Adam Possamai

Alternative Spiritualities and the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism

Some practices in Alternative Spiritualities have been criticised by social commentators for their ‘appropriation’ of indigenous cultures. This article will argue that ‘appropriation’ is not limited to these cultures but is part of a larger phenomenon, that of cultural consumption of selective parts of history. Furthermore, this cultural consumption is not restricted to history alone, but is extended to contemporary popular culture, such as people and groups who find inspiration for their spirituality from the fictions of H.P. Lovecraft, vampire stories and the Star Wars mythos. Following Fredric Jamesons work on Postmodernism, this article will provide an insight into how the cultural consumption of history and popular culture by people involved in Alternative Spiritualities has become part of the cultural logic of late capitalism.

Cultural Consumption of History and Popular Culture in Alternative Spiritualities

Some practices in alternative spiritualities - for example, New Age and neopaganism - have been criticized by social commentators and some indigenous people for their appropriation of indigenous cu...Some practices in alternative spiritualities - for example, New Age and neopaganism - have been criticized by social commentators and some indigenous people for their appropriation of indigenous cultures, such as those of Australian Aborigines and North American Indians. This article argues that appropriation is not limited to indigenous cultures but is part of a larger phenomenon, that of cultural consumption of selected parts of history. This cultural consumption is not confined to history but extends to contemporary popular culture; for example, groups who find spiritual inspiration in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu mythos), vampire stories and the science fiction (SF) novel by Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, which inspired the Church of All Worlds. This article provides an insight into the cultural consumption of history and popular culture by people involved in alternative spiritualities. It is argued that this eclectic cultural consumption produces new and subjective myths in contemporary western culture.

Handbook of hyper-real religions

Contributors include: Stef Aupers, Eileen Barker, Lauren Bernauer, Douglas E. Cowan, Carol M. Cusack, Markus Davidsen, Martin Geoffroy, Dick Houtman, Massimo Introvigne, Danielle Kirby, Joseph Laycock, Carly Machado, Debbie McCormick, John W. Morehead, Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, Alan Nixon, Krzysztof Olechnicki, Adam Possamai, Johan Roeland, Heinz Scheifinger, John Walliss, and Benjamin Zeller.

Religious Belief across ‘Post-secular’ Sydney: the multiple trends in (de)secularisation

Abstract Cities were once thought to be crucibles of secularisation, where the retreat from religion and its expression would be most pronounced. This decline in faith was linked to the heightened levels of heterogeneity and cosmopolitanism within cities. However, there is recent evidence of both the continuation and of the recession of the secularisation process in contemporary Western societies, with the mix and pace of these trends being quite unique to different countries. Significantly, this combination of processes has been argued to be part of a ‘post-secularist’ paradigm. Drawing on census data, this paper examines the spatial patterns of religious affiliation and non-belief in the Australian city of Sydney. Sydney has divergent geographies of faith and non-faith indicating the spatial multiplicities of religious belief. The decrease in Christianity in some areas of the city has been matched by an increase in non-Christian faiths, while in other areas there has been little change. Some parts of the city—especially those areas with a strong mix of affluence, diversity and cosmopolitanism—betray the strongest levels of secularisation and the retreat of faith. At least five geographies of faith and non-belief are recognisable within Sydney. While post-secularisation has been recognised as internationally uneven, this research demonstrates that it is also uneven across a world city like Sydney. The Sydney variations in (de)secularisation reflect city-based effects, including the historic and contemporary patterns of immigrant settlement, established and emerging religious communities, the segmented geographies of class and affluence, and the development of zones of cosmopolitanism. The findings point to the need for further research on the micro-geographies of religious belief and non-belief and community relations, and the on links between religious communities and civil society.

Defining the conversation about Shari’a: Representations in Australian newspapers

Debates about Shari’a law and legal pluralism have come to the fore of political discourse in many western multicultural societies including Australia. The mass media, in particular newspapers, have been active in reporting on Shari’a related news items and in doing so, have made a significant contribution to shaping political debate across western nations from governmental to grassroots levels. Understanding how newspapers report on Shari’a will provide important insights into how political discourse about Islam, western Muslims and Shari’a is formed. Utilizing the example of newspapers in Sydney, Australia, this article draws upon methodologies used to analyse the negative portrayals of new religious movements in the press. The article aims to analyse the way that Shari’a has been reported in key newspapers in Sydney over the last five years. It explores a variety of issues influencing the reporting of Shari’a including reporting of Shari’a at the local and international levels, the division between ‘good’ Shari’a (Islamic finance) and ‘bad’ Shari’a (family and criminal law) and differences between newspapers and media owners.

New religious movements and the fear of crime

Anti-cult movements have had a significant influence on the creation of the 2001 Anti-Cult Law in France. For the first time, a state apparatus has been put into place against new forms of religion with the possible consequences of limiting religious freedom and tolerance in France. Even though the socio-political situation is different in Australia, the French case might serve as a platform for the anti-cult network to pursue a strict governance of cults via state agencies. By bringing a theory of the fear of crime to the cult/anti-cult debate, this article hopes to shed more light on this issue.

Religious and spirituality diversity at a multi-campus suburban university: what type of need for chaplaincy?

This article explores peoples use of and need for religious and/or spiritual facilities, based on the findings from a survey sent to students and staff of a multi-campus suburban university. The results indicate that, in this context, people use facilities more for practising their faith/spirituality by themselves rather than to meet with others of similar beliefs. It also shows that a multi-faith pragmatic approach to religious diversity seems to match with student and staff needs.

Popular and lived religions

This article discusses the sociological understanding of popular religion by first exploring the theories of Gramsci. It then critiques this approach by arguing that the social construction of popular religion in contrast to institutionalized religion is not as clear cut in our late modern, multi-faith and global world as it was in the early modern period. Indeed, through consumer culture, some institutionalized religions are now reaching for the popular. Through the use of new Internet methodologies (e.g. Ngram Viewer), the article explores the various understandings of the words popular religion, mysticism and spirituality. It discovers that the usage of these words has evolved over time and reflects wider socio-cultural changes. The article then argues that spirituality (technical or unchurched) can be sociologically understood as an outcome of two processes that intertwine within late modernity; that is the gentrification of popular religion and the democratization of mysticism.

Yoda goes to Glastonbury : an introduction to hyper-real religions

This introductory chapter presents an overview of hyper-real religions and how the other chapters of the book are organised. The most commonly known twenty-first century examples are Jediism (from the Star Wars films) and Matrixism (from the Matrix films). This book explores these hyper-real religions. It deals with pre-Internet cases such as Discordianism, the Church of the SubGenius and the Temple of Psychick Youth (Kirby), and Heavens Gate (Zeller) and the Raelian movements (Machado) inspiration from science fiction. It then moves to the Web 2.0 realm with groups and networks such as Matrixism (Morehead), the Otherkin (Kirby) and Vampires (Laycock), Star Wars (McCormick), and Tolkiens Middle Earth (Davidsen). The book explores some of these more casual dealings in, for examples, the computer game of World of Warcraft (Aupers), role playing games (Wallis) and Tarot cards (Cowan). Keywords:Discordianism; Hyper-Real Religions; Jediism; Matrixism; Temple of Psychick Youth

Hyper-real religions : fear, anxiety and late-modern religious innovation

Census data from 2006 identified 133,800 Australians as being of ‘inadequately described religion’. This aggregated category conceals the exponential growth of innovative late-modern religious faiths. For example, leaked 2001 Census data suggests that some 71,000 Australians identified Jediism, as appropriated from the Star Wars films, as their faith. For most respondents to the Census this was no doubt an ironic late-modern play with the Census process as a response to an internet-based meme. However, evidence does suggest that a significant minority of respondents take the religion seriously. Such innovative faiths have raised the ire of some traditional religious practitioners who have responded with expressions of fear and anxiety. From a sociological perspective, this article examines the growth in innovative faiths and the backlash against them, and reports the results of a survey of university staff and students on the topic.