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Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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LanDroid

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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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In the second episode, Reza visits a doomsday cult in Hawaii led by a schizoid looney who calls himself Jezus. It looked like a carefree lifestyle in paradise except for having to listen to Jezus all the time. :? It appears now that Reza will be exploring the far fringes of modern religion in this series - not what I was expecting, but it is fun...
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DWill

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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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LanDroid wrote:In the second episode, Reza visits a doomsday cult in Hawaii led by a schizoid looney who calls himself Jezus. It looked like a carefree lifestyle in paradise except for having to listen to Jezus all the time. :? It appears now that Reza will be exploring the far fringes of modern religion in this series - not what I was expecting, but it is fun...
Reza does seem to go pretty fringe, but in the two episodes he has also told us when he feels moved unexpectedly by the strangeness. Reza didn't seem to feel any such attraction for the "schizoid looney" himself, though. Jezus was such an obvious charlatan that you look in amazement at the people who needed so badly to have faith in someone, that they chose him.
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LanDroid

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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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In the 3rd episode, Reza visits the very complex religious and cultural mix found in Haiti where Catholicism, Evangelical Protestantism, and Voodoo coexist. Voodoo and Catholicism have found a compromise of sorts with some Voodoo spirits taking on the appearance of Catholic saints or icons such as Mary and so on. Evengelical Protestants obviously consider Voodoo as Satanic and attempt to convert those followers from demonic possession. Voodoo is a vestige of African slave religion and was part of a slave revolt in Haiti, so in part Haitians revere it for freedoms won. Reza again explores the fringe in participating in Voodoo ceremonies, etc. and comes out with a new appreciation for it...


Had to do this!


If you haven't been watching, you might want to check out the next episode where Reza explores Scientology. I don't see how that's going to work if he's expecting to be audited, take courses, spend a lot of money, etc. (It's not like Reza will get to the level of Operating Thetan III, where the story of Xenu, volcanoes, and nuclear bombs is revealed.) I predict this is one fringe area where he does not come out impressed with what he finds...
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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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I missed Voodoo and couldn't find the show online. But I did see Scientology, or most of it. It looked to me as though Aslan took the right perspective on the religion. Everyone knows about the skullduggery that went on and still does. But do we imagine that kind of stuff was absent during the formation of the great religions, way back when? Reza thinks Scientology, in being a true product of modern times, may have staying power, which he tries to show with the interviews of the renegades who nevertheless are devout followers still.

The auditing sessions looked a bit bogus to me, but obviously they're more intense when the beginner is more serious than Aslan was. Aslan might have been reluctant to say that he didn't really feel any different after the brief sessions, just to be polite. I guess that's the way I would have acted, too.
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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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I just watched that one and it was quite interesting, showing there is a "reformation" within Scientology. Folks who leave the church continue to practice the technology and develop it outside of the central authority. Reza compared this to the protestant reformation and with a McDonalds franchise going rogue, continuing to sell the same burgers, but disavowing the franchise ownership system. He also made points that Scientology is indeed a religion created in America and that we should differentiate between the abuses of the church and the faith of the followers.

Tonight's episode is about Santa Muerte, or the Mexican followers of "Saint Death."
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Re: Believer with Reza Aslan / CNN series

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I'm a few episodes behind in this series but I have them recorded. I'm especially interested in how he examines and presents Scientology.
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