Conspirituality

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The Church Universal and Triumphant became an international mainstream news story in 1990. Their leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, was poised, eloquent, and beautiful. She also claimed to have received messages directly from God about an impending nuclear holocaust. But it's more complicated than that: the theology of her new religious movement has significant overlap with three figures Julian has covered in the Roots of Conspirituality series.

In the realm of conspiracism, cults, and apocalyptic religion, history always repeats itself. What’s unique about this story is the combination of colorful New Age syncretism and dark survivalist paranoia. Armed to their throat chakras with AR15s, tripod-mounted semi-automatic rifles, and armored personnel carriers, the church had spent $25 million building the largest underground nuclear bunker network in America. It contained enough food for seven years and over 600,000 gallons of fuel.

What could go wrong?
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Although Beck David Hansen was born into Scientology, he’s never really practiced it. Except for that period where he did, heavily, when he even contemplated becoming an auditor. But then he left the church he was never really involved with—though pressure from the church appears to have completely ended his long-term relationship and close friendships. Does one of Gen X’s most iconic pop stars really believe in Thetans?

You’re not alone if you’ve ever wondered because Beck has remained one of the most elusive celebrities for over three decades—apparently from those closest to him, and maybe even himself.

Josephine Riesman returns to Conspirituality to discuss her exceptional new book, The Last Temptation of Beck, with Derek.

Show Notes

The Last Temptation of Beck

Losing Beck
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Paul Saladino doesn’t like peanut butter. Or whey protein. Or processed foods at all. Except when they’re his peanut butter whey protein bars that are, you guessed it, processed. But his bars are different: they're really good and totally natural processed foods. Those other guys make shitty non-food foodstuff products. Paul produces the real deal.

Just don’t ask the psychiatrist turned carnivore “doctor” turned fruit and honey is ok sometimes and, screw it, I’ll just make my own unprocessed processed food products, too. And definitely don’t question him about it, as guest host Mallory DeMille did. Paul wants the criticisms to rain down on him, for this is a lifelong learner, you see. Just don’t call him a hypocrite, or else he might come after you, shirtless, barefoot, wandering around grocery store aisles filming content and maybe, just maybe, searching for a friend.
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Max Haiven's The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to Twenty-First Century Fascism (MIT Press, 2026) argues that financialized capitalism has turned us all into speculative "players" in rigged games. It produces a "cheated player" whose resentment the far right redirects onto scapegoats rather than the ruling class. This is what contemporary fascism is.

Matthew reviews Haiven’s re-reading of the conspirituality era: QAnon as a participatory game, Gamergate as a prototype of the "playgrom," and January 6th as a swarm of user-generated fascism. He traces how his own frameworks for conspirituality have shifted: cult dynamics, Lagalisse on conspiracy theory as allegory, Dean's communicative capitalism, Lubrano on the limits of persuasion.

NOTE: Contains Squid Game spoilers through season 3.

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Andrew Huberman’s new book takes many hours of podcast transcripts and distills them to what he believes are ideal protocols for a healthy life. Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body became an instant bestseller upon its publication last month. Does the science behind the hype hold up?

Journalist Scott Carney joins Derek to look at the slipperiness of many claims. They also discuss the rather “unique” marketing model Huberman appears to have followed.

Show Notes

Auditing Andrew Huberman’s “Protocols”

Andrew Huberman’s Mechanisms of Control

Scott Carney
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