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Book Cover for: God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States, Karen Stollznow

God Bless America: Strange and Unusual Religious Beliefs and Practices in the United States

Karen Stollznow

God Bless America lifts the veil on strange and unusual religious beliefs and practices in the modern-day United States. Do Satanists really sacrifice babies? Do exorcisms involve swearing and spinning heads? Are the Amish allowed to drive cars and use computers? Taking a close look at snake handling, new age spirituality, Santeria spells, and satanic rituals, this book offers more than mere armchair research, taking you to an exorcism and a polygamist compound--and allowing you to sit among the beards and bonnets in a Mennonite church and to hear L. Ron Hubbard's stories told as sermons during a Scientology service. From the Amish to Voodoo, the beliefs and practices explored in this book may be unorthodox--and often dangerous--but they are always fascinating. While some of them are dying out, and others are gaining popularity with a modern audience, all offer insight into the future of religion in the United States--and remind that fact is often stranger than fiction.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing
  • Publish Date: Oct 1st, 2013
  • Pages: 256
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.90in - 5.90in - 0.70in - 0.75lb
  • EAN: 9781939578006
  • Categories: Comparative ReligionCultsSociology of Religion

About the Author

Karen Stollznow is a linguist with a background in history and anthropology. She is a columnist, podcaster, and the author of Haunting America, Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic, and Red, White and (True) Blue. Karen was a researcher at the University of California-Berkeley, and has spent many years writing about a diverse array of topics, including language, culture, religion, and anomalous claims. She lives in Denver, Colorado.