Pop Culture Pantheism

How do we find God? For some people, God is in everything or is a force we can tap into. A current trend is the idea of the universe helping us manifest what we want. This form of religious belief is nothing new and can be found in movies such as James Cameron’s 2009 hit Avatar: “Actors (and the characters they portray) routinely praise the universe for their good fortune or express fear that the universe will pay them back for their bad choices. When things don’t go their way, they wonder if the universe is teaching them a lesson or simply has other plans. In a relatively short time, then, the universe has become the Hollywood stand-in for God” (Subby Szterszky, “Pop Culture Pantheism: Replacing God with the Universe,” Focus on the Family, 2018, https://www.focusonthefamily.ca/content/pop-culture-pantheism-replacing-godwith-the-universe).