Religious scholar Reza Aslan investigates the Santa Muerte faith in his Believer documentary series for CNN.
While I don’t endorse literal belief in the supernatural, I’m fascinated by the sociology, psychology and aesthetics of this new religion, which is too often sensationalized by the English-speaking media. Shorn of superstition – or at least practiced with a rational sense of suspension of disbelief – I think it offers an excellent model for life- and death-affirming spirituality.