Strange Rites by Tara Burton is about the new religions of the internet age. Burton starts the book with a 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 multi-sensory ritual that satisfies man’s proclivity for the religious and sublime.
There was a time when both extremists, whether religious or atheist, agreed that America was becoming more secular. Jerry Falwell, the provocateur of the religious right, blamed the 9/11 attacks on “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians” and the liberals who tried to “secularize America.” Sam Harris, the atheist intellectual, predicted 5 years later that the America he lived in was a secular nation, as opposed to America decades or centuries ago.
But is America secularizing? First of all, it’s difficult to define what constitutes a religious belief. A loose definition would simply consider any form of congregation, with rituals, and spiritual fulfilment a kind of religion. 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.”
In this sense, religion has little to do with God or classical theology. 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 had churches, synagogues, and mosques. But now, people increasingly reject those old-guard organizations and turn to alternative (often virtual) communities for their religious fulfillment.
The new “religions” consist of things like wellness culture, witchcraft, kink, social justice, and alt-right groups, Harry Potter fan fiction, satanism, and meditation apps are all emerging as religious alternatives. Concepts like “safe spaces” and the “Law of Attraction” also serve to reinforce some of these ideas. What do all these new religions have in common? They are selfish, self-centered, and self-serving. None of these new cults say anything about real responsibility, hard work, or the search for truth. Instead, they encourage people to focus on self-betterment.
There are fewer self-identifying Christians in the modern world, but the rise of the “nones” – people with no religious affiliation – does not signify the rise of atheism. Burton shows that many of these “nones” pray regularly and believe that “spiritual energy” exists, and resides in inanimate objects. They also believe in a God that rewards and punishes them. And the formal religious are not too traditional – a third of Christians say they believe in reincarnation.
At least half of Americans belong to no religious tradition but borrow liberally from many. She calls these Americans the Religiously Remixed, they are the product of an internet-based society where all ideas are permitted and flow freely. The freedom to mix and match is readily available, when traditional institutions disappoint them. Not unlike the Silicon Valley upstarts who attempt to disrupt established markets.
In the final chapter, Burton takes a jab at the “intellectual dark web” and the “right wing.” She sees the rise of intellectuals like Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson as a dangerous phenomenon that can lead to mass shootings. And ultimately poses the ultimate question, who will win the battle between all these new religions? Will it be the wellness culture, the social justice folks, the technology utopians, or the sex-starved incels who long for a return to the old alpha men dominated world. But these are not the only options, since there is another half of the population that still is religious.