Several weeks ago, a dear friend of mine told me, “I thought I could handle being an atheist. But I just can’t. The world is too terrifying without a religious structure. So I’ve chosen to go back to church, and go back to believing.” He said it with a downcast look of shame as if he was confessing something terrible. I didn’t think he was. I appreciated his honesty.
Continue reading “The Ravenous Need For Religious Order”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I’m joined by author, theologian, and musician Jack Holloway to discuss his new book Hands of Doom: The Apocalyptic Imagination of Black Sabbath. We discuss what theology means for the nontheist, how to relate to people with radically different spiritual beliefs, the significance of Biblical stories, and much more.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Theology for Nontheists | Jack Holloway”
This is an unlocked episode of House of Heretics. My cohost Timothy and I discuss the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police in Memphis, Tennessee.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: The Murder of Tyre Nichols”
Last week’s article The Nontheistic Experience of God provoked some good discussion within my community about meditation, spiritual experiences, and the use of the word “god”.
Continue reading “Religious Language For Nonbelievers”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I’m joined by journalist Helen Lewis to discuss her new BBC series The New Gurus. We discuss the rise of advice-giving gurus online, whether social justice is a new religion, her confrontational interview with Jordan Peterson, how online cancelation radicalizes people, and much more.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Online Gurus and New Religious Movements | Helen Lewis”
For as long as I’ve been a nontheist and someone who does not believe in the supernatural, I’ve been hesitant to retire the word “God” from my vocabulary.
Continue reading “The Nontheistic Experience of God”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I’m joined by Minister of Satan and empowered Buddhist teacher Elder Mahakala to talk about his journey through addiction, the power of meditation, and finding a healthy, balanced Satanism.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Addiction, Meditation, and Healthy Satanism | Elder Mahakala”
A central theme of my personal Satanic practice is the reconciliation of opposites. In the symbol of the Baphomet, we see the marriage of binaries: angelic and demonic, male and female, light and dark, up and down. My practice is an integration of seemingly irreconcilable conflicts. I wrote an article a couple of years ago listing several primary dichotomies of my Satanism, which you can read here.
As I’ve grown in my religious Satanism, another Satanic dichotomy has emerged: indulgence vs. self-mastery.
Continue reading “The Satanic Dichotomy of Indulgence Vs. Mastery”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I’m joined by June Everett to discuss The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Club.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: After School Satan Club | June Everett”
Last week’s article “Mysticism Is Like Sex” argued that self-transcendent experiences are comparable to sex in that they are both hardwired into the human body. They don’t necessarily need to be attached to religious beliefs to be enjoyed and experienced.
As I explored in the article, my fascination with altered states of consciousness started when I was young. I was raised in a Charismatic Christian family that regularly spoke in tongues, and this revealed to me that interesting states of mind were always just around the corner. This provoked a lot of feedback from my audience on my discord server, and a number of people shared their own experiences with speaking in tongues.
Continue reading “Mysticism, Kink, and the Terror of Transcendence”
Stephen Bradford Long 