The May 2022 issue of the Revealer offers important insights into religion’s place in society — insights that can help us to better understand the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States and the weakening wall between church and state. In his editor’s letter, Brett Krutzsch considers the incredibly high stakes of losing this separation.
The issue opens with the newest installment of Kaya Oakes’ column “Not So Sorry,” where she explores the surfacing of sexual misconduct claims at Christianity Today, a popular evangelical publication, and questions what institutions can do to warrant forgiveness when the systems they have in place allow abuse to run rampant.
Next, in part two of our series on Catholic horrors, Matthew Cressler examines reasons for The Exorcist’s popularity alongside credible claims of abusive priests to consider overlapping explanations for the film’s fame and the widespread abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
Then, in “Exploitation and Abuse at Hillsong,” Jessica Johnson reviews a new docuseries that showcases multiple forms of abuse that took place within a massive global network of Christian churches.
In “My Brain on Muse,” Andrew Aghapour tests a wearable device that measures brain activity to help people meditate with better focus. He questions if this is a breakthrough source of assistance for meditators or if it foreshadows a dystopic future where tech companies measure everything about us, including our brainwaves.
Next, in an excerpt from her book Black Buddhists and the Black Radical Tradition, Rima Vesely-Flad shares how Black Buddhists have interpreted Buddhist teachings about the “self” and “non-self” to find psychological liberation in a deeply racist world.
And, in “Problems with How Journalists Write about Hindu Death Rituals,” Bhakti Mamtora illustrates how colonial stereotypes of Hinduism persist in the present day by highlighting how mainstream news media covers Hindu funeral rites.
The May issue also features the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “Black Buddhists and Healing the Traumas of Racism.” Rima Vesely-Flad joins us to discuss why Black Americans have been turning to Buddhist teachings to deal with living in a white supremacist society. We explore how Buddhism has helped Black Americans confront misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, and how Black Buddhists have found a sense of stability despite the presence of profound structural racism. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
