Friday, November 30

1370 CONNECTION WITH BOB SMITH, WXXI Radio, Rochester, NY, NPR Affiliate

Tuesday, December 4

MIDDAY UTAH KCPW Radio, Salt Lake City, NPR affiliate

Thursday, December 6

ALVIN JONES SHOW, WCBQ-WHNC-AM, Oxford, North Carolina
Interview (I’ve had problems with this link, but try it if you are interested.)

THE JOURNEY HOME, KSFR Radio in Santa Fe/Albuquerque, New Mexico

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11

OPEN MIND, WGVU Radio, NPR Affiliate in Grand Rapids, MI, throughout Western Michigan, NPR
Interview with host Cecilia Skidmore
Taped. Not yet scheduled or available.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12

THE ROUND TABLE. WAMC National Productions. NPR , Albany, NY
Interview with Joe Donohue
Nationally syndicated to over 500 NPR affiliate stations from Canadian Border to Philadelphia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

As You Think, Catholic Channel, Sirius Satellite, NATIONAL
Live interview with Father Paul Keenan

MONDAY, DECEMBER 17

STRATEGIES FOR LIVING, Newsradio 710 in Shreveport, LA
Interview with hosts David McMillan
Available on the Internet

PARENT TALK, KWMR Radio, Marin, CA
Interview with host Susannah Baldwin

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19

REAL GOOD WORDS. KAXE Radio, NPR in Grand Rapid, MN
Interview with hosts Heidi Holton

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20

THE STEVE LaCHANCE SHOW. KLPW Radio in Washington, MO

RADIO ACTIVE. KRCL Radio in Salt Lake City, UT
Taped. Not yet scheduled

TURNING PAGES, KCBX Public Radio FM 90, San Luis Obispo, CA, NPR

UPCOMING
Saturday, January 12 12 Noon Live

SECOND SATURDAY MAGAZINE, WPKM RADIO, Independent Public Radio, Bridgeport, CT & Montauk, NY
Interview with host Bob Johnson

Monday, January 14 9-10AM LIVE
INTERCONNECT, WMUB Radio, Oxford, Ohio, NPR affiliate
Interview with co-host Cheri Lawson
A weekly one- hour discussion of spirituality, self-care, alternative health care, and lifestyle issues.

JANUARY 5 2PM
FOREST HILLS LIBRARY

Meet the Author: Mara Einstein
Library: Forest Hills
In her new book, “Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age,” Mara Einstein describes “..a world in which everything is taken to market–education, art, pollution credits–why should religion be any different?” Meet the marketing pro and author behind this thoroughly entertaining and informative book.

JANUARY 23 6PM
FLUSHING LIBRARY

Click here for further information on these events.

FEBRUARY 27 6:30PM
CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS INQUIRY

This event at St. Bart’s Church in NYC (109 E 50th St) will focus on the blurring of the secular and the sacred. I will present a case using Joel Osteen and Oprah Winfrey as examples of this phenomenon.

Fox News has never been shy about their point of view. However, when they broadcast the service from the Saddleback Church on Christmas Eve I thought that was a bit over the top even for them.

While we expect to see the Christmas mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York — a broadcast that has a long-standing tradition — there was something jarring about the broadcast from Saddleback. One has to ask “why that church? Why not one of the hundreds of other Protestant churches around the country?”

The answer is likely to be found in the connection between Fox and Rick Warren. I’m saying that there is anything untoward here, but this is not the first time that Fox News has presented a special on Rick Warren. In the summer of 2006, Fox News presented a show called Purpose Driven Life: Can Rick Warren Change the World? This show was an hour-long primetime special about Rick Warren’s AID initiative. It was an obvious PR piece (admittedly for a good cause), but one has to question why this is on a so-called “newschannel.”

The blending of religion and politics, more importantly the creeping of more and more religion into our news content, is something that should give us pause no matter what our faith system and yes, even at — perhaps especially at — this time of year.

…you can get a 12″ talking Jesus doll. That is, you could have gotten it until Wal-Mart sold out of this very popular item.

There was much to-do about Wal-Mart selling this doll a couple of months ago. What is interesting about it’s re-appearance as a media item is that it was promoted on CBS’ Early Show. It was presented as part of a segment called “Gifts for that someone who has everything.” (I apologize but there’s no video on this.) Listed along with Slingboxes and trapeze lessons and $350 toy dinosaurs was this item that can only be purchased on ebay. Why wouldn’t the producers just pull this item if it’s not readily available? Why are they promoting a product that can’t be bought at a local store? Why is this inexpensive item listed with products costing $200 or more? Who was this supposed to be for? Are there wealthy executives that want a Bible-quoting Jesus for their desk top?

If you find out the answers to these questions, please let me know.

I just went to the Barnes & Noble Web site and they don’t have the paperback available of Brands of Faith. (The stock is out at their stores.) You can find the book at amazon.com.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming…

I realize that the title of this post might lead you to think that I am making fun of kabbalists, but no, in fact there is now a Kabbalah comic book series targeted to 7-17 year olds.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more commercial, Kabbalah is now being targeted to kids. (Of course, why should faith be any different from consumer products in this regard?) Now, to be fair this comic book has nothing to do with the Kabbalah Centre. Rather it is the brainchild of Denise Wohl and created by Jim Shooter, both formerly of Marvel Comics. Ms. Wohl is also an Upper East side denizen, which may explain why the characters are described as wearing Jill Stuart and Calvin Klein. (Mr. Shooter claims no attachment to Kabbalah.)

(Heroes webcomic)

All of this is interesting for a number of reasons. First, the use of designer clothing solidifies the connection between spirituality and money (or the ability to ultimately achieve wealth if one takes on the tenets of the faith). Second, comics have become particularly popular again in light of the success of the television show, Heroes. Using what is hot in the popular culture to sell a product, even religion, is what faith brands do all the time. Third, products — particularly faiths — need to create brand loyalty with consumers when they are very young. To attract young people, you have to get them where they are and today one place where they are is reading comic books.

Finally, the comics are not being promoted in all venues as being attached to Kabbalah. This is not a new strategy. Jay, Jay the Jet Plane promotes one version of its show to PBS and another through video distribution. The same can be said for the promotion of Veggie Tales, whose latest movie doesn’t appear to have any evangelical message attached based on the film’s trailer.

Even with all this cleverness, one has to question what the goal is here. Comics tend to skew more male and faith skews female — particularly at a younger age — which could make this product a very hard sell. In addition, on the one hand, the comic may expose young people to some spiritual truths, which is not a bad thing. On the other hand, the spiritual truths are not coming from a religious leader or theologian so one has to question the quality of the message. Maybe it’s something we’ll never have to worry about. While this publication was launched in mid-November, I have not been able to find it even with a search on amazon.com. If someone else does, please let me know.

Jody Myers, a professor of religious studies at Cal State Northridge, has just released a new book about the Kabbalah Centre called, Kabbalah and the Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Centre in America. As many of you know, I spent time researching the Kabbalah Centre and Professor Myers’ conclusions are a bit different from mine. (I have not yet read Professor Myers’ book, but am basing my discussion on the Jewish Journal’s analysis of this work.)

First, the analysis seems to make a big deal out of the Kabbalah Centre’s ability to get by without money from foundations. This is quite simply because the Centre charges for almost everything that occurs in its building. From books to courses to tchotchkes to Kabbalah Water to use of the mikvah (never mind donations from wealth as well as not-so-wealthy patrons), the Centre is a retailer of all things Kabbalah. (See example below and www.kabbalah.com for many, many more examples.)

Second, just like the megachurches the Kabbalah Centre made religion accessible in order to attract a large audience. The question is, however, what constitutes faith and what constitutes marketing? In fact, the Kabbalah Centre goes out of its way to say it’s not a religion (or even mention God, they use “the Light” instead). If it’s not a religion, what is it?

Third, I’m not sure if Prof. Myer looked at this, but the big question is not how many people enter the congregation, but how many stay. Based on my interviews, a year or two seemed to be the norm.

Fourth, Prof. Myer finds justification for the red string and for scanning the Hebrew in the Zohar, the sacred text of Kabbalah. I did not find this (though I admit I am a marketer and not a theological scholar). However, scanning a language you do not understand smacks a whole lot more of marketing than mysticism.

I did meet people at the Kabbalah Centre that were thoroughly committed to what they believed was the good of Kabbalah. I also met people who were utterly turned off by the Centre’s consumerism. Some of the huckster mentality has definitely been toned down over the last few years (you’ll have to read the book for that information), but I don’t believe that they have yet found a balance between faith and profit.

Note: If you are particularly interested in this subject, you must see the piece that 20/20 did on the Kabbalah Centre. (The video is no longer available, but the transcript may be through Lexis-Nexis.)

I’m sure you’ve heard by now some of the controversy over the new movie, The Golden Compass, which will open in theaters tomorrow. It took more than 5 years to create and $180 million to produce this film. It is a serious Hollywood blockbuster with a mega-star cast — based on a book series that is anti-religious. Thus, the atheist trend continues into a medium — or has it?

Phillip Pullman, the author of the book, is not only an atheist, but a fairly adamant one. He considers his work to be the opposite of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia and he says that his books are about killing God. (See Hanna Rosin’s article in the Atlantic for her, as usual, insightful analysis of Pullman and the movie.)

Based on the synopsis on the movie’s web site:
There is a world where witches rule the northern skies, where ice bears are the bravest of warriors, and where every human is joined with an animal spirit who is as close to them as their own heart.

But this world is dominated by the Magisterium, which seeks to control all of humanity, and whose greatest threat is the last remaining Golden Compass and the one child destined to possess it.

In the books, the Magisterium is the Church and the mission of Lyra, the tween heroine, is to destroy it. Daemons are also an important element to the story (and are a key part of the controversy). Daemons are beings in the shape of animals that live outside a person’s body and are the holder of the person’s soul. (You can go to the movie web site to find out who your daemon is.) Since these theme are fairly intense for 1) a children’s movie and 2) a holiday feature, it is not surprising that the author’s theology, or lack thereof, was stripped from the work in translation from page to screen.

What I want to highlight here, though, are the marketing tie-ins related to this film.
1) World Wildlife Fund — I suppose this is a tie-in with the animal daemons but there isn’t much information from either site as to the real connection.
2) Scholastic Books — the publishers of The Golden Compass. This is particularly interesting given the stripped down version of the film. Will all parents be aware that the movie is a sanitized version of what is in the books? (There is a bit of sexual content too that parents may be surprised about.)
3) Random House Children’s books — This was the original home of the His Dark Materials, the name given to Pullman’s trilogy. Here one can purchase the “Deluxe edition” of the books.
4) MySpace — Like almost every other product these days, the film has its own myspace page.
5) Inkworks — A place to buy Golden Compass trading cards.
6) Sega — for the Golden Compass game.
7) Corgi – for the action figures.

I guess none of this should be surprising. It’s a Christmastime blockbuster and needs all the promotion it can get. I’m a bit confused by the WWF connection — is this movie supposed to particularly appeal to environmentalists? But the BIG question is where is the stuffed animal company? An obvious tie-in would have been daemon animals for little kids to carry around with them. One has to wonder why, for instance, Gund didn’t jump at a chance at this…or, maybe they read the books.

Yesterday, I did a live interview with KCPW, an NPR affiliate in Utah. You can listen to that here.

Some additional upcoming radio interviews about the book are listed below:

December 6 at 9:30AM
ALVIN JONES SHOW, WCBQ-WHNC-AM, Oxford, North Carolina
NBC affiliate – reaches greater Raleigh and Southern Virginia

6:08 – 6:30 (ET)
THE JOURNEY HOME, Santa Fe Public Radio, KSFR Radio in Santa Fe/ Albuquerque, New Mexico

Wednesday December 12
THE ROUND TABLE. WAMC, National Productions, NPR, Albany, NY
Nationally syndicated to over 500 NPR affiliate stations from Canadian Border to Phily, NJ, Ct, Mass, NH, all of NY and Vermont.

Thursday, December 20
THE STEVE LaCHANCE SHOW.
KLPW Radio in Washington, MO 12:30-1PM
ABC Affiliate, Station covers 7 counties in metro St Louis area

I’ll also be doing some lecturing in New York starting in January. I’ll keep you posted for those of you who are in the area.