#post-christian society

[blackswaneuroparedux]

For 200 years we had sawed and sawed and sawed at the branch we were sitting on. And in the end, much more suddenly than anyone had foreseen, our efforts were rewarded, and down we came. But unfortunately there had been a little mistake…The thing at the bottom was not a bed of roses after all; it was a cesspool full of barbed wire. ... It appears that amputation of the soul isn't just a simple surgical job, like having your appendix out. The wound has a tendency to go septic.

- George Orwell, Notes on the Way

Orwell on post-Christian societies.

[trans-cuchulainn]

two questions to ask yourself when you start looking for pre-christian material in medieval literature:

1. when are these texts from

2. when did christianity come to this area

i can guarantee you in the vast majority of celtic-language sources (and others) the answer to 2. is several centuries before 1. and at that point you gotta ask yourself... how likely is it that these people would be writing about something that has not been a thing for them or anyone they know for, like, four hundred years (or, in many cases, eight or nine hundred years), especially given that most of the people doing that writing are not merely passively existing in a christian society but are, yunno, monks

there are exceptions! but there are way fewer exceptions than you think there are gonna be! and the exceptions are almost always extremely nebulous sub layers that can't be disentangled from the other layers (which are christian) with any certainty so are always somewhat speculative!

and most importantly those other layers are interesting too, but if you only ever treat them like dirt to dig through to get to something "real" underneath you're sure gonna be disappointed a lot of the time (and you're gonna miss a lot of cool shit that would be really exciting if this was an actual archaeological dig and not a metaphor)!!

[dovesndecay]

As someone who was not raised in any flavor of Christianity, I don't personally have a horse in this Culturally Christian or not debate.

What I will say is that some people sure are sounding a whole helluva lot like the white folks that wanna say because they are X marginalization, they don't benefit from white supremacy.

[field-s-of-flowers]

Hey. Hey what if one of the OG lyctors was Jewish pre-resurrection. Wouldn’t that be so fucked up

[rahabs]

It's just amazing to me that all the people who were having complete meltdowns in February over a video game are now on this website spitting some of the most vile, heinous, antisemitic rhetoric, is all.

[gxlden-angels]

When leaving christianity, it is very important to sort through it. I struggle with holding myself to a christian standard but with secular goals. Some feel the need to lash out and "sin" but you gotta sort thru why you feel like that action is a sin.

Cussing is a christian sin. Drinking and smoking is a christian sin. Even having chronic anxiety is a christian sin. None of these are actually automatically moral strikes against you. Most humans don't care. People live on a plane of neutrality. You can simply live. There is no counter ticking up and down with each choice you make. There is no scale weighed against you. You do not have to be perfect. You don't even have to be good. You can just exist in the gray space that is our existence.

[soldier-poet-king]

Like dgmw I LOVE villains. I want them to do rancid shit. I want them to be bad. This isn't some bookt*k cancelling "problematic" characters [ie real characters with actual flaws. Y'know like. Human people]. Mairon as annatar??? Oh we into that gaslight gatekeep girlboss era for him and it's possibly my fave version of him oops. And some stories really do just need unapologetic horrible villains who never feel a shred of remorse. Because that's the story being told.

But DEEP DOWN I'm always like. Redemption for all truther. It's INCURABLE.

[memento-mariii]

As a queer christian I know full well how conservative evangelical christianity, and western imperialist christianity in general, has been used and *is* still used as a tool of oppression, and I'm all for criticizing that, hell I'm one of its biggest critics,

But it's very disheartening to see takes like "christianity, as in the religion as a whole, is inherently oppressive and fascist and shouldn't be welcome in leftist spaces" on my dash. (<-this is not a strawman this is literally a paraphrased version of a post I saw)

I know these posts are coming as a reaction to the rise of christofascism in the fall of Roe and things like florida's Don't Say Gay bill,

And also for a lot of people from a place of personal hurt too, from their experiences of religious trauma or religious oppression,

And I'm not saying something like "the christians are the REAL oppressed class" or "the queers are oppressing christianity!" or anything ridiculous like that,

But idk. I guess it's emotionally draining to be told "you don't belong here" from conservative evangelicals all day and then. when you turn to secular queer/leftist spaces. you get told the same thing all over again.

[maddy-ferguson]

there's a post going around that says "“We need to strive to be more accepting of POC” you guys can’t even handle religion." and like. that's genuinely offensive to me lmao

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

america (and maybe the world?) is in a period of cultural stagnation. it's difficult to deny.

many people take this as evidence of america's inevitable decline.

but i don't think that's the case. cultural stagnation isn't /necessarily/ indicative of decline. on the contrary, it often precedes a cultural renaissance.

the italian renaissance was, after all, preceded by the dark ages.

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

by Tim Moore | Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022. During her storied lifetime, she reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, including 32 sovereign states. At 70 years and 214 days, she was the longest reigning British monarch in history...

[doikayt]

I’m a Jew and an atheist separately and at once fwiw. My Jewishness is ethnic, cultural, immutable. My atheism is ideological. The fact that I am an atheist isn’t really much inflected by the fact that I’m a Jew (other than to say Jewishness makes atheism easier lol), so stating “jews” and “atheists” as if they are two diametrically opposed categories makes me uncomfortable.

[shoutsindwarvish]

had a really good therapy session where we talked about internalized ableism and it was really helpful but i hadn’t looked directly at the sadness in a bit and it sucks :(

[the-trans-dragon]

Kinda a weirdly specific take, but I don’t know how anyone could reach the “all men are bad” conclusion unless they like. Never work retail.

Like, really? All men? I get a lot of annoying sexist remarks thrown at me all day (by men and women) but I also get treated with respect by men?

Sometimes a customer is a man who politely asks me where to find something and then thanks me and goes about his day?

Idk, I just can’t imagine living within society and never meeting a good man. Sometimes people are assholes. Sometimes they’re very gentle and understanding and want you to have a good day. Sometimes they’re men and sometimes they’re women.

Also every single person is going to have Morally Good and Morally Bad qualities according to an individuals specific, subjective definitions. The nicest man is going to have some bad qualities, but that doesn’t make him bad. A cruel woman is going to have some good qualities, but that doesn’t make her good.

What are they even judging people by? By actions? By intentions? By affect on the world? By how close the person is to 100% meeting all of their individual rules for Being Morally Good? How does someone work retail (and see every type of person there is) and decide that they’re an authority on if Every Man Ever is bad or not?

[dawningfairytale]

mad about a tweet of an article portraying something technically true but basically wrong

[scalpelsister]

larian add body types please i want to make this woman buff