The Faith & Culture 5

Joe Rogan Goes to Church + A Year of Celibacy + When Clergy Take Psychedelics + More

Happy Friday!

This week’s stories explore the inner terrain: the tug of faith in unlikely places, the challenge of restraint in an age of indulgence, and the altered states—spiritual, emotional, chemical—that shift how we see ourselves and each other.

From the surprising pull of church for someone like Joe Rogan, to the deliberate solitude of a year without sex, to the clergy turning to psychedelics not to escape, but to see more clearly—each story probes the tension between discipline and desire, belief and doubt, transcendence and embodiment.

Let’s dive in:

1. What Melissa Febos Learned Trying to Spend a Year Celibate

Giving up sex was both harder and more rewarding than I could have imagined.

2. ‘I’m Sticking With Jesus’: Joe Rogan is Resportedlly Attending a Texas Church

A Texas pastor sees the popular podcast host's church attendance as a sign of Christian reawakening.

3. After a Decade of Controversy, Clergy Psychedelic Study is Published

'Johns Hopkins and NYU schools of medicine carried out the study, and that in itself speaks to the powerful presence psychedelics have in popular consciousness,' said scholar Gary Laderman.

4. What the Fastest Growing Christian Group Reveals About America

Instead of killing off faith, modernity has supercharged some of its most dramatic manifestations.

5. Grief and hope: The theological legacy of Walter Brueggemann

The theologian, who died June 5 at age 92, read the Bible not as a scientific account or a rigid moral code but as sacred myth that could still speak with truth and urgency.

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I Like You So Much by Heather Avis

Through captivating words and colorful images, I Like You So Much! celebrates all children in their unique features, characteristics, and abilities and reminds readers ages 4-8 that each child is lovable and likeable—just as they are! From their face to the way they feel, from their body to their brain, from the sounds they make to the ways they love and do their best. This book reminds children with and without disabilities, that they are likeable just as they are —and that who they are is enough!

Thank you so much for being a part of this community! I’ll see you next week.

Jm

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