Deep Play

“A religion you can dance to”: Deborah Kelly’s Creation project

Australian artist Deborah Kelly describes Creation, a “queer science fiction climate change religion” and an experiment in collaboratively creating religion as a work of art: CREATION is a new religion, manifesting in spectacle and intimacy. A faith, a gathering of intention and purpose with which to face an era when paid opinion trumps environmental evidence. … Read more“A religion you can dance to”: Deborah Kelly’s Creation project

Scattered notes on Poetic Faith

Poetic Faiths are those new religions that take the skeptical, scientific worldview as read and then ask “now what?” They tend towards: They are, in various permutations, simultaneously post-theistic and post-atheistic; beginning with the premise that there is no literal supernatural and then honoring the actual power of myth, symbolism, etc. in the human psyche, … Read moreScattered notes on Poetic Faith

“Hail Satan?” (documentary trailer, 2019)

The Satanic Temple is a science-positive, socially progressive religion in Halloween regalia. Penny Lane’s 2019 documentary Hail Satan? is an illuminating – “Lucifer” being the Light Bringer, after all – and well-produced documentary on a fast-growing but still widely misunderstood religious movement. Far from being the embodiment of all evil, the Satanic Temple is revealed … Read more“Hail Satan?” (documentary trailer, 2019)

“Mythopoeia” (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1931)

The following poem was composed by Tolkien in response to his friend C.S. Lewis’s remark that myths were valueless. It’s worth noting that, as a devout Christian, Tolkien could not conceive of a mortal creation that might equal that of an omnipotent deity, and so refers to myths as “sub-creations”. Somewhat ironically, the immense popularity … Read more“Mythopoeia” (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1931)

“Dudeism: the Path to Lebowski Enlightenment”

Often described as “the slowest-growing religion in the world”, Dudeism was inspired by the philosophy espoused and exemplified by Jeff Bridges’ character in the Coen Brothers movie The Big Lebowski. According to Dudeism.com: While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in … Read more“Dudeism: the Path to Lebowski Enlightenment”

“W.I.T.C.H.es Brew” (2017)

Molly Birnbaum writes for Topic on the Trump-era revival of W.I.T.C.H. as a tactic of political protest and occult resistance: “Anonymity is dramatic,” says a W.I.T.C.H. (Anonymity also prevents doxxing—a real threat in this day and age.) “The witch is a powerful figure when so many people feel like they’re losing control,” another W.I.T.C.H. explains. … Read more“W.I.T.C.H.es Brew” (2017)

M. Dudeck and RELIGIONVIR.US

Artist/scholar/witchdoctor M. Dudeck offers a concise precis of his massive RELIGIONVIR.US project, a queer science fiction religion. In this video montage, Dudeck and his collaborators enact aspects of PSALMS: a 45-minute music-centered performance featuring 13 invented psalms accompanied by a complex digital soundscore and projected video.

“American Jedi”

A trailer for the 2017 documentary American Jedi, which is available to stream via various platforms. Here’s an in-depth interview with Jedi Knight and Deacon Alex Bird, explaining his devotion to the philosophy/quasi-religion of Jediism: But your myth doesn’t reach back to any time that’s actually real. That’s true. I mean that it has to speak … Read more“American Jedi”