#cults in ireland

[burnitalldownism]

College Green, Dublin.

Dublin, Ireland.

These people are insane (derogatory)

[schlock-luster-video]

On July 26, 1991, Edward Scissorhands debuted in the United Kingdom.

[movieassholes]

There is no such thing as disunity. There is only the great binding nothingness of things. At one time, we were one. We will all be one again.

Arthur Parsons - The Empty Man (2020)

[msclaritea]

John McGuinness (politician) - Wikiwand

John James McGuinness (born 15 March 1955) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency since the 1997 general election. He was appointed Chair of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach in April 2016. He served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 2011 to 2016 and as a Minister of State from 2007 to 2009.

Personal life

McGuinness was born in Kilkenny and educated in Kilkenny Christian Brothers Secondary School. He holds a Diploma in Business Management. He is married to Margaret Redmond and they have three sons and one daughter. His eldest son Andrew is a Fianna Fáil County Councillor on Kilkenny County Council and served as Mayor from 2014 to 2015.

Political career

He first entered local politics in 1979 when he won a seat on Kilkenny Borough Council and was a subsequent mayor of the city from 1996 to 1997. He was the third generation of his family to serve on this council. From 1991 until the abolition of the dual mandate in 2003, he was also member of Kilkenny County Council, where his father, Michael McGuinness, was the longest-serving councillor (1959–99).

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 1997 general election. He was vice-chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee in the 29th Dáil and a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committees for European Affairs, Enterprise and Small Business, Justice, and Women's Rights in the 28th Dáil.

In July 2007, he was appointed by the government on the nomination of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for Trade and Commerce. He was re-appointed by the government on the nomination of Taoiseach Brian Cowen to the same position on 13 May 2008. On 22 April 2009, as part of cost-cutting measures due to the Irish financial crisis, the Cowen reduced the number of Ministers of State from 20 to 15. McGuinness was among the seven junior ministers who were not reappointed.

McGuinness then revealed a testy relationship with his senior minister Mary Coughlan, and considerable disagreement with policy in the department. On 24 April 2009, he criticised Coughlan and Cowen for their lack of leadership being given to the country. He said: "She's not equipped to deal with the complex issues of dealing with enterprise and business within the department. And neither is the department". McGuinness later rejected suggestions he campaigned to undermine Coughlan, when it was revealed that he had hired external PR advice in an effort to enhance his own profile as a Minister of State within the department.

In 2010, a political memoir that he co-wrote with Naoise Nunn, called The House Always Wins, was published by Gill & Macmillan.

In the 31st Dáil, McGuinness served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. He was the Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Small Business and Regulatory Framework from April 2011 to March 2016.

He declared that he would vote No in the 2015 referendum to allow same-sex marriage.

In the 32nd Dáil, McGuinness served as Chair of the Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach Committee.

He chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association.

NO, THE FUCK HE ISN'T. Cillian Murphy, Public School boy, married into one of THE most powerful families in Ireland. Given all of the news coming from that country, plus all of the Irish projects being pushed, here in the U.S., it's not a coincidence Murphy is in the running for an Oscar. See, it's not FOR him. It's for the family legacy.

[shaunthesheeep]

6 hours before hunger games to upbeat (not always) music

Yeah, Eurovision SO MUCH fun

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Colette Colfer

Published: Jan 17, 2024

A slow-burning religious revolution is transforming Ireland. The Catholic Church has waned to a smidgin of its former significance and much of the enormous space it once occupied in the Irish psyche has been vacated. A gap has appeared. We need to mind this gap.

At the same time as Catholicism is declining in importance, a new belief system centred around the concept of gender identity is gathering momentum, thrusting roots deep into the cultural fabric of Irish society, and filling parts of the expanse previously occupied by Catholicism.

This new belief system has implications for all sectors of Irish society including education, sports, legislation, and the media. It also influences popular individual understandings of the self.

‘I am large, I contain multitudes’ wrote Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892) in his famous poem Song of Myself. The kaleidoscopic complexity of the individual is often eclipsed when those espousing gender identity theory magnify gender identity out of proportion to other facets of the self.

Although the idea of gender identity is considered secular in nature, there are many religious parallels. A certain level of faith is required to believe in the existence of the scientifically unfalsifiable intangible internal essence that is the gendered self. This disembodied sense of self, elevated in importance above the body, mirrors ideas about the soul. Sacrificial rites involving the removal of healthy organs assert the primacy of gender identity that is bestowed with a sacred quality.

There are echoes of holy days and religious seasons in new calendars listing dates associated with gender identity. These include Agender Pride Day (19th May), Non-Binary Awareness Week (in July), International Pronouns Day (20th October), and Transgender Awareness Month (November). There are also quasi-religious symbols, priest-like leaders, slogans that sound like mantras and compulsory articles of belief including that sex is ‘assigned’ at birth, that everyone has a gender identity, and that social transition and affirmation are the path to finding one’s true self (or salvation).

Societies are always changing. When 108-year-old Florence Pannell was interviewed on UK television in 1977 about growing up in Victorian England, she was asked what had changed most during her lifetime. Florence responded: ‘Everything! Nothing is the same! Everything is changed!’ To be alive is to be caught in a web of change. The rate of religious change in Ireland is happening faster than the rate of population change. The Irish population rose 46% from 3.5 to 5.1 million between 1991 and 2022. During the same period, the number of people with ‘no religion’ increased by over 1,000 per cent.1

Ireland in the 1900s was steeped in Catholicism. Church steeples punctured skylines symbolising the highest societal value and pinpointing the geographical locus of the community. Streets and remote country roads were dotted with grottos of the Virgin Mary. Silhouettes of huge crosses were visible on hills and rocky outcrops. Weeks revolved around Sunday mass. People’s entire lifelines were patterned with religious rituals.

Catholicism in Ireland reached its peak in 1961 when Roman Catholics made up a phenomenal 94.9 per cent of the population. Since then, however, the proportion of Catholics has been in decline. By 2022 it had dropped to 69% and since then, the tide of Catholic belief has been receding further still.

Receding tides require attention. In 1907, a tidal wave resulted in the deaths of 70% of the inhabitants of Simeuleu in Indonesia. Survivors told the story of an earthquake followed by a receding sea and then a tidal wave. They referred to the sequence of events as smong. Stories of smong were passed down through the generations in popular lullabies and poems.

When a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on the 26th of December 2004 killed an estimated quarter of a million people, the island of Simeuleu was an anomaly in the region as there was only a minimal loss of life. Just seven victims were recorded from the population of almost eighty thousand. The high survival rate was accredited to the stories of smong. Islanders had recognised the signs of the retreating sea after an earthquake and had rushed to higher ground.

Declining religious adherence has potentially important implications. Sascha Becker and Hans-Joachim Voth point out, for example, that: ‘As the role of religion in public life declined from the late 19th century onwards, new ideologies and totalitarian world-views spread’. Becker and Voth mention that the ideologies of both Communism and Naziism were more popular in highly secularised areas of interwar Germany.

The decline of Catholicism in Ireland and the concomitant increase of those with no religion warrants careful consideration. Catholicism has faded significantly from the public sphere, scarpered from centre stage to a quieter corner in the wings. The stage is now peopled by those proclaiming the new gospel of ‘equality, diversity, inclusion’ and the stage is festooned with sacralised Progress Pride flags signalling the adoption of gender identity theory. The ideology of nationalism has more recently made a notable public appearance side stage and new belief systems or older ideologies could also emerge and rise to prominence.

Ireland’s National Census of 2022 indicates a religiously heterogeneous society with over fifty separate categories of religion outlined. This compares to the National Census of 1981 when just eight separate categories of religion were recorded and all the Christian denominations combined constituted 99.4% of the total population. A look at just some of the 2022 categories and numbers of adherents gives an indication of the level of religious change: Islam: 81,930; Hindu: 33,043; Taoists: 200; Scientologists: 132; Satanism: 189; Jedi Knight: 1,800, Jehovah’s Witness: 6,332; Buddhist: 9,053. A low-key online campaign in the run-up to the 2022 Census encouraged those with concerns about gender identity theory to identify their religion on the census form as ‘Believer in Biology’. Although the official census data did not publish details, a Freedom of Information request showed that at least 163 of the 8,064 in the ‘Other stated religion’ category identified their religion as ‘Believer in Biology’.2

Minding the gap vacated by traditional religion that is currently being filled, at least in part, by gender identity theory involves paying careful attention to the latest top-quality research on gender dysphoria, following best medical practice, developing guidelines based on evidence rather than ideology, allowing space for a diversity of beliefs and for healthy civil discussion that allows open conversation and respectful dialogue about the implications of gender identity theory on wider society including on single-sex spaces, sports, and children’s psychological and physical well-being.

The highest point in the urban skyline of Ireland today is the satellite pylon rather than the church steeple. This signals a switch in societal values and the locus of community formation. Social media is where new belief systems are promulgated and where younger generations are most likely to seek and find meaning. The trains of communication in the internet era are fast-moving. Mind the gap.

-

According to the National Census, 66,270 people had no religion in 1991. This rose to 736,210 in 2022 – a difference of 1,011% ↩︎

The numbers for ‘Believer in Biology’ only include records processed after November 2022. ↩︎

==

This speaks to the "Substitution Hypothesis," which suggests that as traditional religions decline, other quasi- and religious-like practices fill the void to satisfy human tendency towards religiosity.

[mars-ipan]

i think one of my friend groups has accidentally evolved into a queerplatonic polycule and we’re all kinda here for it

[isawthismeme]

[dirt-clod]

where was i when i milked a cow....

[possibly-a-table-or-just-gay]

Ok but Darius is the character who invokes the Titan more than anyone. You can get really creative with that depending on how much you want the cult of the Titan to be resembling of christianity (with the premise that Belos institutionalized it in that form because it was familiar to him and easier to fake)

EXACTLY!!!!!

Like imagine he was raised religious by his parents and lost his belief when he became coven head after seeing the "all holy Emperor" murder his beloved mentor.

But like. The habits are still there. He associates the cult of the Titan with his family and his childhood. Try as he might it's really fucking hard to see the emperor for what he is and not be absolutely disgusted with himself for believing in him.

In the finale he wears a titan shaped belt, which does seem like it's the new symbol of the Isles,

But still, what happened between season 2b and WAD that made him comfortable with it?

[felixhculpa]

Banshees.

[schlock-luster-video]

On August 19, 1988, Beetlejuice debuted in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Here's some new Lydia Deetz art!

[panicinthestudio]

Saint Patrick's Bell and Shrine, December 17, 2022

Bell: 8th–9th century C.E., iron

Shrine: c. 1100 C.E., copper-alloy box, silver gilt, gold, silver, gilt-copper, rock crystal, colored stones

26.7 x 15.5 cm (National Museum of Ireland, Dublin)

Speakers: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker

Smarthistory

[cutemeat]

charlie kelly in s15 was like... finally back to core charlie.. like s1-s3 charlie thats HIM!!!

[msclaritea]

LAVENDER MAFIA SPLASHES DOWN AT THE GOLDEN GLOBES!

WE'RE ALL SAVED!

HERE COMES THAT PALPABLE HIT OF SOFT MASCULINITY!!

FUCK ALL OF YOU.

[felicereviews]

I Saw What You Did (1965) 82 minutes, Unrated

Joan Crawford attracts a certain kind of person to her movies. Sort of an underground hard-luck type person. Then her scheming and her necklaces don't seem so odd but rather bring admiration about how ballsy she is in her pictures.

I Saw What You Did belongs in this cult series because it highlights a cult icon in her swan-song-hey-day. Never one to say "I'm too old to be his love interest" - Joan is all over her neighbor John Ireland, just waiting for his wife to leave. Don't worry - she leaves, in a body bag.

Meanwhile some innocent girls are prank calling everyone and get a hold of Ireland and tell him, 'I saw what you did and I know who you are.' Which makes Ireland a smidge mad so he tries to find the girls and kill them too.

OK? Kinda wonderful but also dumb. But the weirdest thing about this movie is that the opening and closing music belong on The Brady Bunch while what goes on in the middle is a deadly series of encounters with a murderer. A murderer who surprised me with an almost perfect butcher knife throw. Missed it by that much.

And the ending - well - the ending is one for the ages.

But for a minute - let me go back to Joan Crawford. She made her 'comeback' in 1962 with Baby Jane. It was wildly successful but her rivalry with Bette Davis kept her from making any more pictures with her. So she went on and found her own way to stay in pictures in the 60's. After Baby Jane she made Strait Jacket, I Saw What You Did, and Berserk. She did some TV too but these are really her last pictures. Her final picture, the notoriously bad Trog, is still kind of wonderful because of Joan's devotion to the picture. It makes me sad that she ended up in all these schlock movies because she only ever wanted to be a star - then again - she is a star in I Saw What You Did. She is the star who brings the teens and the murderer into the same frame while never mussing her up-do or hitching up her skirt. She's a real class act.