In his editor’s letter for the Revealer’s Summer 2022 issue, Brett Krutzsch suggests that, in order to revitalize ourselves and prepare to face the religious, cultural, and political upheaval that lies ahead, we must first take a brief reprieve from the news cycle.
With this in mind, the summer issue opens with Kaya Oakes’ “Whose Sin Is It Anyway? Abortion, Catholics, and What Comes Next,” where Oakes reflects on how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will affect the Catholic church in America and questions if, as Catholic teachings dictate, people who get abortions actually need to seek forgiveness from a priest.
Next, Daniel José Camacho returns with the newest installment of his “From the Margins” column with “The False Gods That Changed My Mind,” where he reflects on how learning about two “heretical” idols pushed him to reconsider Christianity and its role in promoting white supremacy.
Then, in “The Religious Revival of American Formula One Racing,” Adam Willems considers how the surging popularity of F1 racing in the United States resonates with religious undercurrents and how the sports’ financiers collaborate with Christian nationalist politicians who ensure they will make huge profits.
Next, in “Using Comedy to Talk about Religious Trauma,” Emma Cieslik reviews Taylor Tomlinson’s Nextflix comedy special and contemplates how humor can be an effective strategy for bringing mainstream attention to painful religious experiences.
And, in “The Way Black: Considering Black Membership in the Cult of Gwen Shamblin,” Ambre Dromgoole reviews the HBO Max docuseries The Way Down and reflects on why some Black Americans were drawn to a white evangelical woman’s vision of ideal beauty and faith.
Our summer issue also includes not one, but two episodes of the Revealer podcast! First, in “Religion and Pornography,” Kelsy Burke, author of the forthcoming The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Obscene Obsession, joins us to discuss battles over pornography. We explore why various religious communities oppose pornography, why evangelical Protestants in particular are anxious about masturbation and sex addiction, and what disputes over pornography reveal about today’s political climate. Then, in “Catholic Horror,” Jack Downey, Matthew Cressler, and Kathleen Holscher join us to compare horror films and novels to actual horrors committed by the Catholic church. We explore why Catholicism has been such a popular source of inspiration for horror filmmakers and writers, what the genre can reveal about contemporary society, and why examining it can help us make sense of the clergy abuse crisis and other atrocities committed by the Catholic church. You can listen to both episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
