#which no offense but Christianity definitely has

[artofapeach]

I just don’t like how hazbin hotel is hint that heaven is evil. Not only it a predictable cliche it also insult to actually people who believe in god. But if you want to do evil heaven just use adina from zoophobia.

I don’t think they’re hinting that it’s evil? Just complex. Just like Hell is complex.

I mean, it’s not possible for a place to be absolutely perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist! So there HAS to be something wrong with Heaven. It’s just that their intention is to give a safe place to humans after they die, which makes them the “good” place, while Hell doesn’t give a shit.

We’ve only seen one inkling of Heaven after all! If nothing else, Collin’s character shows that there are some people there who want to do good.

Also, there’s nothing wrong with predictable cliches 🤷🏽‍♀️ Hazbin and Helluva have surprised me plenty already, so I think they can have a predictable cliche or two. As a treat :)

For the people who actually believe in the Christian god…then maybe they shouldn’t watch the show? There’s been so much anime that’s done plenty worse. And likely Viv came from Christianity and it’s a critique to how it works and it effected her. I mean, that’s what I always assumed from the start and I could ALWAYS be wrong, but Christianity has done some harm with people’s psyche, especially those who are queer. Hazbin and Helluva are a way to critique that.

And Zoophobia Heaven can’t be used because…it’s a different story. As far as I know, they don’t take place in the same universe anymore. Honestly, it’d be pretty weird if they did w

It’s okay if it bothers you! I don’t wanna downplay that at all. But with serialized stories, you kinda just have to wait and see how they handle things before jumping to conclusions. If that’s difficult to do, it may be best to avoid the show until it’s finished and have someone tell you how Heaven turns out, so that you can make sure it’s safe for you :)

#just like it’s okay to critique hazbin and helluva; it’s okay to critique Heaven and hell and Christianity as a whole #especially if it may have done damage to an individual or society #which no offense but Christianity definitely has #with you know colonizing America and enslaving africans and all that #even if we take away human actions and just look at the Bible #there’s a lot about Christianity that doesn’t sit right with me #and I imagine it’s the same for viv she’s just got an idea for a story with it ;) #but yeah! your mental health comes first! #if you need a break from the show or for someone to warn you of each episode beforehand for anything uncomfortable :) #wish I had someone to warn me about the stupid stepford wives book :( #I’m rambling now sorry #hey an ask #not art #hazbin hotel #helluva boss

[unbidden-yidden]

Can't find the post now, but someone definitely reblogged something of mine with a comment in the tags that "this is tumblr, not tiktok; you can say 'Christian' here" and let me just say: that is emphatically NOT why I use Xtian.

I use Xtian because, like some more traditional Jews, saying "Christ" even as a prefix is a tacit acknowledgment that Jesus was, in fact, the messiah - something that I do not believe and which I find even more important to separate myself from since I was raised Xtian. It is not offensive to do so; "X" is frequently used to denote the Greek letter "Chi," which is where the word 'Christ' originally comes from. "Xian" would probably be slightly more accurate, and I did use it for a while until it confused enough people who thought I was referring to Xi'an. Which, fair enough, so I switched.

Honestly, I'd much rather use "Notzrim," [נוצרים] which is a Hebrew word for Xtians and means (effectively) "followers of the one from Nazareth." But like, nobody knows what that means in English, so Xtian it is until someone suggests something better.

But just to be 100% clear: I am not on TikTok, I will never be on TikTok, and this spelling has ~☆~nothing~☆~ to do with the quagmire that is TikTok.

[avelera]

Thinking about blasphemy and Good Omens right now and I can't help but notice an interesting phenomenon around some discussions I've seen about the Second Coming and Jesus Christ being a character in S3.

Namely, I see much more underlying discomfort around the possibility of the show poking fun at the figure of Jesus Christ than I do with any other prediction discussion or discussion around religion in the show.

On the one hand, I completely understand how poking fun at the Antichrist dogma from Revelations doesn't feel particularly blasphemous, where poking fun at Jesus does. The Antichrist is a stock character of horror at this point. Many more disrespectful teams than Gaiman and Pratchett have played with that story. It's barely even considered poking fun at Christianity to have Adam, the son of Satan, be a good kid in Good Omens. But Jesus is a very important figure to Christians all over the world. There are devout Christians who truly love Jesus and no one wants to be a jerk by just outright disrespecting a figure that is dear to so many.

But on the other hand, expecting Good Omens to not make fun of Jesus is a bit absurd to me. Literally saying, "I don't think the satirical religion show is going to satirize religion because it might upset people." Gaiman hasn't shied away from messing with religion or religious bigots before. He gleefully shrugged off attacks over God being a woman, or Adam and Eve being portrayed by people of color.

The Book of Job is lampooned in Season 2. I know it doesn't feel like it to many people here, but the reinterpretation of the Book of Job in S2 definitely registers as blasphemy on some religious scales. It is satirizing a religious text after all.

Saying that angels and demons fall in love and worse, have that love be portrayed by actors of the same sex could be seen as blasphemy at the very least on the level of saying God is a woman. And by the way, it's not like these religious texts say "God is whatever you want the entity to be" or "God is a woman if that makes you happy". Hell no, the Bible is extremely damn clear on God being male. The official position of the Catholic Church is that God is male. Official Catholic dogma is incredibly anti-female in terms of inherent holiness, women cannot become priests, even nuns are dependent on a priest to deliver the Sacraments, it's a huge deal and they are not planning to change any time soon and it is totally unambiguous.

Making God explicitly female might not seem like a big deal since films like Dogma, another religious satire, did it in the 90s but to True Believes in the official doctrine, that is a form of blasphemy.

Good Omens is by definition a blasphemous work. How offensively blasphemous it is really depends on the devoutness of the viewer. And I find it interesting the extent to which there's something of a knee jerk, "Oh they won't do that!" in terms of further satirizing religion in the show about religious satire. As if Jesus hasn't been satirized in other mainstream movies before like the aforementioned Dogma or Life of Brian.

And here's the thing, my personal opinion is? Blasphemy is good! Blasphemy laws on the books mean it's ok to punish, hurt, or even kill a person for making fun of religion or just doing the religion wrong. Human progress has been frozen in place by blasphemy laws, sciences have progressed when blasphemy laws ease or often while deliberately concealing their efforts from authorities in places where blasphemy laws or laws that were otherwise based on the dominant religion exist.

If anything, I am actually a bit uncomfortable with the idea that Good Omens should hold back on lampooning a figure like Jesus Christ. If devout Christians will make laws that determine what other humans can do with their bodies based on their religion, then their religion should absolutely be open to outright mockery without punishment or ramification to anyone. Of course on an individual level I wouldn't wish to be offensive to someone sincerely religious but at the same time, I am also violently anti-censorship of any kind. And blasphemy and religious mockery are often right at the heart of censorship debates.

The world is a better place when we can openly mock religion.

I'm not going to caveat that as an opinion. Being able to openly and without fear discuss, criticize, and mock religion is an incredibly important part of any free society. The battles over this right have been vicious and bloody and are actively ongoing around the world. Just as an example, anti-blasphemy laws were on the books in Ireland until 2020, there was a huge campaign to have them removed because other countries were pointing to them as an example of why they should keep and exercise such laws.

My point is that I suppose this is something of hyperbole or alarmist or overly strident. I can understand people wanting to be decent about not openly mocking a figure of such importance to so many like Jesus. But quite honestly? I hope Good Omens does whatever it pleases with mocking Jesus. I hope they don't hold back. I hope people remember that being able to mock religion is really important, especially when representatives of that religion are actively trying to clamp down on the rights of others.

And honestly, if religious people are offended they should just not watch or they should develop a thicker skin if they expose themselves to such discourse. Religion and Christianity in particular is an active part of the public sphere. It is worthy of discussion. Public discourse often includes mockery, especially of the powerful and of powerful forces that steer the course of nations, like Christianity.

And I think it's important for Good Omens fans, who are a very progressive group, not to cherry pick and moralize over what satire or blasphemy is permitted. All satire should be permitted. All blasphemy should be permitted. The religious bigots don't care if you think God being a woman is ok but making fun of Jesus isn't. It's all the same, anything but glowing praise is criticism to some of these forces. Open discussion is far more important and yes, that includes mockery, and silly discussions in a silly show about an angel and a demon who avert the Apocalypse and fall in love.

#maggie rambles #good omens spoilers

[mk-writes-stuff]

I almost forgot, happy WBW! What's up with the 5th Station's religion?

Happy WBW!

You managed to hit me with the question I’ve been most nervous about answering, honestly. The Fifth Station religion worldbuilding borrows a lot from some of my personal experiences and complex relationship with religion (while obviously making it more than just my personal experiences which are not interesting enough to carry a novel) so it’s been a lot, especially trying to develop it in a way that feels respectful

With all that being said, the Church of the Stellar Cross

That’s the name of the Fifth Station (and kind of Second Station, it’s complicated) religion. Since the Old World is based (kind of) off of medieval feudalism, the Church of the Stellar Cross is (kind of) based off/an offshoot of medieval Christianity/Catholicism, obviously with a lot of sci-fi/fantasy complications

The big central belief that defines them is that humanity has been flung into the void (the wormhole and the stations) because they need to stone for their sins. They have a big long list of things they consider sinful, but the big one we focus on in the novel is that cloning, being cloned, or being a clone is believed to fragment your soul and thus prevent you from going to heaven. The nobles on Fifth Station do not have clones - all of the clones on Fifth Station are created from convicted criminals

Adherents also wear a headpiece similar to a nun’s habit headpiece with a veil over the face, in red or in yellow. Less strict adherents often don’t bother with the veil, but the station head obviously wears it. This headpiece is worn regardless of gender. It also has horns on it (they’re magnetic) and sometimes little gold decorations

There are varying levels of adherence/strictness to the religion, just like in real life. The station leader, Ananias, is definitely being creepy and culty about it, but the protagonists meet a lot of adherents while they’re on Fifth Station who aren’t at all culty and are just good people with religious beliefs

Some trivia:

It is considered indecent to not cover your head of Fifth Station, regardless of gender

Each station head has a sworn bodyguard who is also an executioner. In the case of Ananias, his is a person named Azrael. No one can tell for certain if Azrael is a man or a woman (Ananias knows but isn’t telling)

Members of the church are found on all seven stations, although Fifth is the religious center

Red headpieces are more traditional than yellow

I hope y’all like it! I’m happy to answer questions (or take criticism if I’ve inadvertently done something offensive). Thank you for the ask :)

#writeblr #seven station chronicles

[captainjonnitkessler]

"Like is it that hard to accept that maybe spending your whole life in a Christian nation may have affected your worldview somewhat" fucking wheezing about this one; sir are you aware that pretty much all Americans and Europeans have spent their whole life in a christian nation; including Jews; including muslims; including literally everybody; but somehow I only ever see this label applied to atheists so "spent their whole life in a christian nation" is apparently not what they mean lol

The funniest thing about it is that when you ask outright if "cultural Christian" applies to other religious minorities, about half the responses will be "well obviously it does, everyone in America is a cultural Christian" and the other half will be like "well obviously it doesn't, that would be ridiculous and offensive".

At this point the argument is less about whether it's an appropriate term to use and more about if it even has a useful meaning, and given that everyone is using a different definition, half of which are mutually exclusive, I think it's safe to say that it's not. Put it on the shelf of terms diluted to uselessness with "gaslighting" and "narcissism".

#my fave is when people switch definitions mid-argument. motte and bailey argument indeed #atheism

[timetobeaghost]

Think about it a little bit objectively. Palestine doesn't have an army unlike Israel. Israel created Hamas and Hamas went against them, joined palestine in the war... isn't that a way to tell you that Hamas is palestine's army ? Are you going to ignore the fact that you basically want palestine to have no army and to get bombed when already 8k people died in a week while only 1k israelis died. It's fucking insane that you are calling this thing the genocide of jews when jews could literally end the war if they wanted but no I guess they are more busy making instagram pages about the future town they will create in Ghaza after destroying it. The fact that you support the idea of Israel cutting water, food,electricity and connection from people and that you don't even acknowledge the genocide says a lot about you. This isn't about being Jewish or Muslim, this is about being a human which is aware of the full situation. This is qbout the fact that the Israël army did worse than Hamas by baking babies, writing on their bombs that they wish it will kill a lot of innocent people, making offensive and racist songs,...of this is what you stand for then what can we call you since you called us antisemitic?

If Israel puts down its weapons there is no Israel, if Hamas puts down its weapons, there is no war.

At least that was true before Oktober 7th, now it also entails Hamas giving themselves up. As they attacked Israel viciously in a way you wouldn't ask anyone else to accept. No one ever should accept.

Do you really not know that Hamas is sending bombs at Israel every single day since they started on October 7th? Every day. Also Hezbollah and Yemen joined in. Israel is under attack. They didn't start the war and they can not just stop unless they want to submit, which would be suicide.

This is qbout the fact that the Israël army did worse than Hamas by baking babies,

??? There is unfortunately a story out there of Hamas putting a baby in the oven during October 7th and raping the mother while the baby screamed and died. People claim to have seen this in the Hamas footage. I hope against hope this is somehow not true. But it is possible as they were butchering families, including little kids, as brutal as possible on purpose and as a strategy. A strategy that obviously entailed provoking Israel into war. But Israelis definitely 100% did no bake any babies or attack any directly. This does not make the slightest bit of sense. Israel is called the epitome of evil for bombing Hamas and accidentally killing civilians in the process. Another strategy of Hamas is getting as many killed as possible to blame Israel. They are not protecting the citizens of Gaza, on the very contrary. Unfortunately they also threatened civilians not to leave after Israelis bomb warning, shooting those who did not comply. Israel is trying to kill as few civilians as possible, while finishing Hamas as quickly as possible. It's pretty darn hard with Hamas terrorist tactics. Few people thought that the army will be as quick as it ended up being getting to the heart of Gaza City and the terror centers. Yes, the situation in Gaza is awful, and this is 90% the fault of Hamas (and whoever is behind them).

Do I think Palestinians should have an army? Yes, they should have a state and an army that wants to protect them not get them slaughtered for Jihad! Hence why the Palestinians were failed by every government they has since 1947, as the refused the Two-state.-solution every time. Israel agreed every time.

I do not think Palestinians should have an Islamist, jihadist Terrorgovernment. I would be quite the fucking idiot to want that, as Islamists want me (European Christian) and everyone who is not an Islamist dead! And because they are horrible to their own population. In Gaza Hamas tortures and murders people with dissenting views, as well the gays, as well as everyone they freaking want. There is NOTHING GOOD about Hamas!! I do hope there is a solution possible, if 2 states or 1 state. Definitely the Palestinians need protection from Jihadist terrorists. And they also need protection from radical Israeli settlers too!

Israelis too 100% deserve protection from terrorists. Do you think they should not be protected?

#israel #palestine #antisemitism #hamas #free palestine from hamas #israel hamas war

[brynnterpretations]

Bowers gang religion/spirituality hcs?

BOWERS GANG'S RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY ☻

I love that you asked this! I almost triple-majored in religious studies (until my university cut it literally a week later, LOL) so I'm really interested in religion, spirituality, and how they relate to people & characters's personalities, values, etc. ☻

Belch Huggins

Belch is very, very loosely Baptist; he celebrates Christmas and Easter, but he only goes to Church with his mother every few weeks or so. Belch is what you'd classify as a non-practicing Christian — he believes in God, Jesus Christ, and the basic foundations of Baptist, (Jesus' virgin birth, the atonement of Christ, etc.), but doesn't pray each day and night, doesn't attend offerings or the Lord's Supper, and doesn't go to Church regularly, as mentioned.

Henry Bowers

Henry is agnostic with a complicated relationship with religion. Before his mother left him at four, he would be taken to Derry Baptist Church, but that was so long ago that he doesn't really remember it enough, and he sure as hell wouldn't show his face in there (as to not damage his "street cred"). Despite his tough guy exterior, whenever religion is brought up in a serious context, it gives Henry major anxieties and existential crises. Deep, deep down, Henry feels shame over what he does, but feels that the regained control it gives him justifies it — but whenever someone brings up their religious beliefs, . If Henry has the right influences and hopefully therapy , I could see him becoming religious — I feel like Christianity is most likely due to the... um... "Jews killed Jesus" B.S. he spouts every time Stanley Uris passes by the gang (he'd definitely have an aneurysm if he was around for Pope Benedict XVI), but if he got past those beliefs, I honestly think Conservative Judaism would fit him rather well.

Patrick Hockstetter

Patrick's religion is Patrick. People aren't really people to Patrick, but just toys that he somehow manifested (which...how?). Essentially, Patrick's core "spiritual" beliefs go down to:

1. I am God 2. I should be able to pursue everything that gives me pleasure or excitement

Patrick openly mocks every organized religion on Earth — Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever, Patrick will make an inappropriate, racially-charged joke. Half of it is because he finds it borderline offensive, though he'd never admit it, and half is because he genuinely thinks it's funny. Queue "What's the difference between real Jesus and a picture of Jesus?", "How do the Jews make calamari?" and a hyena laugh. It's really not that funny, Patrick.

Victor Criss

Victor subscribes to an amalgamation of spiritual philosophies and beliefs; his parents were the shining example of hippies in their youth, so he was raised by a mixture of principles from Buddhism, Hinduism, and a dash of Neo-Wiccan beliefs. He doesn't necessarily practice it, but he does incorporate some aspects beyond theories — mostly, Victor does mindfulness exercises, mantra audios, and (though he hides it whenever the guys come over to not get crap for it) uses crystals.

#bowers gang headcanons #headcanon request #bowers gang #belch huggins #henry bowers #patrick hockstetter #victor criss

[snow-and-shadow-fairy]

About Me

This is my feminism sideblog. I have always been a feminist although there have definitely been times where I had feminist awakenings by discovering just how evil men are. I was raised by conservative Christian parents. My mother was a stay at home mother and loved criticising other women for not doing that, for working instead of taking care of their children. Even as a child I thought she was insane and sexist. I saw that women couldn't live lives the way men could if they had children. At dinner we would all sit in silence while my father monologued about his day at work and whatever else he wanted to talk about.

My first feminist awakening was reading the Bible when I was about 19 and 20. There was so much woman hating in there that I just couldn't take it anymore. Non Christians may know about the Ten Commandments given to Moses, but they are just a small section of many rules. One of the rules was that if a woman is raped and she is not married, she must marry her rapist. (May update this later when I can be bothered to find it.) I saw then that men do not see rape as assault, but theft of another man's property. The Bible is split into two sections. The Old Testament, which is before Jesus, and the New Testament, during and after Jesus. Christians tend to worship the New Testament and pick and choose which bits of the Old Testament they want to follow, which I never understood. For example, they will agree with the bits that condemn homosexuality, but when presented with stuff like "marry your rapist", they will say, yeah, that's bad, but don't worry, you don't have to do that anymore. I didn't understand why they were picking and choosing which rules to follow. As a Christian, I thought shouldn't we follow all the rules? But I didn't agree with the rules, or with Christians picking and choosing their own rules, so I stopped being a Christian.

My second was joining tumblr and seeing the misogyny of the trans rights movement. I'm straight, and I wanted to be a good ally to LGBT people, so at first I just thought it was fine, everyone has the right to respect. But I soon found out just how insane they were. My "peak trans" moment was reading this article in buzzfeed about the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She was asked in an interview about trans women, and I saw nothing wrong with her response. Reading the article I realised that transgender people don't live in the world of reality. I learned that trans women really believe they are actually women, and to say that they were once men is not only wrong, but hate speech. I didn't understand this at all. Surely that's why they were trans women? Also, annoying sjw (for lack of a better phrase) types on the internet love to bang on about intersectional feminism, demonizing the straight white man, and supporting people with marginalized identities, the more marginalized, the better. Yet here was a black women talking about feminism, and hordes of white men (I refused to see them as women anymore) were telling her to shut up. I saw how fake people who bang on about straight white men really are. She didn't say anything offensive, but they were acting like she'd called for their extinction. It didn't make sense.

After that I started following feminist blogs on tumblr. Most of them were lesbians, and I discovered that not only was the trans movement sexist, but it was also homophobic. I tried reblogging their posts, because hey, people on tumblr hate homophobia, right? They love gay people? Wrong. I couldn't believe how many people blocked and unfollowed me for suggesting that lesbians shouldn't have to be attracted to trans women. Eventually I got tired and deleted tumblr. I have a new fandom blog now, completely free of any feminism. I decided to start a feminism blog to post any thoughts I have. I reblog other people's posts at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/snow-and-shadow-fairy-archive.

I believe that sex is the most important part of feminism. Men want sex from women. They want women to be sexually available at all times. Pornography and prostitution abolition should be the main focus of feminism. Women not having to have sex with men if they don't want to should be the main focus of feminism.

Feminists who love to talk about intersectional feminsim love talking about race but never talk about sexuality. Lesbians face the most discrimination due to not wanting to have sex with men. I always knew how creepy men were about lesbians but finding out about the trans rights movement and hearing the phrase "cotton ceiling" really disgusted me even more. It's really sad that "intersectional" feminists don't talk about the intersection of sexism and homophobia. The right pretend that it is only disadvantaged men who assault women. Meanwhile the left pretends that it is only advantaged men who assault women, and do not care when disadvantaged men do it. It's disgusting to see the left completely ignore the misogyny, homophobia and lesbophobia of the trans movement.

Even though I am attracted to men I have never been in a relationship with one and never will. I am genuinely scared of men. I can't even imagine loving one. I'm happy being single. I was delighted when I found out about the South Korean 4B movement. I think that's exactly what women need everywhere.

#feminism #terfs please interact

[cosmicmote]

a couple months back

I know I touched on this before here, via mondoweiss

but today it went noticed again

and was commented on over at al jazeera

we noticed

and recalled

justin raimondo reported same behaviors over 20 years ago

from which I will briefly quote

The leering ugliness of the Israelis’ Easter blitzkrieg is darkly illustrated by the news that, having marched into Ramallah, the IDF prepared a special Easter television broadcast for this historically Christian city: “Porn movies and programs in Hebrew are being broadcast by Israeli troops who have taken over three Palestinian television stations of Ramallah, irate residents of the besieged West Bank town have told AFP . The soldiers started broadcasting the porn clips - considered extremely offensive by most Muslims - intermittently this afternoon from the Al-Watan, Ammwaj, and Al-Sharaq channels, the residents said. ‘The pornographic movies started on Al-Watan television at around 3:30 pm,’ one 34-year-old Palestinian mother named Reema told AFP. ‘I have six children at home, they have nowhere to go with what is going on here and can��t even watch TV,’ she said angrily. ‘It’s not healthy really. I think the Israelis want to mess with our young men’s heads,’ she said.” CHEAP THRILLS As the Middle East descends into the political equivalent of a sado-masochistic orgy, the porn trope forms the perfect note trumpeting Israel’s triumph. The IDF offensive, the invasion of Arafat’s compound, the vaunted flexing of Israel’s military muscle - all have the earmarks of some perverted ritual of humiliation and violation. As the IDF’s idea of Easter programming attests, the Israeli offensive projects the essential character of the degraded Israeli “democracy” - a lust for domination. After all, why does a robber, having already looted the till and gone halfway out the door, turn and shoot his victim? Because he can. For one moment, he is a god, his power to inflict death, at will, is orgasmic proof of his omnipotence. However, for a certain type of killer there is no such thing as a clean kill: he must torture his victim until the last moment, extracting every ounce of perverted pleasure out of the experience. This sadistic impulse is what drives the IDF and the Sharon government forward - and gives their American amen corner a really cheap thrill.

same behaviors, same culture and same society

this isn't limited to just being a christian thing

as I do not belong to the abrahamics myself

and raimondo was rather atheist

but my points being here

pornography is a weapon

pornography is a weapon

pornography is a weapon

pornography is a weapon

pornography is a weapon

of war

of their wars

of their wars

and

they do not change

they do not change

they do not change

they do not change

they do not change

they do not change

their lust for domination

it is all consuming

and Full Spectrum Dominance is official US policy

long has been and

we can all look and see who leads this, so much of it

it isn't a tiny minority being shut out

as this would be absurdum

but fully integrated

if not with humanity

as this would be absurdum

against whom they wage

and as I've said before

this is war

this is war

where definitions of peace

are merely yet another falsity

to mess with your bodies and heads

words ©spacetree 2024

#spilled thoughts #spilled ink #artists on tumblr #my writing #poetry #spilled poetry #poem #poems on tumblr #spilled words #spilled writing #original writing #original poem #original post #Palestine #America

[bluesnow21]

I hated “The Midnight Mass” Go watch “The Midnight Gospel” Instead

“Even though Midnight Mass does still contain plenty of overt horror elements, I think the series actually pushes Flanagan quite far outside the horror genre. If anything, I felt baited by this story, which plays within the modern horror sandbox while undercutting much of the ethos of modern horror via its embrace of Christianity as a source of hope and nourishment for lost souls facing an incomprehensible crisis. Many critics have found that to be a good thing, praising the series’ emphasis on the less sordid aspects of horror. Yet while Flanagan has every right to keep writing relentlessly hopeful stories, for horror fans like me, the effect of his optimism is frustration over feeling shunned as a non-believer — by the very genre that usually protects non-believers from feeling shunned.” 

“Flanagan uses the plot of Midnight Mass as an allegorical stand-in for a broad range of extreme conservative reactions to the pandemic. On that theme, the series’ scathing reproach of Christianity’s enablement of hysteria, apocalypse mania, and survivalist extremism couldn’t be clearer. But if Flanagan wanted to condemn religious zeal more generally, he failed.” 

“Midnight Mass makes several attempts to critique organized religion, yet the impression it leaves is that faith in God, and explicitly Christian faith in particular, is the ultimate pandemic comfort. The series almost entirely erases atheists, agnostics, and people of other religions by emphasizing its Christian worldview. “I choose God,” Hassan’s rebellious teen son, Ali, declares when he joins Paul and Bev’s new cult, as if he had not grown up worshipping God as part of his Muslim upbringing. The narrative wants to portray his choice as entirely wrong-headed, and he is quickly shown to regret his decision, but when most of the series’ other “good” characters are also making choices based on their proud faith in the Christian version of God, the implied falseness of Ali’s choice doesn’t sink in.”

“There’s plenty of room here for homages to movies about religious doubt such as Winter Light and First Reformed, but apart from Riley being a lapsed Catholic, dragged back to church at his parents’ insistence, Flanagan barely touches on religious doubt at all. Instead, he repeatedly places such an excruciating emphasis on faith in the divine as a form of ultimate reassurance — explicitly a Christian faith above all else — that Midnight Mass becomes a homily. Multiple long sequences where the whole town gets together to sing Christian hymns seem to serve no narrative purpose except to remind us how comforting God’s presence is and that worship is beautiful. While there’s a climactic effort to enfold atheism and agnosticism into a revised definition of “god,” similar in spirit to Angels in America’s famous ozone monologue, it comes far too late to shake the series’ Christian-centered worldview.” 

^^ So: This Up Top. ^^

I’m an atheist, even before I wasn’t an atheist, I self-identified privately as a Deist from high school and then after college started privately self-identifying more and more as an atheist (I’m still very much in the closet about it). My gf is a very secular Muslim (does not practice at all).  We both found the show’s heavily Christian overtones and erasure of both of us to be both incredibly offensive, and at the same time horror taking a back-seat to portray mainstream Christianity’s most toxic ideas was super off-putting and we ultimately couldn’t finish this show.  Between the islamophobia (more like hey we’ll just hate him because he’s Muslim), and the atheist ~actually telling someone what happens when you fucking die~ being casually brushed off by a belief in the afterlife because of some “supernatural-ish creature” and a whole town being brainwashed by a cult: It could’ve been handled better and it just wasn’t.  The writer does a far better job stating this, and I encourage you to read the full article, but this really isn’t Flanagan’s best work. 

We didn’t need this, we needed something better.

Source Article: 

#Midnight Mass #mike flanagan #mikeflanaganuniverse #islamophobia #erasure #atheism #toxic christianity #the midnight gospel #horror

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Hello Theitsa, new follower here who just made an account to share my input on a past question about the term 'wog'. I'm a Greek-Australian in my early 20's and wog is a word I've heard used my whole life to describe Australians with Mediterranean/Balkan/Arab backgrounds. but I'd say it's mostly geared towards Greeks and Italians as they were the top 2 ethnic immigrant groups 60 years ago. I remember as a kid in the early 2000's wog was used as a way to derogatorily describe people like me due to the way we looked, dressed, languages we spoke, the food we ate, or the traditions we practiced that were different to the 'white-Anglo' norms. A common question when I was younger was "what is your background?", or "where are you from?" this was asked because me and my family don't 'look Australian', but thankfully now this sort of question is a lot rarer to hear. Back then I was somewhat ashamed of the way I spoke and made an effort to try and speak more 'proper' (an example of this is the youtube channel Superwog if you're curious who do comedy sketches exaggerating scenarios and the 'wog accent'). Nowadays I'm a lot more comfortable with my culture and identity and have embraced the unique way I speak. Mostly in the last 20 years the term wog has been used more and more by wogs as a way to connect with our shared culture and less and less by people using the word with a negative connotation. While I do sometimes hear it being used by non-wogs in a negative way, it's much more commonly used by us. I use the word freely and casually, and have no problems when my anglo or asian friends use it around me. Now it's mainly the intent behind the use of the word, generally not offensive, but it can be used offensively. On the note of experiencing racism as a Greek in Australia I will say that it does happen, definitely not to the same degree as Indigenous or Asian people. Me and my family have experience it in some form, from my yiayiades and papoudes, to my parents, to me and my siblings. Most often you'll hear something about Greeks being shady with money, poor, cheap, lazy, or gay, which is the most basic and surface level type of insult (the first my family experienced plenty owning and working in a cafe). A different example would be my sister and her friends at (a Christian) school being told that Greek's aren't Christian because they worship idols (eikones).

Another similar note would be to look into the Cronulla Riots from 2005, as a very public incident of racism towards wogs. Often groups of young wogs are seen as 'thuggish' or hooligans due to being loud or being into car culture (loud, modded cars). For these reasons wogs are usually targeted a lot more by police especially while driving, I personally feel a lot more at risk of being pulled over while driving around compared to my non-wog friends, not to the extreme of fearing for my life like what many Black Americans experience, but enough that I don't feel completely safe. Sorry for the length but this topic really interests me for obvious reasons, I wanted to share a little of my personal experience as a Greek-Australian and a proud wog. Identity is quite important to me and something I've struggled with for a long time as someone who feels not 100% Greek when I'm in Greece, and not 100% Australian when I'm in Australia, I'm proud of my Greek culture and heritage, and I'm also proud of the country me and my parents grew up in and call home.

Γειαααα! Ευχαριστώ πολύ που έκανες λογαριασμό για να μας εξηγήσεις - και για το follow φυσικά 💙 Πρέπει να είμαστε σε επικοινωνία οι Έλληνες από όλο τον κόσμο 💙

#greeks in Australia #Greek diaspora #wog #answered #greek speaks #Greek Australian

[queerprayers]

I've a question: since you don't call the old testament the old testament and instead the hebrew bible, what do you call the new testament?

I found this discussion, but i'm still not sure what to call it:

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/73806/is-the-title-new-testament-offensive-to-jews-alternative-neutral-name

link here

That's such a great discussion, beloved, thank you for sending it my way! 

This is definitely something I've thought about, and I don't really have a definite answer—and as we can see, people have lots of different opinions on it! I generally use "New Testament," for a few reasons, some of which people in that thread mentioned. It's a purely Christian collection of documents, so no other faith has named it or used it before us. Other religions find value in it (like many Muslims), but there's no debate as to its origins and most common continued use. 

There's no pretending that I don't believe the same God that made a covenant with the Israelites made a covenant with the world through Jesus—that's a pretty standard Christian belief, and I won't say that that's not what the New Testament symbolizes for us. I do believe that early Christian writings are the most recent Scripture humanity has, therefore they are new comparatively to the other Scriptures we value. One could make the same point about saying "Old Testament," but I guess the difference for me is the "Old Testament" already had a name when Christians began using it. It was already a set of writings treasured over generations. I value it, but it is not mine, not really. I think it does matter that the first Christians were Jewish and using their own writings, but very quickly that was not the case.

For me, the Hebrew Bible is the set of Jewish Scriptures that God had a hand in writing, that faithful people kept alive through the years, and, when God became Man, they're the words he grew up with and valued. (This is not a Jewish belief, and it is an appropriation of Jewish documents, there's no getting around that.) The collection of writings by early Christians that we have kept and value the most, that we believe God also had a hand in, is called the New Testament, because in comparison to Scripture passed down over time, it had recent historical context when it was collected. Now, in the 21st century, these writings are also Scripture passed down over time—but it is God's most recent gift to us. 

If I was in a Jewish space/talking directly to a Jewish person/discussing Judaism, I might say "Christian Bible," just for clarity and respect? Because as the thread pointed out, "new" has implications of replacement and higher quality. If I"m talking about, for instance, just the Gospels, being more specific would be easier and clearer, but this isn't always possible. At this time, I do feel comfortable with "New Testament" as a contextual naming of our own documents, and understand that "Hebrew Bible" is the most agreed-upon general and respectful name for the Jewish Scriptures by non-Jewish people.

There are so many other points someone could bring up. I've heard Jewish people say that they want a distinction between the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Bible/Tanakh, for instance, because they're translated and collected differently, and mean such different things to the religions that value them—they want them to be considered different books completely, and so a Christian calling part of their Bible the Old Testament would then be respectful and would let Jewish people define and translate their own documents, apart from Christianity. 

I think context really matters! If you're comparing Christian and Jewish translations of the same scriptures, using both "Old Testament" and "Tanakh" might the clearest way to do so. If a Christian is comparing the two sets of scriptures they value, and used Old vs. New Testament, that has a completely different connotation than a Christian saying Jewish people "used the Old Testament" in worship!

There's not one answer, and what is preferred by some will be offensive to others, but thank you so much for continuing the conversation with me! I welcome others' perspectives in the notes.

<3 Johanna

#asks

[walkinginland]

Happy Pride, friend! 1, 11, 21, 24

Halloooooooooo pal!!

1 - Which labels do you use?

Ace and Queer! i have been toodling around with sapphic lately but it's less of an identity label and more of an unformed Concept™ floating around. she's in development.

11 - Favorite (or just one you love) piece of LGBT media?

oooooo this is HARD. Queer As Folk (US) will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the first tv shows i watched with queer relationships on screen. It has its problems, of course, but it's so so important. 911 Lone Star has meant a lot to me this past year, I think partly because of how it's not specifically LGBT media. It's just. A normal procedural that happens to have great rep. It doesn't ignore the specific struggles that LGBT people face, but it doesn't make that the character's whole story. They're just there, living their dramatic procedural lives, and doing it queer.

books are media, right? SO HERE ARE SOME. the Green Creek series (my beloved, beloved queer werewolves), The Charm Offensive, Felix Ever After, The Last Binding books, The Starless Sea

21 - What message would you give to your younger self?

There is something different about you and the way you understand relationships. There is something different, but there is nothing wrong. You are not broken or less-than.

24 - Do you practice any religion, if so how does it play into your LGBT identity? Do you feel welcomed by your spiritual community?

I do! I am a fairly devout Christian of the Protestant variety. I believe that God beautifully and wonderfully made queer people and queer relationships, and rejoices in us when we love and care for each other. I believe he celebrates with his trans children when they join him in the act of creation by finding who they were meant to be.

I have struggled to come to that place. In many ways I am still struggling with it. I was raised very definitively not to believe that (the "hate the sin, love the sinner" mantra was definitely prevalent), and it has been and continues to be difficult to untangle the homophobia from the orthodox doctrines I still cherish and hold dearly to. It's ongoing work! I'm not rushing myself, and I'm trying to give myself the grace to study and pray and take my time processing. But at the root of it all, belief is a choice, and I choose to love God and I choose to believe he made and loves me too.

I have not yet found an affirming church, but I will one day. I'm in a bit of a limbo situation living at home with my parents and being in the closet and attending the church I was raised in. It is full of people who love me and raised me and taught me many wonderful, important, good things. It is also misogynistic and homophobic lmao. dualities. Once I move out I will quickly be on the church-hunt 😂

from these pride asks!!

#ask game #sorry for dumping my religion trauma leah alsejfaijes HERE WE ARE #PCUSA here i come back to my ROOTS yall have liturgy and you ordain women and LGBT people ilu

[the1975attheirverybest]

I know we don't do concepts anymore and I didn't ask if I could do this so feel free no to answer.

Do you think Matty would be a willing to participatant in his gf Christmas activities if she was super into it? You know handmade decorations, baking, decorating together, maybe she has her little traditions and she wants to make him part of them but she also doesn't want to be pushy. How do you think he would be?

Also I want to add, I know you're Muslim but we talked a bit about Christmas traditions and Matty in private so I felt like asking, but of course if this is inappropriate or even offensive feel free to not answer it and I apologise in advance.

Yeah I’m gonna receive a lot of hate for this probably but idgaf so it’s fine. I actually love the Christmas season as a holiday and don’t see a problem with Muslims/ really any religion celebrating or enjoying it. At least the way that consumer capitalist culture has turned the holiday into something else. It’s not like you’re altering your belief system or “worshipping” some other thing. And contrary to what conservative Christian evangelists want white people to believe, Muslims believe in Jesus so lmaoooo. My point is I don’t mind at all and I think it’s cool that there a time of the year where expressing your gratitude to loved ones with gifts and cards and stuff, being kind and extra giving or charitable etc is a thing. (Suck my dick haters idc)

I actually have a little blurb coming about that where his gf drags him to stores to do christmassy things while on tour for some sense of “normalcy” and stuff.

I think he’d definitely moan and groan and complain at first but like seeing how happy it makes her makes him smile and then he like starts giving his opinions about which garlands are best or which candle they should get or what to put in George’s stalking or whatever and he’s like fully into it before he even realizes haha

[bbcgloryhole]

I know what you wantvme to think of my sister.

I'm very suspicious, not spic. Or hispanic. Nigger.. glitch in the system.

Of her reading what I write as if she owns or has undeniable domain over everything I use my words for.

So she can protect her interests, her new husband's interests. (Christianity and beef genocide) the description is direct and graphic, as it would be to somebody who is defensive to the welfare of other living things on the earth. I used to be vegan, I still feel strongly about animal rights and ethics issues. it makes things not very compatible.

I'm not Christian. That also makes things not very compatible.

She's very strict, as some denominations can be. She more or less shuns people that use profanity.

Avoids television. Does not watch R-rated movies, and does not listen to sinful music. so not a lot of common ground there.

Not all Christians are that rigid. My parents and grandparents definitely were not that rigid. My mom's side or my dad's. My dad told me he didn't believe in God. Then 13 years later after he died. I learn he's fundraising in support of my sister's Christian values. Whatever. No big deal for me.

My stepmother was not very Christian, more nature oriented. She openly spoke about wishing her mom would hurry up and die, and it wasn't motivated by an inheritance either.

Christianity was absent for the most part with the exception of celebrating the major national holidays and traditions with our families. My mom and dad accommodated and supported her interests and christian values, without it affecting how we all get along.

There's tons of foul-mouthed alcoholic catholics, doing cocaine and cheating on their "old ladys" at country-western dive bars.

It's not difficult for us to get along, as long as we avoid each other's sensitive subjects or trigger areas. That doesn't leave us with a whole lot in common to talk about with each other when we hang out. I'm very familiar with the Christian religion I read the old and new testament cover to cover and studied it in Bible study groups 6 out of 7 days a week for two years before deciding I respectfully cannot coexist in their congregations and decided to not baptize and left the church. They bring anger and unrest to my soul, I do the same with them and making a negative stir is not conducive to my advancement or prosperity or survival in life.

I have very strong feelings about the crucifixion that are definitely not in line with what they teach or indoctrinate about Jesus Christ or the details of his martydom.

They think it's a wonderful miracle. I think it's highly offensive, and the biggest middle finger the human race could possibly give to God.

Maybe she's secretly a satanist which would make her good at lying and not talking about her problems or apologizing.

But I'm not into really bad cliche's when the surprise ending occurs.

So I'm very cautious.

Since we're busy respecting each other's feel8ngs.

I know that uncle buttfuck watching from the outside of the equation would probably speculate about or try to put in my head about things.

That's to assume uncle buttfuck isn't her bail bondsman or "get out of jail for free" card any time she's in a predicament like the other bonds-children on his personal toll free number anywhere in the world.

There's what I want to believe. And there's what I believe out of necessity to survive and keep myself protected.

That she still bears a grudge about something that she won't talk about.

Maybe she's mad over sibling rivalry shit.

Maybe she doesn't know what happened between me and my mother to cause things to go the way that they did.

Maybe it's none of how many non family member's business to know. Maybe it's none of anybody's business to anybody that didn't live there in our family home at the time.

Maybe the cops should have done their fucking job right instead of "letting family work things out on their own".

Maybe my sister resents me because my mother left me anything to inherit after she passed away, to speculate on what she or other family might have heard from my mother's side of the story while I was gone.

My mother was who decided to leave anything for me to inherit, she decided to forgive, when somebody else probably didn't.

Everything would have gone to my sister to inherit if it wasn't for my mother's decision.

What I did with my inheritance has nothing to do with her and has never been built around offenses against her, or her Christianity, or her church, or everybody in the church she network's with.

I lived my life to make myself happy, and take care of my thungs and honor my mothers things she left behind.

not focusing on how can I use my money to destroy or piss off other family.

I'm ignoring the fag trying to insert his concerns or opinions by glotching what I type.

Ot's probably a gag or joke that makes reference to something I wrote in my diary from 30 fucking years ago. After I threw it in the garbage because I caught somebody reading and disrespecting it, so I threw it out, thinking that if they had any fucking manners they would take the hint.

Anything else you found in the trash is yours to fycking die wondering about. I already had conversations with her. And she had her opportunity to give me a piece of her mind about it.

Who the fuck are you to try to put the screws to me, when she and I have made peace over the issues you try to guilt me about, fly-on-the-wall lawless family nigger.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,

Disrespect for disrespect. Nigger.

What about Poison for poison?

What about dollar for a dollar?

Theft for a theft?

Attempted murder for an attempted murder?

Homelessness for a homelessness?

Disrespect for disrespect.

Insult for an insult.

Nigger.

Maybe it's all for the sake of appearances and she believes the score isn't "settled".

Maybe she's guilty of something.

I'm not her keeper, and I know better than to try to take matters into my own hands by myself.

Maybe she's protecting somebody, herself or others.

I was estranged for 13 years, I have no idea and everybody is too polite to speak their mind about what happened between my mother and I.

Everybody is dickless when it comes to just being direct and asking me questions about the things that were never explained.

Who would prosper from further dissolution between my surviving family members?

My sister? Her new husband? Uncle buttfyck?

My second cousins or their deceased father that was part of the c.i.a.?

Maybe they're the Flys on the wall.

Maybe uncle buttfuck is. Maybe he's the fucking ghost in the machine.

Maybe my old roomates that I lived with in 2001 during the 9-11 attacks and my grandmother's funeral, and that kicked me out after paying their rent to sleep on their living room couch and live as their fucking maid for two slobs that never washed a fucking dish, are snitches for uncle buttfuck the bail bondsman.

Probably blackmailed if they're closeted fags or using cocaine or meth. Nevermind if it's just motivated by using people.

Are you going to cry if I never look back for you? Are you going to die if I never look back for you?

Are you going to try to murder me or force me to return to you illegally for not hunoring your piece ofvshit ego?

#nigger

[angeltreasure]

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way because I’m genuinely trying to find out more —- I am Anglican Christian but I’ve always been interested and recenrly been looking more into the Catholic Church so I wondered why Purgatory is a thing and why catholics typically believe this? :)

I don’t mind don’t worry! I’m actually really excited that you asked!

Purgatory for us is a thing definitely. In a general sense, Catholics believe there has to be a temporary place of purification of sin before you enter Heaven. As Catholics, we believe no one can enter Heaven with sin. That’s the most basic concept of why we believe in Purgatory.

This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition) says about Purgatory…

“The Final Purification, or Purgatory

1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgement, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore [Judas Maccabaeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.” From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”

- Purgatory #1030-1032 page 291. Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition.

My mom just tossed me this book. It’s excellent. I highly recommend it for you!:

“This pocket-sized overview of the doctrines and practices of the Church regarding the Holy Souls in Purgatory equips you to explain and defend one of the greatest works of mercy. Compact and accessible, the booklet draws on Scripture, Tradition, and the teachings and testimonies of the saints, such as St. Stanislaus Papczynski and St. Faustina Kowalska. See how you can help the Holy Souls.

Marian Press”

🔥——-

If you want to learn more in depth about Purgatory, see these:

There is also:

This one you have to pay for:

#asks #Purgatory #Catholic #Catholicism #reference