Quick - what do the following have in common: CrossFit, polyamory, Soul Cycle, kink, the Social Justice movement, Burning Man, the alt-right, 4chan, polyamory, Rationalism, Harry Potter, and Wicca? Answer: they're some of the "Remixed" religious movements that religion scholar (and seasoned travel writer) Tara Isabella Burton visits in "Strange Rites." Each is like its own foreign country, and like an able travel guide, Burton describes the internal language, culture, and customs of each. Except that these countries aren't so foreign after all - or shouldn't be. Not only have they been under our noses all along, but many of us have been citizens of them without even knowing it.
The cultish overtones of some of these movements are obvious, but are they full-fledged religions? Instead of philosophical hair-splitting about what makes for a real religion, Burton focuses "primarily on what a religion does: the way in which it functions both individually and societally to give us a sense of our world, our place in it, and our relationships to the people around us." Fair enough.
One of the key distinctions Burton makes between old-timey and contemporary religions is that the latter are "Remixed". People can pick and choose what they want from a menu, instead of accepting a creed wholesale, so long as it offers them four things: "meaning, purpose, community, and ritual."
Most of the Remixed cults are what she calls “intuitional religions": "their sense of meaning is based in narratives that simultaneously reject clear-cut creedal metaphysical doctrines and institutional hierarchies and place the locus of authority on people’s experiential emotions, what you might call gut instinct. Society, institutions, credited authorities, experts, expectations, rules of conduct—all these are generally treated not just as irrelevant, but as sources of active evil." That quote should give you a sense of the writing style of the book: more academic, less pop.
I appreciate her treatment of these diverse entities with the seriousness of a scholar and a reporter, even when the movements sound frivolous (e.g. Jediism) or odious (e.g. neo-Nazism). She has done the hard work of wading into waters I would never venture into, and we get to be the richer for it. Who knew that Jediism has more members than Wicca or Scientology? Or that Christian Science and the New Age movement share common origins? Lots of fun tidbits here.
Where do all these Remixed religions come from? Burton proposes "post-materialism" as the cause of this kaleidoscopic fragmentation of large-scale religions into a zillion different creeds: "In a society where we no longer fear securing the basic necessities of life, we gradually adopt a different value system, one dedicated to seeking out self-expression and fulfilling personal experiences."
But beyond ego-gratification and affiliation, do these Remixed religions also offer some path to solace? And some meaningful reconciliation with death? I feel like those are two of the fundamental functions of religion that the Remixed creeds, in spite of their extensive personalization, fail to provide an increasingly neurotic American populace. Meaning, purpose, community, and ritual aren't enough. People are desperate for some peace, especially in crisis times.
Like a pair of night-vision goggles, this book made visible heretofore ignored landscapes that were right before my eyes. It's serious fun, with a lot of stuff I'd never heard before and choice insights into both luminous and dark parts of human nature. May you also find it enjoyably mind-expanding.
-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil., Happiness Engineer and author of
The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible
, the most-highlighted ebook on Amazon, and
Should I Go to Medical School?: An Irreverent Guide to the Pros and Cons of a Career in Medicine
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