Thanks to a couple adamant atheists in my family, I was kept far away from religion growing up. It was supposed to be my choice what kind of God I wanted running my life, if I wanted one at all.I remember the first time I visited church, when I was seven, with my best friend across the street and her family, all of whom were Mexican. The sermon was in Spanish and I had no idea what was going on, alls I knew was I came home totally freaked out, with some dirt on my forehead. My mother, who converted to Catholicism of her own free will as a teenager, gasped and asked me if I stood in line and ate and drank things too. Yes, I had. “You’re not supposed to do that,” she said.
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Not too long ago I showed up at the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Los Angeles to join a cult. Sort of. I saw this video online that you can watch above, where a shaky-voiced, concerned woman implored viewers to seek emotional healing and protect themselves from pain that’s to come in the uncertain future. Where can we find answers? With her people, at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, on Thursday evenings.It was total doomsday “chosen ones” kind of sheepspeak, and for a second I was like, “Whoa! This is nuts! Awesome. I’m totally going.” And then I realized it was fake, not because I’m good at detecting bad acting, but largely because when it ended, it linked to videos of something called Sound of My Voice, which has intermittent ads on VICE’s home page.I knew if I really wanted to, I could’ve clicked on the ad, found the twelve-minute chapter of Sound of My Voice, which is a feature film that received noteworthy attention at Sundance and SXSW, and unraveled the whole thing in about two seconds. I would’ve gone into the Ukrainian Cultural Center all smug, knowing that everything I was to encounter that night was a staged scenario, an extension of the film, and just played along like a goof. But I like mystery and enchantment and any excuse to be curious, even if it's sometimes earned at the expense of my intelligence.
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