious than my Christian peers] only visit the mosque for special holidays (Islam is the second largest religion in my country, followed by Protestantism).
I also became obsessed with scientology when I discovered Chris Shelton shortly after he started posting. I read all the books and article on scientology and then other cults. I think we have cultish thought and behavior about all phases of life (i.e. sports, business, and food plans).
Agreed, I think the Puritans definitely did value having money, their whole society was built around it. The wealthy families were often also the church elders and paragons of the community at large. You could even say that the heresy/witch trials was at least partially driven by greed. (And hysteria and possibly some kind mold that caused hallucinations and weird behavior.)
i myself is not religious [or american 😅]. my mum is sort of Christian light which is to say she goes to church maybe like once a year. and my dad is sort of Muslim [he claims he is] but I wouldn't say he is, cause the only thing he does is not eating pork. and then I grew up with this understanding that my mum doesn't really care what my stand on it and I think my dad only sees it as "there are two religions in this world: Christianity and Islam" and while he doesn't really care whether or not I am Muslim, I am "not allowed" to be Christian or be with a Christian partner [which is like yeah, try and stop me, i'd like to see you try]. but for a very long time I had this strong rejection of an idea of being in any way religious. the only way in which religion ever interested me was historic. like the crusades and the cultural clash of it all and then later how it affected the beliefs and viewpoint ppl had with inquisitions and all that. i could talk about religion fine when it came to historic context of it. but when smb would try to talk to me how "oh, but God" i had this strong reaction of "there is no god, there's science". and any religion really seemed to me as one step away from a cult and if you just talk to a person and make them understand how unreasonable and wrong they are. all this to say that studying and looking at actual cults is, i think, what helped me get out of this mindset. it's fascinating, honestly. the vast variety of what ppl believe in and how if you get to the core of it, there are similarities between most of the organised beliefs, be that religion in a more common sense or in a bordering cultish sense. [for context, i myself would probably fall closer to smth non-practising pagan or occult now. like i believe in nature and cosmos and energy and, back to what you were saying, how magic and science are actually connected in a lot of ways]
I like this format a lot! thanks! Religion was never discussed at home when I was a kid. I was at a friend’s house at a sleepover and her family took me to church with them that Sunday morning and I was like, “We have to drink blood here?” I was 10 years old and it was Welch’s, but I didn’t know any better and drank what I thought was actual blood because everyone else was doing it. I remember that clearly because that is what religion is to me, doing something you know is wrong because someone else says it’s right. I like to hear about people discussing religion once they are not in it anymore. Same with cults. Scientology is crumbling, so there are a lot more people speaking out about it, and it’s fascinating to hear what they could accept and what snapped them out of it. I’ve never heard a “leaving my religion” story where I felt bad for the religion.
Thanks for the feedback! And yes, even when I was a full on evangelical, when we would say "to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood," I'd be like... girl. No wonder the Romans thought Christians were cannibals! :D
I will be totally blunt here ( not American myself nor religious but admire America generally) most conversations that "Scientology " comes up , Scientology is considered a joke - in UK where I'm from & NZ where I live ( within the groups of people I communicate with of course).
They are here too - especially after those South Park episodes. Still, there's like ~35k of them left so its still interesting to think through their beliefs
It's a bit difficult for me to respond to all of this in more dept because of English being my second language. But it was definitely interesting, it felt like some kind of podcast episode with some nice book recommendations and I also liked your own answer to the question why it is so interesting to you. Not because of the feelings but it was so honest and somewhat relatable.
Amazing, educating, informative, interesting video!! Thank you!! As someone who is and lives in North/Middle - Europe religions, cults and people who really believe fascinate me. Because religion for us is more tradition than anything else. I know absolutely NO ONE who still goes to church or is Christian in the way the Americans are. If you ask people here if they are Christian, people would say: "sure" (because they pay the Church tax and celebrate Christmas and were baptist as a baby) but if you would ask them is they believe in the Bible and Hell and all that they would probably say: "not really". Also, Christian fundamentalism does not really exists here and if someone says, they are protestant that means, they are all the same, meaning we don't have Baptist or Calvinists or Adventists ect. If you are protestant you most likely belong to one big church. Just like the catholics. Also never met a Mormon and don't know if they ever made it here or if people are just not interested. I think that's why I am so fascinated with religion and cults and stuff like that, because it feels like people here left religion somewhat behind. I mean even my grandparents who were born around the WW 1 were atheist so I always try to figure out, if believing in the "supernatural" is nurture or nature... (I think it is nurture)
Bringing about the end of the world through a strange sex ritual…oh boy. Not someone to get close to. ETA: fascinating and informative video. Thanks, Mara.
I also have an obsession with Scientology and am working to put up related material on my channel. I just had a discussion with Chris Shelton and I would love for you to check it out
I wanna sound as smart as you when I grow up 😅 Anyways I love following weird religions and I can’t recommend Oh No Ross and Carrie enough if you haven’t checked them out! They did Scientology and some other interesting religions/wellness trends/health things. But since we are both McElroy listeners I would also assume you’ve listened to it. I’m picking up cultish ASAP! And you know already I was raised with no religion except what random people attempted to force onto me cause I was going to hell and I think it gives an interesting context to how I process life I guess. Either way I love to just stare at the strange religion stuff and then I get sad cause of the harm it does.
LOL you are too kind...and YESSSS! I cut it for time, but I had a whole sidebar about how the OTHER big "aha" moment for me was listening to ONRAC's Mormonism episodes & listening to them in general. They were critical of religion but always tried to be even handed (I do think they should apply some of that criteria on their views about veganism, but... whatevs, everyone has blind spots :D)
Have you ever read Mind Wars by Aquino? There is a lot of attachment to those you talked about in it.( I am reader as well that has a collection of the Scientology and Mormonism. I have read more heavily on the Mormonism side of things.) Thanks for the new add to my tbr Cultish.
Thought your analysis of America was very insightful until you got to the end. I don’t doubt that there were problems with the belief system you held before and how it was policed. Personally I’m a catholic so :) but you didn’t acknowledge that your primary critique of it is from a perspective of “freedom” which is exactly that pioneer spirit rugged individualism as is manifest in Scientology. Humans are social creatures, body and spirit, intellect and will, and all of these realities manifest constantly. If we ignore part (that we need social groups, that we mostly get our knowledge, morals and even tastes from them, not to mention rights and duties we have to them) we get worse results than we got before.
I can generally sympathize with the cultish mindset even while I thoroughly disagree with its veracity. My church was VERY fundamentalist (as in, we didn’t celebrate Christmas because it isn’t on the literal day of Christ’s birth and has a lot traditions of pagan origin connected to it, but we celebrated Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles because those are in the Bible), but it took a hard turn toward mainstream Christianity when I was in middle school and a new generation of church leaders couldn’t justify such slavish devotion to the Old Testament. The church essentially split in half over it, and I had to grapple with the idea that there isn’t one “correct” way to be a Christian (which was a LOT at 12-ish years of age). When I went to college, I found that a lot of the religious and social ideas from my broader community (a very insular, rural community where almost everyone had lived there for generations) also didn’t survive confrontation with “the outside world”. I still count myself as a Christian, but I am deeply suspicious of any church that says it has secret knowledge the other branches don’t have access too or tells you you’re fundamentally better for joining it. The “insert head in sand” mentality is pretty prolific in some churches, and their refusal to engage with dissenting ideas is exactly why so many people are leaving.
I am ex-evangelical and have the same fervent fascination but with Mormonism. I have consumed hours and hours of content to better understand a religious group that I don't even know a single practicing member of. But you are right, it gives an external avenue to deconstruct your own beliefs. Also Mormonism is so insidious in their colonial missions and global recruiting as well as encouraging large families in order to have as many members as possible. It is in official doctrine to "outnumber" non-believers... scary stuff. Love your takes and sources. Jesus and John Wayne is a fave and just got Cultish from the library the other day. All of your citations make my little Sociology major heart sore. Thanks for the great content, always.
I feel like this video absolutely exemplifies why it's important that those who are able to tell their stories tell them. Being able to contextualize your own experiences through someone else's experiences is such a healing thing, an absolutely fantastic way to ease into unpacking your own baggage without re-traumatizing yourself.
I've definitely been obsessed with cults in general and Scientology in particular for a lot of the same reasons you have. Yeah, there's the absolutely WILD stuff and being able to give someone the rundown on it and watch their reactions is amazing...but there's also the insidious stuff, the language, the history that...really hits home and has helped me also understand my own upbringing.
Well said! I'm glad you enjoyed it
Mara, you would make an excellent university lecturer/ professor. This was very informative!
Glad you think so!
totally agree; she's got a brilliant mind. I'm extremely impressed
I LOVE this content from you. Came for the booktube stayed for the deep dive into American religious history. I hope you do more in this format, I'm here for it.
Thank you for the feedback!
This was so interesting. My family is very religious as a whole. When I was twelve, after spending my entire life thus far going to church, my parents told me it was now my choice whether or not I wanted to continue going. I had to believe in God on my own. That was the first time I felt freedom in regards to religion. Real freedom.
I had never had good experiences at the church. For example, as a child one of the elderly church ladies told me I was going to go to hell if I had even thought of a cuss word in church. I had never thought of one before, but I could not stop after she told me that. I was in tears by the time I had to go home.
Suffice it to say, I can count the number of times I went to church after that on one hand. I couldn’t imagine getting involved in a church like Scientology where freedom is not being free at all.
Love this format / content....looking forward to more conversational deep dives.
I came for the Scientology and stayed for the analysis on the cultural impact of Protestant Christianity and Gnosticism in the US
Yay I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@bookslikewhoa I very much did!! I think it's well thought-out and put together. I also loved the detail of tying it in with the book, which I interpret as a sort of alternative book review (in the sense that the it seems like the book got you thinking about these things and I love a book that inspires curiosity or triggers questions in our lives)
I love your definition that a cult is a religion where there is only fundamentalism. I think that's really easy to grasp. Definitely something I'm going to have to think about more.
This is so dang interesting. I had no idea what I was actually getting into and I loved every single second. So compelling, informative and wait for it… interesting.
Yay, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
Wow wow wow. I love how you tied all these topics together so seamlessly. As a former Christian, I'm always interested in discussions specifically about how Christianity (and its offshoots) has affected and been affected by American culture and economics, and this was really wonderful. Also added some more books to my tbr.
Enjoy!
Wow this is fascinating and it feels like you’re a professor. I just love to hear what you think on this topic.
Glad you think so!
Not expecting this format/specific content from the channel, but thoroughly enjoyed it! Reminded me of my philosophy undergrad in the best way possible
Glad you enjoyed it!
Loved this Mara! I have really been enjoying these essay type videos. They remind me of my college classes, and I would have loved to have you as a professor!
I'm so glad!
Loved this video and format and topic. Please do more.
Mara, I can only imagine the reason for this mess down in the comments is because these are viewers who have or are currently watching videos about people getting out of cults, and here is your video in the recommended section on the side, “Why am I so obsessed with Scientology.” Haha! I hope through this algorithm shuffle, some awesome book lovers find you
Thank you! Yeah, there's so much to cover in this realm, so hopefully I covered slightly new ground
So fascinating, loved this video. I don’t really have any thoughts but I learned a lot and really appreciated the work you put into this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I found this so fascinating. I look forward too more videos like this. I have lots of thoughts that I need to sit with before I can comment further. I’m not religious but I find fundamentalist groups fascinating. Gave me a lot to think about.
This was an incredible video and analysis on so many levels. Thank-you for investing the time and emotions so that we can view, learn, grow.
Idk if there’s any other categories that you’re heavily invested in but this was absolutely amazing! I learned so much and through such a respectful approach to the topic. It definitely makes me question why I heavily favor certain topics when it comes to nonfiction and even fiction at times.
Awesome! Thank you!
I’m finally watching this and I’m so excited
Some excellent insights: you've sent me back to finish off reading 'Cultish'. Two other worthwhile books specifically about Scientology are 'Barefaced Messiah', Russell Miller's biography of Hubbard, and Jon Atack's 'Let's Sell These People A Piece Of Blue Sky'.
Agreed! I really like Jon Atack in general when I hear him pop up in a podcast or interview
This was an absolutely phenomenal exploration of so many different disciplines and I learned a lot! This talk covered so much more territory than I was expected, it blew me away. I've got so much to think about now...!
Great video! Looking forward to more of your video-essay type projects you mentioned you might start doing
More to come!
I absolutely loved this video. I loved the references and the unpacking. And it made me think more about my fascination with Scientology.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What an excellent video Mara, I imagine it must have taken a lot of work! It was interesting and very insightful, I'm glad you shared it with us.
Thank you for the feedback!
I want sooooo many more videos like this!! Share all your knowledge!
The biggest shock to me here was the relationship between Puritanism and Prosperity Gospel. I had always thought they were exact opposites. So informative ! Makes a lot of sense.
this topic is absolutely fascinating. I am in awe of how thorough you were on this topic. it could have easily been a two part video. would love to hear more of this from you. it is also giving me references to research for my thesis lol thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! Happy writing :)
I'm not usually into cult nonfiction, I tend to see it as kind of ghoulish in the realm of true crime, but I love learning about the history of religions and their underlying ideologies, so this was great! Been loving the video essays, keep it up!
Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad that you enjoyed it
Very thoughtful and informative. I will have to watch it at least once more to make sure that I caught everything. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video!!! I took a couple religious studies classes while I was getting my Sociology degree. This led to me heavily questioning and really distancing myself from my personal upbringing of conservative southern Baptist. I still have great interest in studying religions and cults and all the aspects of them! So very fascinating!
Very interesting. I liked the deep dive and that you sprinkled book recs throughout.
Glad you enjoyed it!
So I’m Canadian, but l’ve live most of my life in South-East Asia. People who aren’t Canadian or American always ask me what’s the difference between Americans and Canadians because they think that our cultures are interchangeable. I’ve always tried to figure out how to explain how we’re different. Your discussion about American’s view of religion, individualism and definitions of success contrasted with Canada’s more ‘socialist’ leanings kind of helps me be able to give a more defined answer. I’m not sure if I’m expressing this well. Anyway, super interesting. Thanks!
I lived in Canada for 3 years, and someone told me that the highest Canadian value is fairness. I'd say that contrasts to the US where our highest value is freedom - it's amazing how many small and big changes ripple out from those slightly different wants of looking at issues!
this was such an interesting video and hopefully one i rewatch. I really enjoyed all of the sources and the complete amount of information packed into this. I never had any strict religion coming from my family, although I did go to a Christian school until 3rd grade that gradually got stricter until it no longer allowed Halloween (which me as a 10 year old didn't understand). However, as a LA native, Scientology has always been something I always been fascinated with, and this has given me so many avenues to go down. So thanks for such an interesting video, for linking it to your own experience, and for just explaining the links of scientology to capitalism and puritanism so eloquently because that argument was my favorite part of the video.
Yes, Halloween was always a contentious topic for my school growing up! :)
I knew this was gonna be good, and by gum, I was right. really interesting subject matter and a great analysis as always! would be happy to see more videos like this. and still very much rooted in reading so that's always there to tie everything together
Coming soon!
I love these video essay you've been doing. keep them coming! I love learning about religion as a non believer I like hearing what makes people believe and learning more about different religions.
I was raised to be a Christian but I wouldn't say that I ever actually practiced it. It was a strange realization one day that I did not believe what I was saying or reading rather it had just been constant messaging I received growing up so I was used to it.
It was very easy to step away after this realization without guilt because I don't think that belief is a choice, it's a compulsion based on convincing arguments facts and trust. It's not that I chose to 'defect' it's that there wasnt really another option.
Though I have never really been religious myself I find religion to be fascinating and enjoy studying their histories. I think there is a lot of great take aways and insights to pull from religion
Yes, it's hard to get out of the daily grind of a way of life to evaluate it - even if folks stay in their faith system, I think it's healthy to step back and look around every once in a while
Just hopping in to say I loved this video and I love your hair!
Oh thank you!
First of all, wonderful video. I guess I never realized you had this interest in Scientology, but I’m glad it’s helped you! I was also raised in a evangelical fundamentalist Christian environment and have spent a long time unlearning/analyzing a lot of my beliefs and thoughts.
It is definitely a complex process to unravel
I am not a religious person and realized this as a teenager introduced to Evangelicals. I knew absolutely that it wasn’t for me and felt like I was watching my best friend become a pod person from Invasion of the Body Snatchers when she became born again. Nightly calls telling me I was going to hell reinforced my convictions. Your interest in Scientology is so much more thoughtful than what what I have gleaned from reading Going Clear and watching some of Leah Remini’s series. I have kind of regarded it with the same fascination as I’ve had for the Titanic disaster or the Donner Party. Basically that these people are all doomed, which of course isn’t true. Thank you for a more enlightened and kinder perspective.
Ohh I loved hearing your perspective on this!
I'm so glad!
Very interesting video. Great topic. I think we all have a level of curious obsession with cults and how/why people get sucked into them.
Hi Mara, I was mesmerized by your video. You can take parts of it and apply it to other things. For example when you’re writing a memoir, instead of looking at your own life straight on, it’s better to slant it. Sort of what you said about studying Scientology to better understand your own feelings about evangelical Christianity. For example, write poetry about an incident to understand the deeper meaning without looking at the trauma straight on. This makes it more palatable.
I remember in 1976, I stayed with a couple Who met at a Scientology retreat. They gave me the book Dianetics. I couldn’t understand a damn thing. My thoughts then were if I as a reasonable person can’t understand it, it’s crazy making and not valid for me. I am Jewish but not raised religiously. I’m just now getting into Orthodox Judaism. But in Judaism we are encouraged to ask questions. Even if the questions are Skeptical ones, as long as we’re asking with honesty and sincerity. Jews are told that every Torah verse has 70 meanings. My problem is I don’t like rules and every religion has rules. Some I can deal with and some I can’t. But I’m never ostracized if I don’t follow the rules. I belong because Belonging is tied to who my mother was. I’m not saying people don’t convert to Judaism but it’s a difficult process. And once you convert you are treated the same as if you were born into the religion. I love your new format. It’s funny that you can be talking about this subject and the milking story romance. Lol I enjoyed both videos. Aloha
So glad you enjoyed the new format! I enjoyed making it
I enjoyed this video so much! I'm fascinated by religion and cultic thinking (not meant as an insult, as I'm religious). I really need to read Cultish.
I really hope this obsession is one of morbid curiosity and not out of an actual interest in joining the church 👀
LOL fear not! We are definitely in the morbid curiosity zone not the convert zone
@@bookslikewhoa That's a relief
@@bookslikewhoa phew... was slightly worried there 😅
@@bookslikewhoa Glad to hear that!
She makes it pretty clear in the video that she is not interested in converting
I too am interested in this cult, and I never new what books to read to get a broader perspective. Thanks for the interesting discussion and resources!!!
great video Mara! i'm not very religious but i do find religion in general fascinating.
This one caught my eye from almost a year ago, but piqued my interest enough to watch and want to comment. We used to live in FL right near Clearwater, and those who know their Scientology know what that is like. Young SeaOrg people wearing the same uniform clothes, briskly walking up and down, always busy... and of course all the properties being bought up to add to their "alleged collection". I read Going Clear- loved it- read Leah Remini's chatty book- loved it- and also watched her series on it. The FL newspapers every once in a while did an expose on this "alleged" religion and it would stir the hornet's nest for awhile. Believe me, you don't want to be on their bad side because they emotionally attack people by stalking them, taking their photos, "allegedly" doxxing them.... Sorry to ramble a year after the fact, but I too have an over the top interest in this! Thanks for such a well-spoken commentary! I don't know your profession but would assume you are a college professor or researcher, lol.
Such a well-thought out and well done video! Scientology scares the crap out of me tbh 😂
Excellent analysis and a lot of food for thought about the cultural and philosophical aspects of Scientology and also how cultish philosophies or organizations behave.
I too have been obsessed with Scientology since 2005..
This is probably the most interesting video of yours that I’ve watched. I have also grown up in an evangelical community and I’ve raised my children there as well. I related 100% to being afraid to question my taught beliefs. For at least 30 years, I was afraid to question almost any Christian teaching. It wasn’t until my children came out as gay that I was really forced to frame that within my faith, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t believe what my faith told me about my children- the part about them being sinners because they are attracted to the same gender. My religion tells me their sexuality is a wrong choice, therefore, it’s a sin. Neither of my children chose to be gay. In fact, they prayed for years that they wouldn’t be gay anymore. They prayed for God to take it away. I still believe in the core of my religion, but I’m wrestling with so many social issues that my faith has very cut and dry answers around. I’m glad to no longer be afraid to ask questions and doubt facets of what I was taught. In the end, I figure I don’t actually believe many things that I haven’t questioned at some point; I’ve merely accepted it. There’s a huge difference between acceptance and belief.
I'm glad you found this interesting :)
Loved the medical/magic portion of this video
I may do some follow up - I have more thoughts! ;)
I’m an on/off Scientology watcher. If you haven’t checked it out, the podcast Oh No Ross and Carrie did a series where they joined Scientology for a little while. Like they took classes and went to events and all and just documented their very strange experience as outsiders coming into the church. It’s very good, and they did a few revisits to Scientology throughout the years and even had Mike Rinder and some other ex Scientologists on the show.
YES, I cut it for time, but they were the other stream that got me to have more awareness of my own cognitive dissonance, particularly their Mormonism episodes
Such an interesting video. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really interesting video 🧐 I’ve never been religious and I honestly don’t know much about Scientology but it’s really fascinating how you pointed it out as being an American sort of “phenomenon”
They're gonna come get you girl. I just bought Cult Following: My escape from the Children of God by Bexy Cameron. I find cults and Scientology fascinating as well, especially the psychology and NLP that goes with it.
This is so weird to see this title - because I could do a vlog of my own and it would be hours and hours long LOL! I have been morbidly what my husband Would call obsessed about Scientology ever since Katie Holmes divorced oh I mean escaped from Tom Cruise and that whole bunch! I spent about four years listening to every single thing I could and had it all memorised down to a fine point. My husband was seriously ticked off. He said that was all I wanted to talk about. I got over it when the power of Scientology definitely began to Wane and people are now mostly coming out of it rather than going in. I think it’s just such a powerful cult- or was for awhile anyway - that it was like a scary movie!! I am really looking forward to your own Journey with this thing which I’m sure will prove to be fascinating….
loved this. more videos like this! 😊
More to come!
It's not about scientology, but I just found out that Amanda Montell co-hosts a podcast called "Sounds like a Cult". It's similar to Cultish where it's looking at things that have cult-like aspects, and it's been a fun listen so far.
Ooo I will def check that out!
Fantastic timing as I recently found myself going down a Scientology rabbit hole 😆 I’m not religious - grew up as a lazy catholic and if I were to label myself I guess I’d say agnostic. But I find “fundamentalism” and “cultish” like groups/religion fascinating and dangerous. I do think there is good in “normal” religious practices even though I am not drawn to them, but there are so many dangers to fundamentalism and I’m so curious as how these extreme religions are formed and how so many seemingly smart people are pulled into them. And how they shape people, governments, wars etc. I need to def check out the books you mentioned
o boy, this’ll be fun.
I was really interested in cults and their origins until I noticed the similarities to the evangelicalism I was involved in at the time. I really appreciate this video and your personal story and analysis. It is kind of a relief to hear your summary of many of my own similar thoughts and questions.
I'm glad you found it helpful :)
I too went through a Scientology obsession. I don't support it. Leah Remini has some good videos about it. Looking forward to seeing yours tomorrow.
Spiritual and not religious, cults have for a long time been absolutely fascinating to me.
Such a well done video!
Thank you!!
Loved this. ♥️♥️♥️
In a memoir called the last black unicorn tiffany haddish talks about her experience with scientology while she was homeless she was never actually a member she got kicked out her first week but it's an interesting story
I was raised as a Catholic. I no longer identify as religious in any way. However, I love learning about all religions, I view them as the backbone of culture. Would you consider doing more videos on this topic?
Probably not directly on this topic, but I do have some more ideas about "cult ish" organizations and movements that I'm ruminating on
@@bookslikewhoa I look forward them.
Excellent. Thanks for expressing so we'll my own similar obsessions, similar experiences. I am now a "non-denominational" believer, definitely not fundamentalist.
Thank you for this video Mara. I grew up in the Catholic Church in the 70s and the church at that time was mostly about love and compassion and very non fundamentalist. (I saw God Spell maybe 10 times before graduating college and also Jesus Christ Superstar) We had a folk band in church and I loved it as a kid. I have watched with horror and dismay in the years since then as the Catholic Church becomes more and more turned towards fundamentalist ideals. So much so its almost embarrassing to admit you are a Catholic now and I have taken to studying Buddhist and Hindu Philosophy and telling people I'm a Buddhist☺. I still love Jesus but my spirituality has become more New Age in reaction to the Fundamentalist change which I don't like and don't understand. It seems so anti what Jesus's message is. So this video you did was enlightening and helpful to me to see your perspective growing up fundamentalist and how your philosophy has evolved through time. So great job and I love the new direction you are taking your channel😍
Behind the Bastards has I think 3 episodes on L. Ron Hubbard. They are super interesting if you want to know more about his life
I am interested in what you have to say. However, having known someone dying of AIDS and a Scientology person did not have time to come to the hospital and speak to him, but a Catholic person did I have my doubts.
No worries, this is a "morbid curiosity" type video, not a "I'm converting" video. 0% interest in that :)
I grew up roman catholic (which is the main religion in my country). Did the whole shabang.. choir, altar girl, ... I officially cancelled my church membership when I was 18. I never believed and I did not want to pay church tax. I continued to take religious studies in school (you can opt out of it) until graduation because we had a.) a great teacher who - while being Christian himself - was very open-minded and talked to us about abortion and euthanasia and other religions in a way that you don't usually get to explore these subjects and b.) I always felt you need to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. If it comes up I call myself agnostic or atheist - depending on context.
Religion is not something anyone cares about here. It's part of our cultural tradition (Christmas, baptism, confirmation, wedding, ...) but I don't know any Christians who regularly attend church and even the Muslims in my social circle [who generally seem a bit more religious than my Christian peers] only visit the mosque for special holidays (Islam is the second largest religion in my country, followed by Protestantism).
I also became obsessed with scientology when I discovered Chris Shelton shortly after he started posting. I read all the books and article on scientology and then other cults. I think we have cultish thought and behavior about all phases of life (i.e. sports, business, and food plans).
Agreed - "cultish" is a really helpful concept to think through a lot of movements or groups
Agreed, I think the Puritans definitely did value having money, their whole society was built around it. The wealthy families were often also the church elders and paragons of the community at large. You could even say that the heresy/witch trials was at least partially driven by greed. (And hysteria and possibly some kind mold that caused hallucinations and weird behavior.)
i myself is not religious [or american 😅]. my mum is sort of Christian light which is to say she goes to church maybe like once a year. and my dad is sort of Muslim [he claims he is] but I wouldn't say he is, cause the only thing he does is not eating pork. and then I grew up with this understanding that my mum doesn't really care what my stand on it and I think my dad only sees it as "there are two religions in this world: Christianity and Islam" and while he doesn't really care whether or not I am Muslim, I am "not allowed" to be Christian or be with a Christian partner [which is like yeah, try and stop me, i'd like to see you try]. but for a very long time I had this strong rejection of an idea of being in any way religious. the only way in which religion ever interested me was historic. like the crusades and the cultural clash of it all and then later how it affected the beliefs and viewpoint ppl had with inquisitions and all that. i could talk about religion fine when it came to historic context of it. but when smb would try to talk to me how "oh, but God" i had this strong reaction of "there is no god, there's science". and any religion really seemed to me as one step away from a cult and if you just talk to a person and make them understand how unreasonable and wrong they are.
all this to say that studying and looking at actual cults is, i think, what helped me get out of this mindset. it's fascinating, honestly. the vast variety of what ppl believe in and how if you get to the core of it, there are similarities between most of the organised beliefs, be that religion in a more common sense or in a bordering cultish sense.
[for context, i myself would probably fall closer to smth non-practising pagan or occult now. like i believe in nature and cosmos and energy and, back to what you were saying, how magic and science are actually connected in a lot of ways]
I like this format a lot! thanks!
Religion was never discussed at home when I was a kid. I was at a friend’s house at a sleepover and her family took me to church with them that Sunday morning and I was like, “We have to drink blood here?” I was 10 years old and it was Welch’s, but I didn’t know any better and drank what I thought was actual blood because everyone else was doing it. I remember that clearly because that is what religion is to me, doing something you know is wrong because someone else says it’s right.
I like to hear about people discussing religion once they are not in it anymore. Same with cults. Scientology is crumbling, so there are a lot more people speaking out about it, and it’s fascinating to hear what they could accept and what snapped them out of it. I’ve never heard a “leaving my religion” story where I felt bad for the religion.
Thanks for the feedback! And yes, even when I was a full on evangelical, when we would say "to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood," I'd be like... girl. No wonder the Romans thought Christians were cannibals! :D
What time zone are you in? I live in CA
"Meat vehicles "🤣
I will be totally blunt here ( not American myself nor religious but admire America generally) most conversations that "Scientology " comes up , Scientology is considered a joke - in UK where I'm from & NZ where I live ( within the groups of people I communicate with of course).
They are here too - especially after those South Park episodes. Still, there's like ~35k of them left so its still interesting to think through their beliefs
It's a bit difficult for me to respond to all of this in more dept because of English being my second language. But it was definitely interesting, it felt like some kind of podcast episode with some nice book recommendations and I also liked your own answer to the question why it is so interesting to you. Not because of the feelings but it was so honest and somewhat relatable.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I enjoyed making this and hopefully I can keep finding topics like this to explore
Amazing, educating, informative, interesting video!! Thank you!!
As someone who is and lives in North/Middle - Europe religions, cults and people who really believe fascinate me. Because religion for us is more tradition than anything else. I know absolutely NO ONE who still goes to church or is Christian in the way the Americans are. If you ask people here if they are Christian, people would say: "sure" (because they pay the Church tax and celebrate Christmas and were baptist as a baby) but if you would ask them is they believe in the Bible and Hell and all that they would probably say: "not really". Also, Christian fundamentalism does not really exists here and if someone says, they are protestant that means, they are all the same, meaning we don't have Baptist or Calvinists or Adventists ect. If you are protestant you most likely belong to one big church. Just like the catholics. Also never met a Mormon and don't know if they ever made it here or if people are just not interested. I think that's why I am so fascinated with religion and cults and stuff like that, because it feels like people here left religion somewhat behind. I mean even my grandparents who were born around the WW 1 were atheist so I always try to figure out, if believing in the "supernatural" is nurture or nature... (I think it is nurture)
Bringing about the end of the world through a strange sex ritual…oh boy. Not someone to get close to.
ETA: fascinating and informative video. Thanks, Mara.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
So true about how in the past magic/science/religion were more connected. Most of the magic of yesteryear is the science of today
I also have an obsession with Scientology and am working to put up related material on my channel. I just had a discussion with Chris Shelton and I would love for you to check it out
I wanna sound as smart as you when I grow up 😅
Anyways I love following weird religions and I can’t recommend Oh No Ross and Carrie enough if you haven’t checked them out! They did Scientology and some other interesting religions/wellness trends/health things. But since we are both McElroy listeners I would also assume you’ve listened to it.
I’m picking up cultish ASAP! And you know already I was raised with no religion except what random people attempted to force onto me cause I was going to hell and I think it gives an interesting context to how I process life I guess. Either way I love to just stare at the strange religion stuff and then I get sad cause of the harm it does.
LOL you are too kind...and YESSSS! I cut it for time, but I had a whole sidebar about how the OTHER big "aha" moment for me was listening to ONRAC's Mormonism episodes & listening to them in general. They were critical of religion but always tried to be even handed (I do think they should apply some of that criteria on their views about veganism, but... whatevs, everyone has blind spots :D)
Same.
Have you ever read Mind Wars by Aquino? There is a lot of attachment to those you talked about in it.( I am reader as well that has a collection of the Scientology and Mormonism. I have read more heavily on the Mormonism side of things.) Thanks for the new add to my tbr Cultish.
No I haven't - thanks for the rec!
Thought your analysis of America was very insightful until you got to the end. I don’t doubt that there were problems with the belief system you held before and how it was policed. Personally I’m a catholic so :) but you didn’t acknowledge that your primary critique of it is from a perspective of “freedom” which is exactly that pioneer spirit rugged individualism as is manifest in Scientology. Humans are social creatures, body and spirit, intellect and will, and all of these realities manifest constantly. If we ignore part (that we need social groups, that we mostly get our knowledge, morals and even tastes from them, not to mention rights and duties we have to them) we get worse results than we got before.
22:00
Grew up Roman Catholic and would consider myself agnostic now. I'm angry at the church and see it as part of the problem. Just makes me feel sad.
26:43 perhaps a thetan stumbled onto an aberration and made a real MEST of things...
the real problem is that everything is a cult.
I can generally sympathize with the cultish mindset even while I thoroughly disagree with its veracity. My church was VERY fundamentalist (as in, we didn’t celebrate Christmas because it isn’t on the literal day of Christ’s birth and has a lot traditions of pagan origin connected to it, but we celebrated Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles because those are in the Bible), but it took a hard turn toward mainstream Christianity when I was in middle school and a new generation of church leaders couldn’t justify such slavish devotion to the Old Testament. The church essentially split in half over it, and I had to grapple with the idea that there isn’t one “correct” way to be a Christian (which was a LOT at 12-ish years of age). When I went to college, I found that a lot of the religious and social ideas from my broader community (a very insular, rural community where almost everyone had lived there for generations) also didn’t survive confrontation with “the outside world”. I still count myself as a Christian, but I am deeply suspicious of any church that says it has secret knowledge the other branches don’t have access too or tells you you’re fundamentally better for joining it. The “insert head in sand” mentality is pretty prolific in some churches, and their refusal to engage with dissenting ideas is exactly why so many people are leaving.
Constant schisms in groups is a pretty good indicator of fundamentalism, so that doesn't surprise me. Thanks for sharing!
I'm I'm I'm...💙👍👉👈👌🙏🏻
I am ex-evangelical and have the same fervent fascination but with Mormonism. I have consumed hours and hours of content to better understand a religious group that I don't even know a single practicing member of. But you are right, it gives an external avenue to deconstruct your own beliefs. Also Mormonism is so insidious in their colonial missions and global recruiting as well as encouraging large families in order to have as many members as possible. It is in official doctrine to "outnumber" non-believers... scary stuff. Love your takes and sources. Jesus and John Wayne is a fave and just got Cultish from the library the other day. All of your citations make my little Sociology major heart sore. Thanks for the great content, always.
Mormonism is another good route for deconstructing evangelicalism, for sure!
And now, another reason to hate Calvinism. This from a former Presbyterian seminary student.
Science can’t exclude the idea of God. The physical world cannot disprove the existence of the meta physical world (it is meta physical)
In Cali we are not cool with these guys. Really wierd stuff they do....not cool.
Oh I bet! CA & FL are the main places where they are… they low key took over a city in FL 😩
Ok now I am excited for this video! 🥰
Now they're watching you....