Kidcore Spirituality: The Charisma of Care Bear and Spongebob Religiosity

This paper presents a new theory on secular religiosity called Kidcore Spirituality. This new form of religiosity is linked to the Kidcore fetish and lifestyle that has become popular among a demographic who were raised in the 1980s and 1990s. Replacing and mimicking explicit religious upbringing and education, I shall highlight and argue how cartoons facilitate what religion has typically been expected to represent - moral teaching, community, ritual, salvation, and icon veneration. From Care Bears and He-Man to Spongebob and the Powerpuff Girls, multiple examples are shown to implicitly facilitate religiosity among children, and for adults, who grew up in the late twentieth century watching these cartoons and now aesthetically and nostalgically venerate and commemorate them. In my analysis I will present ethnographic examples of how such Kidcore Spirituality is demonstrated through tattoos, clothing, conventions, altars, and even through specific new religious movements.