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Conspirituality — Philosophy
Conspirituality

Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.

Copyright: © 2023 Conspirituality

Latest Episodes:

185: Light in the Growing Darkness Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

In this annual meditation and reflection, the trio consider the past year's significant happenings in conspirituality, discuss their biggest influences, identify 2024's most pressing challenges, and offer what gives them each hope as we transition into 2024.

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Bonus Sample: Rife-Wing Misogyny Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

In November, the comedian Matt Rife released his first Netflix special, "Natural Selection." Early in the show he made a joke about domestic violence that many people took offense to. Since then, he’s clapped back at a number of people on social media (including a six-year-old boy), published a fake apology that linked to helmets for people with disabilities, and has been praised by many right-wing pundits, including the focus of today’s bonus episode, Jordan Peterson.

Derek looks at the escalation and rhetoric that’s occurred since the special, arguing that the real misogynistic thinking has taken place since the special first aired.

Note: Derek states that biologist EO Wilson is famous for popularizing the term "alpha male." This was actually primatologist Frans de Waal.

Show Notes

Bunny Hedaya claps back at Matt Rife

Should you rely on first instincts when answering a multiple choice exam?

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Brief: The Mother God Cult Dec 16, 2023

Show notes

Amy Carlson’s metallic blue body was covered in glitter, wrapped in a sleeping bag, and draped in Christmas lights when police found her on the night of April 16, 2021. The 45-year-old leader of the “Love Has Won” cult weighed just 75 pounds; her eyes had been removed.

Carlson, known as “Mother God,” proselytized along with her followers by livestreaming around the clock, preaching a QAnon-themed spirituality that they monetized by selling colloidal silver and New Age tchotchkes. When her body was found, it was discovered that her inner circle had prepared for Carlson to be picked up by galactic starships from their Crestone, CO compound.

Julian and Matthew discuss HBO’s new docu-series, “Love Has Won: The Mother God Cult,” directed by Hannah Olson. They meditate on religious freedom, spiritual tragedy, and the ethics of big-budget cult documentary filmmaking.

Show Notes

Denver Post article with Rick Ross comments

Vulture Interview with Hannah Olson

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184: Lies That Take Lives (w/Scott Kennedy) Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. Fast forward to 2019 and the nation experienced the largest number of cases since 1992. Globally, there were 207,000 measles deaths that year, a 50% increase since 2016.

The anti-vax boom time was still to come. Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree, and RFK Jr. massively increased their exposure and salaries during Covid via pseudoscientific fear-mongering and promiscuous political alliances.

Scott Kennedy’s new documentary, Shot in the Arm, details the deadly impact of these anti-vax kingpins, as well as the tireless counter-efforts of scientists, medical workers, and science educators like Peter Hotez, Paul Offit, Karen Enrst, and Blimi Marcus. Scott joins Derek and Julian to discuss the past and future of the anti-vax movement.

Show Notes

Shot in the Arm

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Bonus Sample: Post Lapsed Catholic? Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

Matthew follows up on his interview with Mike Lewis about Bishop Strickland with thoughts about:

1) Building a bridge with progressive elements of a religion that claims 1.36 billion people globally, as it goes through another surge of paranoia and reactionary radicalization, and

2) Building a bridge into a personal past

Show Notes

Vatican II: It's about that 'fresh air' | National Catholic Reporter

The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion

More sexual assault survivors connected to Michigan-based religious groups surface

Inside the People of Praise, the Tight-Knit Faith Community of Amy Coney Barrett - The New York Times

And Scales Fell From His Eyes | PDF | Protestantism | Catholic Church

Pope Michael – WRSP

‘The most conspiratorial demographic’: white evangelicals and the QAnon connection - The Conversationalist

Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. | MIT Technology Review

QAnon Conspiracies Sway Faith Groups, Including 1 in 4 White Evangelicals | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

New poll: QAnon embraced by 11 percent of white Catholics and 15 percent of all Americans | America Magazine

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Deep Cut: The Final Battle Dec 09, 2023

Show notes

Why did Trump kick-off his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas? Who were the Branch Davidians, anyway?

Julian unpacks the incendiary streams of far-right anti-government militia history and religious apocalypticism that our former president is tapping into as he faces legal jeopardy. It all goes back almost 300 years to the original Great Awakening that QAnon and New Age channelers tried to remix in 2020.

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183: Woke Pope Cancels America's Bishop (w/Mike Lewis) Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Conspiracy Theory Catholicism is back, bringing together Satanic Panickers, anti-vaxxers, tradwives who think (or at least say) birth control is an abomination, and survivalist prayer bros who string bullets into rosaries. This motley bunch agree on one thing: Pope Francis is just too damn woke.

The movement has many leaders, but only one man has been dubbed “America’s Bishop”: Joseph Edward Strickland, the now-former Bishop of Tyler, East Texas. “Former,” because on November 11, the Pope of Woke canceled him from his post.

Our guest today, Mike Lewis of the Catholic news and opinion website, wherepeteris.com, walks us through this strange tale, detailing how Strickland courted his own demise by going batshit on Twitter during the pandemic, suggesting Francis is a heretic, calling Joe Biden evil, and railing against abortion-derived vaccines.

Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to get free chicken wings for a year.

Show Notes

Mel Gibson: The man without a pope - Where Peter Is

Americans, including Catholics, continue to have favorable views of Pope Francis

Many Americans — including most Republicans — believe the pope should stay out of U.S. affairs | YouGov

Searching for Answers: Why Was Bishop Joseph Strickland Removed?

QAnon Conspiracies Sway Faith Groups, Including 1 in 4 White Evangelicals | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

New poll: QAnon embraced by 11 percent of white Catholics and 15 percent of all Americans | America Magazine

Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ

Many Americans believe in the supernatural, UFOs | Ipsos

Pope Francis’ unexpected friendship with a group of trans women | America Magazine

The making of Bishop Strickland - Where Peter Is

Strickland's Adventurous Online Legacy - Mike Lewis Extra

Bishop Strickland's "Letter from a Friend"

Podcast: Fr. James Martin on Pope Francis and accompaniment - Where Peter Is

‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates

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Bonus Sample: Goliath & Narcissus: A Brett Weinstein Breakdown Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

What if every important world event, regardless of how tragic or distant, is really part of a secret plan that only a handful of contrarian podcast pals can decipher? Julian breaks down bizarre clips from recent Dark Horse livestreams, and wonders about the connection between conspiracy theorizing and an increasingly self-important disconnection from reality. Stick around for an expert cameo from psychology professor, Matt Browne, of Decoding the Gurus.

Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to get free chicken wings for a year.

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Brief: The Twin Flames Story (w/Alice Hines) Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

Soulmates gone wrong. High-pressure sexual orientation and gender conversion in an MLM coaching cult. Journalist and producer Alice Hines discusses the “master Christ” young couple at the center of Twin Flames Universe and the alarming story that unfolds in the documentary based on her Vanity Fair expose.

Show Notes

Inside the All-Consuming World of Twin Flames

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182: Recovering from Conspiracy Theories (w/Stephanie Kemmerer) Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

What is it like to get red-pilled, find a fragile community of peers, and then come out on the other side?

What are the personal, social, and political wounds that make conspiracy theories feel like medicine—or a drug? What is the difference between debunking theories and healing wounds?

Today the trio discusses excerpts of an interview Matthew recorded with Stephanie Kemmerer, a former conspiracy theorist and now public educator. Stephanie is part of a newly formed non-profit called The American Information Integrity Alliance and co-facilitator of the support group DOUBT: Discussing Our Unusual Beliefs Together.

Kemmerer’s journey tells us a lot about how people fall into the rabbit hole, how they can claw their way back out. But she also suggests that the rabbit hole is really a hole in the culture, and that there’s plenty we can do to fill it in.

Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off.

Show Notes

American Information Integrity Alliance

D.O.U.B.T. (Discussing Our Unusual Beliefs Together)

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