Strange Rites:
New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton (PublicAffairs,
2020)
Reviewed by Rabbi
Reuven Chaim Klein
Burton opens her book with a vivid description of Sleep No More, an
immersive theatre show which developed a cult-like following. She describes the
experience of attending one of these shows as a sort of multi-sensory ritual
that feeds into man’s proclivity for the religious and sublime. This is but one
example of how Americans nowadays are feeding their hunger for religion in
unorthodox ways.
In this book, Burton documents and chronicles various newfangled
“religions,” following Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion as “a set
of rituals and beliefs that people affirm in order to strengthen their identity
as a group” (pg. 27). Under this rather cynical rubric, religion has nothing to
do with God or classical theology, per se; it has to do with providing
people a social community and a sense of meaning and structure in their lives.
In previous times, those communities were comprised of churches, synagogues,
mosques and the like. But now, people increasingly reject those old-guard
organizations and turn to alternative (usually virtual) communities for their
religious fulfillment. About half of Americans fall into the religious category
of what Burton calls “remixed” or “intuitive spirituality.”
Just as the Biblical prophet Ezekiel chronicled the idolatry of his times
in all its sordid details, so does Burton explore the various inflections of
remixed religions in our times. Throughout her book, she explains the
underlying ideologies that inspire those communities. These “religions” consist
of things like wellness culture, fandom, witchcraft, kink, social justice, and
alt-right groups. Burton also visits such contemporary concepts as “safe spaces”
and the “Law of Attraction,” which also serve to reinforce some of these ideas.
The common denominator amongst all these different lifestyles is that they
are selfish, self-centered, and self-serving. Burton makes this point multiple
times, but does not make anything more of it. In these cults of the self,
almost nothing is said about real responsibility, hard work, or the quest for
absolute truth. Instead, these post-modernist religions allow individuals to
focus on their own personal goals, redefining such time-honored concepts as
responsibility and truth according to their own whims.
In fandom, people choose what fads they will follow and enthusiastically
embrace—whether it is a TV show, sports team, or book. With a cult-like fervor,
these fans live vicariously through their favorite idols, using them to find
their place in their world. In modern times, a large part of fandom is
customization, typified by the proliferation of fanfics and fantasy booking.
Wellness culture ritualizes the fight against Big Pharma, thus giving
people structure and purpose in their life. Fitness gurus who fill
quasi-religious roles can be likened to the priests of yore who dispensed the
eternal truths to those willing to listen.
Witches and Wiccans use pseudo-spiritual language and practices to allow them
to vent their frustrations with the real world in an enchanted or magical way.
Adherents of remixed religions follow their own personal combination of
various spiritual beliefs and practices, some might trend more to New Age
thought and some might be a tad more traditional. “Spiritual” beliefs
ubiquitous to Americans who self-identify as “spiritual but not religious”
(SBNR) include the likes of astrology, reincarnation, the power of positive
thought, and even subjective religious experiences based in music. The hybrid
nature of remixing religions allows devotees to customize their spirituality to
suit their needs. They do what works for them, and equate “what works for them”
with the truth — or at least “their truth.”
The allure of paganism has always been that it (falsely) provides man the
feeling that he is in control of his own destiny. The polytheist has a whole
pantheon of acceptable gods and rituals to choose from, and he worships them to
suit his needs. Under such conditions, no one god has a monopoly on a person’s
religious expressions and no one god can unilaterally dictate what is expected
of mankind. In ancient paganism, as in the remixed religions of our times,
people essentially “pick and choose” which beliefs and practices they wanted to
follow. In classical monotheism, there is no room for such relativism and
fluidity. There is only One God to worship, and He—as the One Absolute God—is
in charge. He alone determines how man ought to conduct himself.
Personally, I was hoping for more analysis of the phenomena documented, with
less space devoted to detailed descriptive accounts of the pseudo-religions. However,
it can be argued that Burton’s brilliant descriptions are so on-the-ball that
they function as analysis. If the reader expects Burton’s book to provide a
clear theology of this modern neo-paganism or an explanation of how
contemporary practice mirrors Biblical paganism, she will be duly disappointed.
This is because it is conceptually impossible to pin down rigid theologies and
practices of a large swath of individuals who all do whatever they want to do. After
all, the remixed eschew organized religion (or at least strict adherence to it)
in favor of religions of the self.
Throughout most of the book, Burton’s personal stance on the matters she
discusses are not readily apparent, because she skillfully presents all her
information from an ostensibly neutral point of view. In her descriptions of
these remixed religions, one catches glimpses of Burton’s sympathy and even
agreement on some level, but she still trends towards neutrality.
In the last chapter, Burton’s true colors shine forth as she launches a
more overtly partisan attack against the “right wing” and the “intellectual
dark web.” She sees the progression from following such conservative
intellectuals as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson as an almost-inevitable
slippery slope that leads to mass shootings and other such horrors. When
analyzing similar phenomena on the left side of the aisle, she fails to draw a
comparison between, for example, the progressive politics of Bernie Sanders and
his self-proclaimed follower who shot up a Congressional baseball game. Ultimately,
she denounces the entire conservative wing of politics (whom she insists on
referring to as “atavist”), without sufficiently differentiating between
moderate right-wingers, alt-lite, and alt-right. However, she does not condemn
the entire Left because of its fringe extremists (or even condemn the fringe
extremists, for that matter).
In her concluding section, Burton sets up the “clash of the titans” as her
closing question for what the future will hold. She leaves the reader with the
question of which voice will win: the wellness people, the social justice
people, the technology nerds, or the sex-starved incels who yearn for a return to
a world run by alpha men. If those are humanity’s only options, then the future
looks quite bleak. Fortunately, Burton fails to consider that traditional
religion has a voice as well. If only about 50% of Americans are “Remixed,”
that still leaves a lot who are more traditionally religious. In some ways,
these stalwarts provide hope for America and there is still room to be
optimistic about her future.
As a Doctor of Theology from Oxford University and a former Vox
religion correspondent, Burton is well-positioned to offer her thoughts on
contemporary popular culture and how it relates to religion/theology. Indeed,
her insightful book brilliantly encapsulates the state of unorganized religion
in our times. For the curious reader, her copious endnotes provide endless
sources for further research (almost all of which refer to websites on the
internet—a true testament to the internet’s role in the proliferation of these
remixed religions). Her book is written in beautiful prose and the information
is very densely packed in a readable, yet efficient way. Kudos to the author
and her team for preparing this excellent work.
