Welcome back to the Word on Fire show. I'm Brandon Vat, the senior publishing director at Word on Fire.

Today we're excited to share with you the latest episode in our Bishop Baron Presents series.

If you remember, this series is where Bishop Baron invites an influential thought leader,

someone who is a cultural influencer who's written books, who has interesting things to say.

And today he's talking with Tara Isabella Burton.

You might know her name because we recently discussed her new book Strange Rights,

New Religions for a Godless World right here on the Word on Fire show back in February. It was

episode number 32. In that book, Burton argues that while younger generations are supposedly

the most secular according to surveys, they're actually notably religious. It's just that they've

adopted some strange new religions. She claims that today's Americans are embracing a

kaleidoscopic panoply of spiritual traditions, rituals and subcultures, everything from astrology

and witchcraft to soul cycle and the alt-right. In search of the deep and the real, they are

finding meaning, purpose, ritual and communities in ever newer and ever stranger ways.

So today Tara sits down with Bishop Baron for a wonderful dialogue. It's moderated by Jared

Zimmerer, the senior director of the Word on Fire Institute, and we think you'll really enjoy it.

So sit back and enjoy this discussion from Bishop Baron Presents with Tara Isabella Burton.

All right, we're welcome to another terrific conversation. And of course Tara,

wonderful to have you here. Just great to have you in the studio. I really, really enjoyed your book.

I think it's such an interesting kind of thesis about how to really read this idea of the nuns

and the idea of non-religious society. And of course Bishop Baron always great to be with you.

I thought maybe we could kind of just start the conversation by the idea of the thesis.

Are we truly a secular society? Has religion really exited in the way that we understand it?

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