She’s the star who keeps shining. Ever-fascinating, Marilyn Monroe seems to be the greatest imaginative figure that Hollywood ever produced. A new movie about her, called Blonde, is in theaters and will appear on Netflix on September 28th. But I’m thinking about her as a deity. Not just one. With A.I. graphics—she can be all of them. There’s Marilyn Buddha. Marilyn as the Virgin Mary? I’ll never, now, think of Jesus’ mother without lipstick.

From David Bowie to Billy Graham, the Führer had fans — They tell you to never meet your heroes, but the reality might be that if you learn about your heroes, you might not want to meet them at all. I’m thinking about the many times I learned of major cultural figures liking Hitler, and being, to varying degrees, on board with Nazism. 1. David Bowie You might think David Bowie, the futuristic Pop star, often colorfully androgynous, was on the liberal side. If you asked him, you’d learn otherwise. There he was…

On September 19, 1997, the singer-songwriter Rich Mullins died in an auto accident. The Evangelical world has grieved ever since. Yesterday, on the 25th anniversary, the religion remembered the only musician they truly love. It’s such a weird story. Mullins wasn’t even Evangelical, and seems to have deeply loathed them. Whatever the details of his highly concealed life, queerness suffused his being.

And you think he defines a “hero”? — In 1988, a star was born when PBS broadcast “The Power of Myth.” Bill Moyers interviewed Joseph Campbell, the 83-year-old scholar who’d found the core story of all religions. It was called the “hero’s journey.” Campbell had died by the time the PBS series aired. Posthumously, he became ultra-famous, his ideas cited endlessly—as if they were true. It was a heartwarming story?

A look at her religious journey — She’s been having issues with Christianity, and in a recording posted Monday, pulled the trigger. “There is nothing to believe in anymore,” she said. “I’m an atheist, y’all.” It’s been the strangest story? Britney Spears was Southern Baptist. The sex symbol was from the religion that hates sex, and her life has been a long struggle against its violence. She was raised going to an SBC church.

How does Midjourney depict the deity? — I’ve been laid up with Covid-19 for a week, and idle hands were the devil’s workshop. I made an account on Midjourney, the A.I. graphic program, and started typing ‘Jesus’ with various keywords. I’d always wanted to see him laughing. I did hundreds of word combinations. There was serene Jesus…

Men can’t meet privately with women — because why? — To grow up Evangelical is often to be told that “godly” men don’t have private meetings with women they haven’t married. That’s the “Billy Graham Rule.” It surfaces in public from time to time, as when Mike Pence talked it up while he was Vice President. Now, Evangelicals are out preaching the ‘Billy Graham Rule’ again because of the Matt Chandler mess.

A megachurch drama leaves Evangelicals confused — On Sunday, a star Evangelical megachurch pastor tearfully announced he was being put on a leave of absence. But what happened? Matt Chandler confessed to his congregation at The Village Church in Texas, is that some Instagram DM chats with a woman in the church had gotten a little personal. “I promise it wasn’t a big deal,” he assured. But even Evangelicals noticed—the details were odd.

People out protesting debt relief maybe shouldn’t be? — When the White House announced a program of student debt forgiveness, a lot of conservatives were ready with condemnations. Ben Shapiro, the conservative star and owner of The Daily Caller, was ready with the barbed tweets. “I have a controversial idea about paying off student loan debt: don’t take out debt you will likely be unable to pay off, and don’t ask others to pay off your debts.”