One big frog! One big frog!

Modern Relics is a newsletter about religion and digital culture. The vibe is like...

Thanks for sticking with me while I've been on semi-hiatus in 2025. Rest assured, I'm being very Relics even when I'm not writing this newsletter. For example, I dressed as St Carlo Acutis for Halloween this year.

One big frog! One big frog!

Okay, generally speaking I don’t want to obsess about American politics in this newsletter — sure it's important, but I'm not American and that material is available from man y other more reputable sources than me. But idk there's heaps to talk about so we can have a little protest against authoritarianism, as a treat.

The anti-ICE protests happening at the moment are distinctly online and distinctly religion-y. Take this depiction of the Portland Frog made from the text of the second plague of Egypt in Hebrew. There’s a quirk in the original text that the first time it talks about frogs emerging from the Nile, it’s actually singular. One frog. Only after does it talk about many frogs.

From the alt-text:

…there are a few explanations rabbis have come up with to explain this. One is that a single frog multiplied to create swarms. A more creative explanation is that there was a singular giant frog who travelled and brought destruction. Jewish social media was sharing videos of the Portland Frog protester with the caption, "One Big Frog! One Big Frog!" Of course the frog protesters did multiply, and many were seen in crowds all over the world on "No Kings" Day.

The connection between the inflatable frog meme with the second plague of Egypt is not lost on Episcopalians either, who are also posting about it.

Christian clergy have become a big part of these protests too. Jack Jenkins reports a broad coalition of denominations protesting outside ICE facilities in Chicago and advocating for the immigrants detained inside. Multiple attempts at offering communion (a right, under Illinois law) have been denied, including a Catholic Eucharistic procession.

Some of these have become minor figureheads of the protest movement online, including Presbyterian minister Rev David Black, who was shot in the head with a pepper ball while calling on ICE agents to repent. (And yes, it's the internet so among the outrage and support in the quote posts and comments, people are horny for this "hot priest".)

The protests have been going for weeks now, and are prominent enough for the Speaker of the House to comment on them. It's gone as high as the Pope himself (who, don't forget, is also from Chicago) — something the blue checks on Twitter are being super normal about.

One detail I can’t leave out: Christian protesters are chanting at ICE agents, “Love your neighbour, love your God, save your soul and quit your job.”

A quick Labubu golem break

Golems are referred to in lots of different media (like Dungeons and Dragons, or Pokémon) and often stray from the Jewish folklore they come from, so its worth familiarising yourself. They're good stories!

True Believer

Semi-related to the protests, Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams perform her single True Believer on the Jimmy Fallon Show. I was 👀 about this because just weeks before, was the Jimmy Kimmel controversy, after which Fallon said he planned to avoid politics on the show.

But True Believer is political. It's about Williams’ love/hate relationship with Nashville and the American South, with all its racism, gentrification and profit-driven religion. Williams sings, "The South will not rise again, until it's paid for every sin."

In the chorus, Williams sings:

I’m the one who still loves your ghost
I reanimate your bones
With my belief
And I’m the one who still loves your ghost
I reanimate your bones
Cause I’m a true believer

In her own explanation of the song, Williams says this part of the chorus “came out before I could think of what they meant. I don’t have an explanation but I could try and probably come up with a thousand. … There are certain songs from my solo discography that contain lyrics that I think would go into my own personal spell book. This chorus is one of them.“

The first time I heard it, I immediately thought of Ezekiel 37 — the valley of dry bones — which remains one of the most evocative parts of the Bible for me. Williams often talks about deconstructing her evangelical Christian upbringing in interviews, and Christian motifs litter her solo work and that of Paramore.

In the context of this song about the greed and racism of her city, country and childhood religion, who or what is being loved and reanimated?

PS: For any other Ezekiel 37 heads out there, I also really enjoy the song Dry Bones by Branches, which I think found its way to me algorithmically. Anyway, good song.

Both these songs are now on the Modern Relics Spotify playlist! Feel free to follow it!

What did he do

Rapture? I barely know 'er!

Quick update on the rapture: It didn’t happen.

Rapture content creators tried to postpone and reschedule it a few times, but ultimately the whole thing seems to have blown over. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

From Forbes:

“Notably, there hasn’t been much posting from Rapturetok in the aftermath of the failed prophecy—indeed, the silence is deafening.”

“Rapturetok might not be the first time, but it was an interesting example of an in-group belief, not intended to be shared with outsiders, turning into something of a TikTok trend and drawing new observers in with each algorithmically boosted post.”

During rapture mania? Peppa Pig got taken. Some guy decided to practice the trumpet on rapture day. The guy who got banned from Disney for being too horny for Judy Hopps was even posting about it. But (serious now) I really enjoyed this post from Anglican priest Rev Gerlyn Henry, who makes really lovely sincere Christian content.

But perhaps the correct requirements haven't been met — like the release of the Epstien files?

Would it be a sin to have sex with your medieval wife today?

Imagining the future

A little self-promo to finish — I was guest presenter on Soul Search again, this time with Dr Declan Humphreys, a technology ethicist. He was part of the ABC Top 5 Humanities media residency I was helping out with over the last little while.

Together, we made an episode about different ways we imagine the future, and how that changes how we live today. I speak with Dr Victoria Lorrimar about what Christian theologians and science fiction authors have to say to each other. Perhaps of interest to Relics readers??

Okay thanks bye! And remember...