#religious issues

[roseupinmyhead777]

can someone please cleanse me of this religious bullshit

[icarian-iscariot]

Confession Booth Dinner

When your boyfriend brings you home for dinner, the table is dead. The wood is jagged and splintered, and it wasn’t before.

The forks are crooked and the lamps flicker when his parents open the door to a boy with a nervous smile and fingers clenched around a bundle of lilies and baby’s breath.

Knock knock knock-knock knock

You’re young. You’re too young. You’re knocking on the door of your boyfriend’s house, and there’s a crucifix on the door.

Maybe Jesus had knocked on his boyfriend’s parents door, and that’s why he’s hanging on this one.

Maybe he’s warning you.

Maybe you don’t give a damn, because being like Jesus is a funny thought that keeps you warm against the frosty wood—despite the implications.

Maybe you still smile when the door opens and shake the hands that feel nothing like his, cold and iron and dizzying, and stare into eyes that made you wonder how far the apple was allowed to fall from the tree until it was roped back in.

Maybe Eve was a martyr.

You sit across from them.

You sit beside him, a chasm of three inches between you.

You still feel eons away from all of them, and you sit on the pew trying to ignore the arsenic lacing their lips as they speak at you. Not to you. You don’t have a name in their heads.

They call you The Corrupter.

A monster too terrible to speak its name.

Their smiles search for their son that you’ve stolen, and their mouths froth with poison and careful hysteria—a mealtime gracelessness.

The roast smells like a Bible. You swallow, and Leviticus settles in your stomach. Genesis gets stuck in your throat. You choke; you swallow. Timothy and Romans infect your tongue with some kind of holy virus, but you swallow anyways, because it makes him happy, and his grin is a million choirs all at once.

You look to your left. It melts mercifully in his mouth, sweeter than prayer on his lips.

You wonder whether he feels suffocated in churches like you do, or if the strangled oak gives him more oxygen dead than alive.

You look to your right, and the bookshelf glares at you with hundreds of Gods perched on their pedestals of paper and ink. A thousand slaughtered eyes stare at you from that bookshelf, and you wonder if those hands—cold and iron and dizzying—could have made him a thousand and one.

You look in front of you, and you try to think of any possible way arsenic and iron and splintered wood sired something as holy as him. How they created his sugar stained breath, and Cheshire smiles, and strawberry freckles you can worship like constellations stretching millennia beyond your reach.

Palms melt together, psalms ring in your ears, and the boy to your left, from ice and poison, is the only god you’ll ever revere.

You decide you’ll pray to cherry-cola lips, and giggles over solo cups of the unholiest wine. Let’s sing a hymn with the choir of streetlight shadows—to the moths that chew away at our crumbling bodies and veins.

You’ll kneel at an alter of tangled sheets. An alter of frozen breath and fingertips, and quilts draped over your wrongdoings like the constellations that whisper your story for eternity. The screen of his window hides under his bed, and falls to sleep with a smile.

You do as well. Because there’s a boy in your arms that loves you despite the one thousand and one crosses that love apparently bears.

[mariusslonelysoul]

I fully blame supernatural, mr collins and jackles' jacting joices for me just now starting a 180 episode novela from 2015 about a girl pretending to be a nun and then falling for a priest, who also falls for her

[naliya]

I have come to truly hate the sentence "you could just be polite" because you know... While politeness is nice, there are plenty of situations where people can't really afford it.

I've been thinking about what happened to Mila in France. A lesbian teenager who was insulted, send death threats and vilified for expressing her dislike of Islam, and often, when people talk about situations such as those, their go to answer to justify their discomfort is "yes blasphemy isn't a law in France, but you could also be polite" or "yes free speech is important but you could also be polite", "yes shooting up a bunch of cartoonists is bad, but they could also have been polite" and on and on it goes.

But here is the unfortunate and uncomfortable truth: when you are talking of an ideology who yield an immense amount of power worldwild, who opresses people in impressive scales in states where the scriptures are made law, and of a book who - in itself - doesn't have any rights, there are plenty of situation and cases where politeness is a luxury one can't afford. And moreover, not everybody's idea of what's polite is the same, so who gets to decide? Telling a gay (!!!) teenager that she should be polite toward an idea (an idea, not a person, let that sink in for a minute) that hates her is frankly absurd.

You should be mindful of Muslims, sure, but no, your ideology (no matter which) doesn't deserve my respect nor my politeness just because it's sacred to you, it's not sacred to me and if I think it's a bad idea, I have every right to say so. Not only are you not forced to listen to me, but moreover my rights don't end where your feelings begin, and you could just debate instead of asking me to be polite toward a book that wants me dead.

Politeness is nice and sweet but it doesn't get you anywhere when dealing with issues such as those, you cannot tell people struggling under such ideologies that politeness matters when it comes to fighting their oppression. Because it truly and sincerely doesn't.

Ideas don't have rights, they do not deserve my respect nor my tolerence for only just existing, only people do.

[whumpitywhumpwhump]

👿 + ⭕✒ if you feel like it!

👿 - demon +  ⭕ - collared +  ✒ - carving or branding

TW: branding, collar, chains, religious issues

Whumpee blinked awake slowly, head fuzzy, vision blurry. What happened?

They sat up, blinking rapidly, when they heard the clinking. A second later, they registered the weight, settled around their neck. As their fingers mapped it’s surface, it clicked--they were collared. Hard, stiff metal, wrapped tightly around their neck, and a secure chain linked at the back. 

Immediately, they began to pry at it, trying to slide their fingers under the band--they needed to get it off. When it didn’t budge, they jumped to their feet, and tried to walk to the door of the plain room they were left in.

The collar yanked them back after a few feet--they choked for a second before stepping back. They gasped from the pressure.

The door swung open in front of them, and a young woman sauntered in, swinging a cane around.

“Thought I heard ya moving around in here. How do ya like it?”

They tipped their head down and lunged at her, horns first. The chain jerked them back and they tumbled to the floor, coughing. 

“So you’re as stupid as you are evil. Hilarious.”

Evil? The only people that ever called them evil were those who wanted to pin their sins on someone--and those people were frequently...well, violent.

They looked up at her, glaring. She chuckled, tossing her head back. He saw a sunburst on a chain around her neck--yes, she was one of those. 

The woman stepped forward.

“When I saw you resting in that alley, I knew this was my chance to prove myself, prove my goodness, and you, hun, are gonna help me.”

She swung the cane up that she’d been holding, and they saw the same holy symbol at the end of it, carved in gold. She extended it, and they scrambled backwards, away from it. They didn’t want to know what she planned to do with it. 

The chain pulled taut before them, keeping them from moving back further. She still approached, a confident smile on her dimpled face. She held out the cane, with the symbol at the bottom, and touched it to his cheek.

It burned, like fire and metal and acid and--and--it was hot and they were screaming and it was burning--

The cane pulled back from their face, but the pain didn’t stop. The side of their face throbbed, hot, pulsing. Their fingers reached up and gingerly brushed over the tender, scorched skin. The holy mark was set into their skin, and as they teared up, the salty drops stung over the burns. 

She chuckled, and before they could move away, she pressed the cane down against their midriff. The shrieked, back arching, as the skin seared and blistered beneath it. When she pulled back, they dropped, limply, against the floor. Every breath pulled at the burn, sapping their strength. They moaned, pain too sharp for silence.

“Can you burn the hell out of a devil? I’d really like to know.” Her eyes were wickedly bright, and as she leaned over them, their vision hazed to an indistinct blur. Distantly, they felt the sting of another burn arriving on their thigh, and then everything was black.

[ahsokalivesbitch]

Are you for or against Jedi, even in spite of their mistakes?

Okay so I’m going to have to sincerely beg your pardon forbringing my own personal religion/spirituality into this discussion, but itabsolutely plays a role in how I view the Jedi, and the question of whether Ithink it’s important this saga have the Order eventually reestablished, orwhether it really and truly is ‘time for the Jedi to end’. I am in no waytrying to push my religion on anybody else, or even trying to coerce anybody toagree with me about the Jedi. This isall, 100%, just me expressing my own personal thoughts and observations. Iunderstand if others don’t agree with them.

Philosophically speaking, I am a very proud, you might even say ‘devout’,Christian. I’m also proudly bisexual,devoutly feminist, pro-gay and transgender rights, pro-abortion, anti-capitalist,and a lot of things certain people would have you believe is decidedly non-Christian. 

In my own very personal study of religious philosophy, I don’t believethat my stance on any of the aforementioned issues is in any way incongruentwith the teachings of my Lord. In fact it’s the exact opposite for me: I amcompletely and irrevocably convinced that my God has always and will alwaysstand on the side of the marginalized and oppressed.

That’s not to say I’m unaware of the very real and veryproblematic ideas espoused by certain other figures in the Bible. Or the rolemany powerful religious institutions have and continue to play in upholdingoppressive attitudes rather than tearing them down. While I’ve never feltcompelled to give up my faith of choice, as I don’t blame God for humans whoexercise their free will to be shitbags, I’ve certainly wondered whether itwould be best for me to give up the title ‘Christian’ and all the baggage thattends to come with it. Rebrand myself as something else to better distancemyself from these ‘communities’ who dedicate themselves to things I cannot reconcilewith the God I know. And I know I’m not alone. Hell, even William P. Young,author of the bestselling novel “The Shack”, incorporated a very candidconversation into his book where Jesus bluntly asks the main character, “Do Ilook like a ‘Christian’ to you, Mack?” Honestly, that line hit home for me in a very real way.

But what has kept me from turning my back on the legacy ofChristianity altogether is the fact that my religion is not a monolith. Not all priests and pastors arebible-thumping, fire-and-brimstone-spewing judgmental monsters who want nothingmore than to put the fear of hell into you. Many if not most are very genuinein their desire to serve and help others, and I’ve had the fortune of connectingwith a number of them who not only welcome LGBTQ individuals like myself intotheir churches with open arms, but also proudly perform gay and lesbian weddings,rebuke discrimination and denial of women’s reproductive rights from theirpulpits, and advocate openly for gay and transgender rights.

On a more broader level, for centuries there have been innumerable churches around the world who devote countless time, money,and resources to feeding and clothing the poor, sheltering the homeless, providingresources to single mothers and orphans, providing sanctuary for hunted-down immigrantsand refugees, helping abandoned and abused animals. There also have and continue tobe MANY Christian minority groups (not just in America) who were able to drawupon the religion as inspiration to push back against their oppressors and succeed. There were thousands ofChristians present at the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, and Muslim banprotests this past year alone.

On a very personal level—both times my sister was diagnosed withcancer, not a day went by when she didn’t receive a letter, phone call, goodiebasket, you name it, from one of her pastors or fellow parishioners. Wheresomebody didn’t offer to come and help her watch the kids, clean the house,cook her food, whatever she needed.

Two months ago I came to receive the very same response from myown Christian friends when my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer.

I’m in no way suggesting Christians deserve giant gold medals fromthe rest of the world for any of this. This, in my opinion, is just doing their fucking job. But these acts do matter, even in the shadow of all the horrible thingsother, more powerful institutions who use the Christian ™ label to advancetheir shitty causes perpetuate. Because they demonstrate that being a judgmental,small-minded, holier-than-thou hypocrite is not inherently some ‘consequence’ of what itmeans when you decide to become ‘Christian’. In fact the true purpose of thereligion always has been just theopposite.

So tying all of this into my view of the Jedi—it’s very hard toargue that, just from the stuff we’ve seen in the films/tv shows themselves,the Jedi Order didn’t operate under some pretty fucked-up ideals. Separatingchildren from their parents at infancy? Forbidding emotional attachment,marriage, a family of one’s own forever?That’s downright deplorable! And the canon itself frames how this directly leadto a number of people who couldn’t possiblyfit into such restrictive ‘ideals’ turning to the Dark Side of the Force,Anakin Skywalker himself being the most notable example. Based on all this, I understand entirely where certain peoplecome from when they think it might be better if Rey just dumps the mantle of ‘Jedi’altogether and starts an entirely new institution. Just like some days Iwish I could come up with a new way of framing my religious identity other than‘Christian’.

But here’s the thing—the Jedi also did a lot of things RIGHT. Theyespoused selflessness, serving the needs of the weak and helpless first, compassion, justice, therestoration of peace, fighting for the rights of those threatened by fascistideals, and using their abilities to defend others rather than gain any sort ofpower over them. You could also be literally ANY species or gender under the sun to be welcomed into their fold  and climb high in their ranks. They pushed back ceaselessly against greedy, opportunist, discriminating and oppressive forces in all forms and fought and gave their lives to try and uphold aRepublic that, while arguably equally flawed, at least stood resolutely fordemocratic ideals and equality among all species.

One of the things I LOVED LOVED LOVED most about Luke’scharacter development over the course of the OT is that he recognizes where his masters’ old ways of interpreting the will ofthe Force failed, while not forgetting where he also very much succeeded in learning from them. Becauseyes, the training and encouragement he receives from Ben in ANH (however brief)was absolutely ESSENTIAL to his ability to “trust the Force” and ultimately destroythe first Death Star. In TESB, his journey with the Force continues to be strengthenedexponentially by Yoda’s insistence he must forget all the arbitrary limitations convention taught him to believe about himself.That moment in the swamps of Dagobah where Yoda lifts the X-Wing after Luke’sattempt failed is very powerful, because it is here that Luke FINALLY learns heneeds to stop doubting himself, dammit tosucceed.

But even in spite of all that, Luke never, not once capitulatesto his masters’ insistence that he have to let go of all emotional attachmentfor good to win the day. He knowsintrinsically this is wrong. And ultimately it is his refusal to adhere tothis faulty principal, to abandon his friends in their time of need or killVader even when not one but TWO of his masters tell him he must (one frombeyond the grave), that ultimately leads to the long-promised achievement ofBalance in the Force. “I am a Jedi—like myfather before me.” It’s a very multilayered statement because he’s not justsaying ‘I’m a Jedi like my Dad’. He’s also saying “Like my Dad, I’m a Jedi whoembraces unconditional love and attachment, even in the face of my destruction”.

Because he KNOWS the Old Jedi’s interpretation of this issuewasn’t just wrong, it was actually downright COUNTER to what the Light Side ofthe Force really stands for (again, it was his unwavering love for his fatherthat brought him BACK TO THE LIGHT). But he doesn’t throw the baby out with thebath water either! He had enough insight to understand (before Disney and RianJohnson screwed this up for UNFATHOMABLE reasons), the best way to proceed inthe Force is to build on all the goodthat the Jedi espoused and accomplished, while preening away all the bad elementsat the same damn time.

Because, when you come down to it, if every successive generationjust throws away everything the previous generations learned and accomplishedbecause of how muddied or imperfect their general approach was in retrospect, nothing gets built. No legacies stand. Invaluablelessons inevitably get lost along the way as we just dismiss all of ourancestors’ insights as ‘meaningless’. And ultimately what would happen isanything anyone would attempt to build would just get burned to the ground over and over again as every humaninstitution tries and fails to achieve perfection. That’s not how people themselves work. We don’t abandon everything we are every time we realizewe need a major shift in our world view. We build upon all that we’ve already learned and experienced throughout ourlives, keep the good while casting off all the toxic bullshit. So why shouldour institutions be in any way different?

So yes, I am very much pro-Jedi, in spite of their many, many egregious mistakes. In fact(and this was actually a very good message that would have been SO MUCH BETTER COMMUNICATEDhad it not been delivered in the context of Luke’s shitty character retrograde)I DO believe failure is an invaluable teacher and absolutely 100% necessary ifany institution or humanity as a whole is to grow and improve on what camebefore. What I WANTED to see Luke achieve, but hopefully we’ll see through Rey,is a Jedi Order that, while probably never ‘perfect’, learns how to balancelove, family, and attachment while never abandoning the virtues of selflessnessand commitment to justice, compassion, and equality the Jedi always dedicatedthemselves to. There’s a beautiful legacyalongside all the fuckery there and, imo, it doesn’t deserve to be burned away alongwith all of the bad.

[our-political-revolution]

[world-of-socks]

I love them. Please go read my fanfiction!