Faith Goes Pop is thrilled to announce its first-ever guest blogger. Jessica Misener is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and an editor for the Huffington Post. This post is the first in a two-part series. I’m 17 and nestled in a dark church gym in Florida, my teenage self propped up in a cheap plastic folding chair, watching a worship band pump out music to our Pentecostal youth group. Our youth pastor, drenched in yellow and red stage lights,... Read more
Firebrand screenwriter Diablo Cody, who won an Oscar for Juno and whose latest movie Young Adult comes out this week, is already thinking about her next project. Lamb of God will be Cody’s first attempt at directing one of her own scripts. Hollywood.com describes the plot thusly: “The religious-themed flick follows the story of a woman who loses her faith in God after a plane crash, but rediscovers it in it Vegas while living ‘the life of a sinner.'” There’s... Read more
This has been making the internet rounds for the last few days, but I think it originated on Neatorama. Either way, don’t forget to observe Life Day this year! Read more
Singer Fantasia Barrino, best known for winning the third season of American Idol, has welcomed a son named Dallas Xavier Barrino. Her pregnancy has not been without scandal-Fantasia’s boyfriend, Antwaun Cook, was married when they met and Fantasia was named in the divorce papers. (Fun fact: North Carolina, where Fantasia and I are both from, is one of the few remaining states where someone can be sued for “alienation of affection.”) The pregnancy also reportedly put a halt to a... Read more
Hasidic Jewish rapper Matisyahu (who filmed a music video in front of my old apartment building one time–true story!) has shaved off his beard. While that doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, it could mean something much more significant. Matis famously grew up in a non-religious Jewish family and became a baal teshuva, the Hebrew term for someone who adopts Orthodox Judaism voluntarily as an adult. As he grew famous, he stayed true to his identity, refusing... Read more
After announcing that she was pregnant with her 20th child, Michelle Duggar has had a miscarriage. She and husband Jim Bob Duggar announced the sad news last week, and the internet has been abuzz with opinions about whether the 19 Kids and Counting family had gone too far. Today, Michelle announced that she plans to have a funeral for the unborn child, whom she named Jubilee Shalom. As we’ve discussed here, all of the Duggar children have names that start... Read more
America’s Next Top Model hostess Tyra Banks probably likes the book Eat, Pray, Love. The model and Harvard Business School student has split with her boyfriend of three years, businessman John Utendahl, and is coping by going on a spiritual retreat in Indonesia. Tyra’s publicist told Page Six that “Tyra has gone away with a female friend and has been island-hopping, visiting Bali and taking a spiritual retreat.” Read more
Patti Stanger isn’t the only celebrity who went toyed with Wicca – Glee actress Dianna Agron says that she and her high school friends were “obsessed with witchcraft.” The actress told Nylon magazine: “My friend’s mom had all these Stevie Nicks outfits and we’d gypsy-dance in her living room and have seances. We’d mix all these things from the refrigerator together, and we’d look at it and be, like, ‘This means you’re going to find true love when you’re 18... Read more
We have a book club here at Patheos, but wouldn’t it be fun to have a celebrity-themed one just for FGP? We could start with a recommendation from none other than Britney Spears, whose previous best connection to faith was when she played a Christian chef who hosted a cooking show called “Cruci-fixins” on an episode of Will and Grace. When asked by People magazine (or by her publicist telling People what to ask) what she’s reading these days, Britney... Read more
Mega-popular megachurch pastor Joel Osteen, author of the bestseller Your Best Life Now and other faith-based self help books, is coming to TV. Producer Mark Burnett, whose hit reality show roster includes Survivor and The Apprentice, will be at the helm. In addition to Osteen, the show will feature his wife, Victoria Osteen, and members of their Lakewood Church in Houston. Burnett and his wife, Touched By An Angel actress Roma Downey, are devout Christians and friends with the Osteens,... Read more
Faith Goes Pop
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