February 27, 2017
EP. 168 — Lies You Believe About Jesus, Islam And Other Religions
What separates the baby religions from the big ones? Is there anything specific that makes Catholicism or Islam more important than the shrine to The Noid that I have in my closet? Some religions make you go to mass or travel to Mecca, mine makes me eat pizza in the nude at least twice a week.
The point we’re trying to make is that what seems fringe or crazy now may have a billion devoted followers a thousand years from now. Mormonism was about as fringe as you could get a hundred years ago, less than a million followers, but now the there are around 16 million members and counting. Is there any religion that’s out there now that’s in the same place Mormonism was 100 years ago?
To get a better understanding of some of these lesser-known religions and if they’ll stand the test of time, Jack O’Brien’s guest this week is Reza Aslan, who has a PhD in the study of religion and whose new show ‘Believer’ on CNN throws him head-first into the beliefs and practices of obscure religions. Among Scientology and Santa Muerte, they talk about the implausible origins of biblical literalism, the rare disorder that has tourists in Jerusalem thinking they’re the messiah and a few big things that’ll change your notions of Christianity and Islam.
Remember to buy tickets to our next live taping of The Cracked Podcast on Saturday, March 11th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles. Jack and the gang are going to talk about Amity Island, Jurassic World and movies where vacations go awry in an attempt to figure out the best spring break you should take while vacationing in a fictional universe.
Tickets are $7 and available here: https://goo.gl/Li0ocH
Footnotes:
TV Show: Believer with Reza Aslan: https://goo.gl/xvhvno
Book: Reza Aslan: Zealot: https://goo.gl/qIXXdu
Video: Reza Aslan Viral Interview on Fox News: https://goo.gl/SBTBT5
Article: Cracked: 5 Ridiculous Things You Probably Believe Islam: https://goo.gl/aDLjO
Article: Cracked: 5 Myths You Probably Believe About Major Religions: https://goo.gl/qHreXh
Article: The Telegraph: Jerusalem Syndrome: The Madness That Grips Foreigners on the Streets of the Holy City: https://goo.gl/IW1YUI
This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron and ZipRecruiter.
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