Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton (PublicAffairs, 2020)Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim KleinBurton opens her book with a vivid description of Sleep No More, an immersive theatre show which developed a cult-like following. She describes the experience of attending one of these shows as a sort of multi-sensory ritual that feeds into man’s proclivity for the religious and sublime. This is but one example of how Americans nowadays are feeding their hunger for religion in unorthodox ways.In this book, Burton documents and chronicles various newfangled “religions,” following Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion as “a set of rituals and beliefs that people affirm in order to strengthen their identity as a group” (pg. 27). Under this rather cynical rubric, religion has nothing to do with God or classical theology, per se; it has to do with providing people a social community and a sense of meaning and structure in their lives. In previous times, those communities were comprised of churches, synagogues, mosques and the like. But now, people increasingly reject those old-guard organizations and turn to alternative (usually virtual) communities for their religious fulfillment. About half of Americans fall into the religious category of what Burton calls “remixed” or “intuitive spirituality.”Just as the Biblical prophet Ezekiel chronicled the idolatry of his times in all its sordid details, so does Burton explore the various inflections of remixed religions in our times. Throughout her book, she explains the underlying ideologies that inspire those communities. These “religions” consist of things like wellness culture, fandom, witchcraft, kink, social justice, and alt-right groups. Burton also visits such contemporary concepts as “safe spaces” and the “Law of Attraction,” which also serve to reinforce some of these ideas.The common denominator amongst all these different lifestyles is that they are selfish, self-centered, and self-serving. Burton makes this point multiple times, but does not make anything more of it. In these cults of the self, almost nothing is said about real responsibility, hard work, or the quest for absolute truth. Instead, these post-modernist religions allow individuals to focus on their own personal goals, redefining such time-honored concepts as responsibility and truth according to their own whims.In fandom, people choose what fads they will follow and enthusiastically embrace—whether it is a TV show, sports team, or book. With a cult-like fervor, these fans live vicariously through their favorite idols, using them to find their place in their world. In modern times, a large part of fandom is customization, typified by the proliferation of fanfics and fantasy booking.Wellness culture ritualizes the fight against Big Pharma, thus giving people structure and purpose in their life. Fitness gurus who fill quasi-religious roles can be likened to the priests of yore who dispensed the eternal truths to those willing to listen.Witches and Wiccans use pseudo-spiritual language and practices to allow them to vent their frustrations with the real world in an enchanted or magical way.Adherents of remixed religions follow their own personal combination of various spiritual beliefs and practices, some might trend more to New Age thought and some might be a tad more traditional. “Spiritual” beliefs ubiquitous to Americans who self-identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) include the likes of astrology, reincarnation, the power of positive thought, and even subjective religious experiences based in music. The hybrid nature of remixing religions allows devotees to customize their spirituality to suit their needs. They do what works for them, and equate “what works for them” with the truth — or at least “their truth.”The allure of paganism has always been that it (falsely) provides man the feeling that he is in control of his own destiny. The polytheist has a whole pantheon of acceptable gods and rituals to choose from, and he worships them to suit his needs. Under such conditions, no one god has a monopoly on a person’s religious expressions and no one god can unilaterally dictate what is expected of mankind. In ancient paganism, as in the remixed religions of our times, people essentially “pick and choose” which beliefs and practices they wanted to follow. In classical monotheism, there is no room for such relativism and fluidity. There is only One God to worship, and He—as the One Absolute God—is in charge. He alone determines how man ought to conduct himself.Personally, I was hoping for more analysis of the phenomena documented, with less space devoted to detailed descriptive accounts of the pseudo-religions. However, it can be argued that Burton’s brilliant descriptions are so on-the-ball that they function as analysis. If the reader expects Burton’s book to provide a clear theology of this modern neo-paganism or an explanation of how contemporary practice mirrors Biblical paganism, she will be duly disappointed. This is because it is conceptually impossible to pin down rigid theologies and practices of a large swath of individuals who all do whatever they want to do. After all, the remixed eschew organized religion (or at least strict adherence to it) in favor of religions of the self.Throughout most of the book, Burton’s personal stance on the matters she discusses are not readily apparent, because she skillfully presents all her information from an ostensibly neutral point of view. In her descriptions of these remixed religions, one catches glimpses of Burton’s sympathy and even agreement on some level, but she still trends towards neutrality.In the last chapter, Burton’s true colors shine forth as she launches a more overtly partisan attack against the “right wing” and the “intellectual dark web.” She sees the progression from following such conservative intellectuals as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson as an almost-inevitable slippery slope that leads to mass shootings and other such horrors. When analyzing similar phenomena on the left side of the aisle, she fails to draw a comparison between, for example, the progressive politics of Bernie Sanders and his self-proclaimed follower who shot up a Congressional baseball game. Ultimately, she denounces the entire conservative wing of politics (whom she insists on referring to as “atavist”), without sufficiently differentiating between moderate right-wingers, alt-lite, and alt-right. However, she does not condemn the entire Left because of its fringe extremists (or even condemn the fringe extremists, for that matter).In her concluding section, Burton sets up the “clash of the titans” as her closing question for what the future will hold. She leaves the reader with the question of which voice will win: the wellness people, the social justice people, the technology nerds, or the sex-starved incels who yearn for a return to a world run by alpha men. If those are humanity’s only options, then the future looks quite bleak. Fortunately, Burton fails to consider that traditional religion has a voice as well. If only about 50% of Americans are “Remixed,” that still leaves a lot who are more traditionally religious. In some ways, these stalwarts provide hope for America and there is still room to be optimistic about her future.As a Doctor of Theology from Oxford University and a former Vox religion correspondent, Burton is well-positioned to offer her thoughts on contemporary popular culture and how it relates to religion/theology. Indeed, her insightful book brilliantly encapsulates the state of unorganized religion in our times. For the curious reader, her copious endnotes provide endless sources for further research (almost all of which refer to websites on the internet—a true testament to the internet’s role in the proliferation of these remixed religions). Her book is written in beautiful prose and the information is very densely packed in a readable, yet efficient way. Kudos to the author and her team for preparing this excellent work.