relistening to tma (for the millionth time) i do kind of wonder if, for all father edwin burroughs talks abt blasphemy, and all of leitner and gerards talk about the fears NOT being gods, and that being a terrible analogy, if perhaps the fears targeted him so heavily because he was a man of faith. the cult of the lightless flame and the cult of the desolation were such good worshippers because they percieved the fears as such, and with bethany saying "it wants your faith" to him, maybe it was more of a recruitment than anything? maybe it's like. he was a faithful man and even though these have repeatedly been stated NOT to be gods, there was still recognition that father burroughs would be a good worshipper if he came around. alternatively, going back to the blasphemy thing, maybe the reason he was targeted was because the fears percieved HIM as blashphemous. jonny has very purposefully left religion out of tma for the most part, but maybe there was a manifestation of like. the fears obviously.dont really have feeling or intent but. maybe they thought it was just as blasphemous for him not to be worshipping them yk? i think religion is such a fascinating concept to explore in the tma universe yk and i kind of want to know other peoples opinions on this
