Conspirituality

As black rain falls from the smoke-choked skies of Tehran, the US and Israel continue their war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. From the start, Trump officials have seemed only to disagree on both the murky rationale and the objectives of their mission.

Meanwhile, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been flooded with reports of commanding officers rallying their troops with apocalyptic pep talks in which Trump has been anointed by Jesus to kick-off Armageddon. This should come as no surprise, given that Sec of Def Pete Hegseth, has been holding Christian Nationalist prayer and worship services in the Pentagon since last May.

Beyond the obviousness of this religious politics, Matthew looks at how Canadian PM, Mark Carney, supports Trump, and this war, while pretending not to, using deceptive language tricks that borrow from religion to blur the line between strength and values, power and principle.

But, hey, if you want to distract yourself from all this, Polymarket is a wonderful place to bet on who’s going to be bombed next. Derek breaks down how prediction markets have become a massively lucrative Rorschach-portrait of our times.

Show Notes

Troops Told Iran War is “Armageddon”

Hegseth Joined Drollinger’s White House Bible Study

Hegseth Hosts Christian Nationalist Doug Wilson at Pentagon Religious Service

The History of Prediction Markets: From Ancient Oracles to Blockchain Forecasting

A brief history of prediction markets: from papal elections to Polymarket

Three economists grabbed a beer. A multibillion-dollar industry was born.

A Primer on Prediction Markets

Prediction markets are booming. Why are their ads banned from the Super Bowl?

Scandals, prediction markets: Is 2025 a turning point for sports betting?

An Analysis Just Found Something Extremely Unflattering About What Happens to Users of Prediction Markets

Trump administration backs Kalshi and Polymarket as states move to ban prediction markets

Trump’s CFTC Tries to Stop States From Regulating Prediction Markets

Iran Bets on Prediction Markets Draw Scrutiny: ‘Suspected Insiders’

Polymarket Pulls Bet on Nuclear Detonation in 2026

Trump to meet arms executives Friday in push to boost weapon supplies 

Trump Privately Dreams of Iran Regime Change Glory as Democrats Cynically Weigh Political Benefits of War 

“Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path” Prime Minister Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
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Matthew found out that the late Marxist historian Michael Parenti went on a yoga retreat at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas. He clocked the BS immediately—unlike Matthew when he showed up in spaces like that decades later. Was political training the difference? 

Show Notes

Michael Parenti "The Political Uses of Religion" Denver, Colorado 4.18.87 

How a #MeToo Facebook Post Toppled a Yoga Icon | by Matthew Remski | GEN 

Shielded for Decades, a Leader of Sivananda Yoga Finally Comes Under Fire for Alleged Abuse | GEN
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Matthew digs into the fascism-enabling political theology of Bishop Robert Barron and the rightward slide of Big Catholic media. From his early admiration of Thomas Merton—carefully stripped of his antiwar and anti-capitalist passion—to his praise for Jordan Peterson, Marco Rubio, and Charlie Kirk, Barron repackages Red Scare tropes in the language of beauty, civility, and “religious liberty.”

And what about his virtual silence on ICE operations in Minnesota and the suffering of immigrants within his own diocese? What does “religious freedom” mean when it defends  American exceptionalism more than human beings?

Show Notes

McGarry: Ireland and the Spanish Civil War 

Ireland | Virtual Spanish Civil War 

Diocese of Winona-Rochester settles with abuse survivors for $21.5 million | National Catholic Reporter 

Word On Fire Catholic Ministries - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica 

Evangelization, Movement, and the Word on Fire Institute 

Word on Fire Institute 

The Hundredth Anniversary of Thomas Merton’s Birth - Word on Fire 

The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon - Word on Fire 

He Died with a Microphone in His Hand - First Things 

Bishop Barron’s Latest MAGA Crusade Sparks Vatican Alarm
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Despite saying “I believe glyphosate causes cancer” a few weeks ago, RFK Jr quickly pivoted when his boss declared an executive order calling for the ramping up of glyphosate under a 75-year-old defense production act that also happens to give immunity to Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto.

MAHA activists immediately went into a frenzy, shocked that their tallow daddy would betray them like this. Mallory DeMille not only coined the term “tallow daddy,” she’s also been tracking the civil war that exploded in MAHA after Kennedy said, eh, maybe Roundup ain’t so bad after all.

Show Notes

What to know about glyphosate, the herbicide behind a Trump executive order that’s angered MAHA moms

Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study

Exposure to glyphosate and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma: an updated meta-analysis

Carcinogenic effects of long-term exposure from prenatal life to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides in Sprague–Dawley rats
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Cult leaders, religious fanatics, dictators, and charlatans all have one thing in common: they exploit our fear of death. Humans act out “immortality projects” in the form of religion, culture, and political ideologies as unconscious ways  to override the terror we feel at our uniquely self-aware knowledge that we will one day die. Where the orthodox priest promises eternal life, the cult leader might predict an alien apocalypse, while the authoritarian strongman invokes the transcendent glory of leading a chosen nation and race.

In light of a recent death in the family, Julian leans into Ernest Becker’s Pulitzer Prize winning cultural anthropology text, The Denial of Death. He also draws on poetry and the archetypal psychology of Donald Kalsched to ask the big questions.

Does existential acceptance of death lead inevitably to nihilism? Is belief in God(s) and an afterlife necessary? Are poor or deeply traumatized people only left with despair in the absence of supernatural faith? Will children raised with no religion have no moral compass?

A rich discussion of philosophy and psychology alongside poems, myths, fairy tales, and deeply personal story-telling, especially about how to tell his 7-year-old that grandma won’t be back for Xmas.

Not to worry, though. This is, ultimately, an uplifting journey.
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