Roll up your sleeping bags and grab a flashlight because Cult Favorite is going to camp! Next stop on our summer road trip is the 2006 doc Jesus Camp, which follows a few kids as they attend the Kids on Fire School of Ministry. Led by Becky Fischer, the charismatic camp fuses God and country, drawing portraits of “us” and “them” with primary colors of red, white, and blue. The film, meanwhile, fuses different branches of evangelicalism and plops them squarely into rural America in its own process of stacking up insiders and outsiders. The concept of spiritual warfare involves skirmishes over classification, so we think through some that show up in the film re: relationships and distinctions posed between learning/indoctrination; religion/culture; belief/politics. The rhetoric and rituals reflected by these categories also shape them, so let’s make sure to pack some critical thinking skills along with our bug spray. We also kindly ask that no one forgets s’mores stuff, plz and thx.

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Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

What happens when someone with A Big Idea makes even bigger promises but fails to attend to logistical tasks and/or infrastructure? We’re sticking with our summer theme by telling the story of a beach music festival for the ultra-elite that became a trending trainwreck on social media. Charismatic entrepreneur + unquestioning yes-people + exploited local staff = a vacation that dreams (nightmares, specifically) are made of. That’s right, we’re going to Fyre Fest, and we want you to come along! We can’t promise comfortable accommodations, but we do promise insightful analysis about wealth, access, and influence in the digital age.

Bikram Choudhury claimed to heal President Nixon's thrombosis and developed his own form of yoga that became an international brand. The brash, tale-telling, foul-mouthed yoga teacher built an empire around his teacher training courses. But he was also a predator and abuser. Where did Brikram yoga come from? (Spoiler: it's a long story about colonialism in India) Why do we think physical training requires verbal abuse? Is Bikra, the Vince McMahon of yoga? We'll answer all of these questions and more this week!

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.