Skillet’s Demonic Cover, AI Gospel Music & Trendy Sobriety: Religion On the News with Mason Mennenga (#369)

Religion on the Mind

Religion, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Religion on the News is back — (thanks to our patron Samantha for suggesting that series title!) Mason Mennenga joins me to round up the latest stories from faith, culture, and psychology. After acknowledging the tragedy of the mass shooting in Australia, we segue into the absurdity of Skillet—yes, the massive Christian rock band—getting "criticized" for making their Christmas hymn cover sound too demonic (spoiler: the controversy seems manufactured by two Twitter/X accounts with tiny followings). But this leads us down a fascinating rabbit hole about evangelicalism's century-long panic over music itself, from jazz's "jungle rhythms" to today's active rock, and why conservative Christians keep mistaking their aesthetic preferences for theological truths. Speaking of music, AI-generated gospel music hit #1 on iTunes! We reckon with whether the "art vs. artist" divide holds up when there's no actual artist at all—just algorithms and Auto-Tune's logical endpoint. Finally, we discuss if declining alcohol consumption might actually be terrible news for the American community, drawing on Blue Zones research and my own recent reckoning with using substances to enhance rather than escape. If you've ever wondered whether Process Theology can capitalize on increased cannabis use, why college students don't party anymore, or what it means that we're losing our shared vices without replacing the social functions they served, pour yourself a craft beer (or don't) and listen now. Mason's Website | ⁠Masonmennenga.com ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by sprungle.co/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:43.3	Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Religion on the Mind.
0:45.9	I'm your host, Dr. Dan Koch, licensed therapist.
0:52.4	Today is actually another one of these, I haven't decided on the preposition here yet.
0:57.0	Religion on the news, which makes me think like it's on the television or religion in the news which makes me think it's in the newspaper and thus you
1:04.3	see the problem in 2025 because neither of those has an obvious claim as the as image or metaphor supremacy because we
1:15.9	we don't consume news in either of those fashions anymore most of us and so still undecided
1:22.7	these these episodes are a mix of serious and lighthearted stories.
1:29.6	And again, joining me on this journey, he's so Midwest passive aggressive that he waited until the end of our 90-minute episode last time to tell me that I had mispronounced his last name.
1:42.7	It is Mason Menninga.
1:45.7	Nailed it. Nailed it.
1:47.5	I feel so honored.
1:50.5	Don't you think that that's evidence of some Midwest passive aggressiveness?
1:56.2	Oh, I, in every respect of Midwest stereotypes, I fit them all. I love hot dish. I'm passive
2:03.9	aggressive as hell. I don't know how to do a zipper merge on the highway. I am just a Midwest.
2:10.6	I, like, I was the Midwest kid in college that would wear my shorts in the middle of January
	...

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