Sam Kestenbaum
@skestenbaum
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Journalist covering religious life in America sam @samkestenbaum .com
Los Angeles, CA
Joined November 2010
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In which I work a Tennessee tent revival… and go long on devils, ghouls, spirit possession, deliverance, showbiz, satanic panics, the Apostolic Age, the Therapeutic Age, mediated religion, and (even, maybe) try my own hand at an exorcism or two…
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Prayer at Brooklyn's Borough Hall. Aerial photos of the Yemeni bodega strike :
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Marianne Williamson announces she is out of race in an email to supporters this morning.
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“… he’s a Jew just like all so called black people.”
Kanye dips into a bit of Black Israelism today
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Long Facebook post from Marianne Williamson on New Agers she sees "completely taken in by the right wing authoritarian Trump/Q phenomenon"
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The Tony Robbins feature may be the most interesting bit in this piece about Kanye. At Kim's request Robbins staged a sort of self-help intervention for Kanye. Later, Kanye says he draws musical inspiration from Robbins's aggressive speaking style.
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For
@Harpers
, I join a group of exorcists to stage a mass revival in Tennessee. These are live-streaming, telegenic demonologists, waging spiritual war with the algorithm in mind... And there I was, backstage among the whirring cameras and trembling bodies
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"The man's father is Schlomo Mostofsky, a prominent modern Orthodox figure in Brooklyn and former president of the National Council of Young Israel. He was elected to the Kings County Supreme Court last January."
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@KodakBlack1k
Kodak is wearing a breastplate, too. He also has pendants of the Star of David and the Hebrew word chai (life) around his neck. Blue and white fringes are tied to his belt loops.
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✨ / \ 🌙
✨ / \
🌎 / 👁 \ ✨
/ \
✨/ 𝐊𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐎 \ ✨
——————
𝓹𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮
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It begins. Canceled last year, LA’s Conscious Life Expo is back. Animal psychics, sound bathers, Ascended Masters, UFO-channelers, aura readers, past life therapists, psychonauts, magic pyramids. A weekend-long New Age bonanza with dozens of vendors, lectures and workshops.
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Very honored to win this. For a collection of my religion features in
@nytimes
.
@skestenbaum
of
@nytimes
wins the first place prize in the Feature Specialty Writing Portfolio (Division 3) category at
@WeAreSFJ
’s 2020 Excellence in Features Awards!
#sfj20
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“Over the next year, as she watched more New Age clients, peers and acquaintances venture down the rabbit hole, Schwartz coined her own term for the phenomenon: ‘Woo-Anon.’”
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For
@washingtonpost
, a dive into the world of wellness guru Christiane Northrup, featuring: Oprah, Deepak, Alex Jones, Michael Flynn, QAnon, Deep State cults, orbs and fairies, spirit-channeling, angelic battalions, MLMs, anti-vaccine roadshows and more
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So, there's a Hebrew Israelite back story to this now-viral video of the high schoolers and Nathan Phillips in D.C.
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A Tokyo businessman-turned-god, ancient UFOs and pandemic miracle cures. For
@nytimes
, I write on Happy Science, one of NYC’s new and more unusual religious transplants.
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New
@nytimes
from me, on the Christian media mogul Stephen Strang, his publishing empire and the perils and rewards of religious prophecy.
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On Marianne Williamson and A Course In Miracles, the homegrown American scripture that propelled her to fame. New from me.
Marianne Williamson was drawn to a mystical text as an aimless young woman in the 1970s. It has made her a self-help megastar. And now it has entered the political mainstream.
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Sincere tweet: There is so much good work on religion/religion-y/religion-ish topics coming out right now
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Fully packed event at Influence church in Anaheim right now. This is the latest stop in Clay Clark’s roving Health and Freedom tour. Main auditorium filled to capacity and hundreds more in huge tent outside. Food trucks sputter outside, merch tables lined up.
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In print and on stands now. The August issue
of
@Harpers
... Where I go long on devils, ghouls, media-making revivalists and the new age of American demonology... If an exorcism happens in the Tennessee woods and no one is filming, did it even happen?
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Greetings from the Conscious Life Expo, the sprawling New Age conference and bazaar held annually here in LA
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Many thanks to
@the_revealer
for this, in which I get into: my Maine hometown; vampires; cults; brands; Trump prophecies; plague politics; collecting trashy tabloids; snooty history; the beloved “media doesn’t get religion” mantra; and more
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For
@RollingStone
, I wrote about Clay Clark’s ReAwaken America Tour, culture war spectacle and the making of a MAGA macher
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Marianne also called QAnon a “dark psychic force,” a callback to her line from the presidential debate
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So! Starting this winter, I’ll be a writer-in-residence at
@nypl
. Look forward to diving into the archives and getting to work. If you’re in Midtown, come say hello.
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Lots of celebs have been privately and publicly exploring these themes in recent years. Kendrick Lamar — whose cousin was a card-carrying member of one street-preaching group — devoted chunks of his last (pre-Eckhart) album to it
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"A man accused of shooting his roommates... told police he shared neo-Nazi beliefs with the two men until he converted to Islam."
Suspect tells police he killed roommates for disrespecting his Muslim faith
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Clay’s November show, in Missouri... I spent some time describing the Marvel-like energy of the background graphic, but there is also the total maximalist circus quality of these cut out faces packed atop each other
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In 2020, political reporters might need to familiarize themselves with the varied Pentecostal and Charismatic expressions out here
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I’m on
@QanonAnonymous
this week talking about Clay Clark’s MAGA pageant, culture war spectacle and the business of Trumpy prophecies. I also venture an only half-joking comparison: ReAwaken is for QAnon fans as Phish shows are for Deadheads
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Why aren't more Religious Studies scholars engaging with the QAnon discussion?
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My latest, for
@washingtonpost
. A step into a booming California church, the pandemic culture wars and the making of religious celebrity.
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Kirstie Alley, longtime Scientologist, has thoughts on the cult discourse
PS it’s not new to call people who disagree with you CULTS.. Christianity was called a cult for 300 years. Using the word CULT is the buzzword to create fear , hatred and chaos. Kinda obvi.. consider it a compliment. It means they are desperate to shut you up.
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Came accross some public Facebook photos I hadn't seen before of
@KodakBlack1k
at what I believe is the Hebrew Israelite camp he sometimes goes to in Florida.
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In print. My
@washingtonpost
feature on a CA church that’s made pandemic flouting their brand. For months they’ve held packed services. Amid court dramas and protests, the church has tripled in size and their online following has exploded
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Demons! Warlocks! Prophets! My latest, for
@theLAndmagazine
, a profile of the faith-healing, spirit-exorcizing, TikTok-streaming celebrity-in-the making Kathryn Krick, whose ministry and fandom exploded during the pandemic
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The Ashtar-QAnon connection, from the Deep State Mapping Project guy
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Latest
@nytimes
from me, in print. On Charisma Media and the big business of religious prophecy.
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“Her failure to resonate with an audience that might have been receptive to her message — ‘spiritual but not religious’ Americans — also reflects the difficulty of reaching a group that’s defined largely by what it’s not.”
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Good news today. Honored to win a merit award from the Silurians Press Club for my feature on the subway psychic Keano. In great
@NYTMetro
company here.
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“He claims to be a semi-divine being brought back to Earth to heal the planet… His online platform… sells videos of his lectures as well as crystals and jewelry, and has marketed in-person mass meditations; it’s also a home for his rap videos.”
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How many of us have siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents who are dipping into QAnon?
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Apartment hunting. Potential landlord asks about my work. He says, “Cults! I’ve been in a few of those.” Half an hour later we’re trading note on favorite Instagram prophets and apostles and healers. He scribbles down his list of recs. “Some of these guys are on to something.”
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My
@nytimes
from this weekend. On basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire’s spiritual side — featuring Hebrew prophets, Israelite warriors and Noah’s Ark. Amar’e has been on a winding search for years, blending traditions and crossing religious borders.
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"The opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories."
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My
@nytimes
from the weekend, on the revival of a forgotten American religion. Featuring a Manhattan dentist-turned-prophet, starships and lost continents, and a failed utopian colony.
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“No longer the stuff of pendants and pockets for the New Age set, crystals are being sculpted into love seats and coffee tables, set atop pedestals and sliced lengthwise before being mounted to look like life-size angel wings.”
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This past weekend, my
@theLAndmagazine
profile of a demon-exorcising, TikTok-famous faith healer won the annual Wilbur Award for magazine-writing. Many thanks again to the
@ReligionComm
for the honor 🏆 🙏
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Shofar-wielding pastors, exorcists and New Age-y health gurus; Kim Clement prophecies, Napoleon Hill credos and QAnon crusades. For
@RollingStone
, a behind-the-scenes look at Clay Clark’s Extended Universe of culture-war-o-tainment
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IUIC pushing out more material suggesting they, as the “true Hebrews,” are the real victims of anti-Semitism
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Jewish activists protest against Steve Bannon tonight :
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“I have faith that something is awakening among us... And yes.... love *will* prevail.”
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When I spoke to her last year she told me that Donald Trump was "harnessing metaphysical traditions, but dark ones."
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For a close look at the show and it’s frontman Clay, my Rolling Stone piece from last year, which (I should say!) picked up two LA Press Club awards
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New from me. On the rise of an End Times church and its celebrity pastor, a bestselling author and entrepreneurial mystic.
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Mark your calendars and tune in for the strange and salvific sounds of American religion… A cosmic variety show where I’ll play evangelical hair metal, New Age chants, square-dancing Sufis, crooning televangelists, r&b from a jailed guru, Mormon folk ballads and much more
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“Other speakers included Roger Stone, Michael Flynn… and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, though the crowd favorite appeared to be organizer Clay Clark, who frequently took to the microphone to accuse McDonald’s of being part of the ‘deep state’”
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Many thanks to
@ReligionComm
for this honor. My
@theLAndmagazine
profile of a demon-exorcising, TikTok-famous Los Angeles faith healer has won a 2023 Wilbur Award
2023 Wilbur awards named
14 receive top honors for work produced in 2022
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Grateful to
@ReligionReport
for this award, recognizing a collection of features in
@RollingStone
,
@washingtonpost
and
@theLAndmagazine
🙏🏆🙏
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After two years of pandemic ruptures, one of LA’s massive New Age fairs rumbled back to life last weekend, with a maximalist array of spiritual salves and therapeutic wares. My dispatch from the scene, for
@RNS
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"You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America?"
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Clay Clark’s ReAwaken show was in Vegas this weekend, now with Roseanne Barr as a headliner
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My latest for
@nytimes
, on an enterprising new media outfit for the psychedelic set. With a trippy boutique mag; online classes on shroom-growing; and how-to posts on LSD, they’re tapping into an always-hungry market for spiritual and therapeutic seekerdom
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Honored to win the Jewish Press Association’s Rockower award for excellence in feature writing. This is for my story from last year, on a young Jew from the Ohio suburbs who grew up to become a local militia leader. Congrats to all the winners!
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Honored to learn that my
@RollingStone
portrait of Clay Clark and his religion-and-politics roadshow (underway right now at Trump’s Miami resort) has been nominated for two
@LAPressClub
awards. Congrats to the finalists and many thanks to the judges 🙏
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I went on the Conspirituality podcast this week to about New Age guru Christiane Northrup; the ingenuity of Trump prophets; TikTok faith healers and hippie back-to-the-landers; and how I think feature writing can capture the ~feeling~ of religion
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I don’t go to the doctor often but every appointment I’ve had in NYC (including general, specialist, dentist) becomes a discussion about Talmud, Jewish identity, Kaballah. Is it this city? Do I bring this out of them? I’m here for a checkup not to discuss mysticism. Why??!
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In the 1990s an eclectic vampire nightlife flourished in New York. It was a blend of alternative religion, club parties and cosplay. My latest
@nytimes
, on the self-styled vampire guru who sculpts fangs by hand and watched the scene rise.
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In the 1960s a woman in this upstate town came to believe she was channeling an otherworldly spirit called Seth. Now a group of followers are turning her crumbling home into a pilgrimage site.
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I must say: it is a sort of credit to Mike that he is just so so so meme-able
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Very grateful for this recognition from
@AARWeb
and all the judges. Looking forward to being in conversation in San Antonio 🙏 ✍️ 🏆
Announcing our 2023 Journalism Award winners for best in-depth newswriting! Congratulations to Sarah Posner (
@sarahposner
), Deepa Bharath (
@reporterdeepa
), and Sam Kestenbaum (
@skestenbaum
). Read their award-winning work:
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Eric Trump and Michael Flynn do some art critique as QAnon-y paintings are unveiled at Clay Clark’s latest stop in San Diego this weekend
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“Becoming a Bitcoiner is not all that dissimilar from the transformative awakening of someone who’s undergone a radical spiritual conversion.”
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“A fascinating read that’s gonzo and empathetic at the same time…”
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Thrift store find today. Tucked between pages of yellowed old copy of Power of Positive Thinking was this letter from Peale to a reader named Paul Slater, dated 1958.
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The corniest reporting advice is still the best: when in doubt, make the call, and the other call, take the drive, knock on the door… show up
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“Anthony would spend three decades investigating televangelists... His followers would climb through dumpsters, comb mountains of documents and interview whistleblowers in a relentless crusade against what Anthony saw as religious fraud.”
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Wow. It looks like Biafran separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu just met Harry Rozenberg in Israel.
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Doug Mastriano takes his place in the jumbo-sized ReAwaken America tableau. There was some uncertainty to begin, but it does now appear that the gubernatorial candidate will join Clay Clark’s tour in Pennsylvania later this month
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