#religion

[prokopetz]

I understand why a lot of fantasy settings with Ambiguously Catholic organised religions go the old "the Church officially forbids magic while practising it in secret in order to monopolise its power" route, but it's almost a shame because the reality of the situation was much funnier.

Like, yes, a lot of Catholic clergy during the Middle Ages did practice magic in secret, but they weren't keeping it secret as some sort of sinister top-down conspiracy to deny magic to the Common People: they were mostly keeping it secret from their own superiors. It wasn't one of those "well, it's okay when we do it" deals: the Church very much did not want its local priests doing wizard shit. We have official records of local priests being disciplined for getting caught doing wizard shit. And the preponderance of evidence is that most of them would take their lumps, promise to stop doing wizard shit, then go right back to doing wizard shit.

It turns out that if you give a bunch of dudes education, literacy, and a lot of time on their hands, some non-zero percentage of them are going to decide to be wizards, no matter how hard you try to stop them from being wizards.

[inkfire-scribe]

I used to think that this was such a depressing way to look at the world. But you know why I thought that way?

Because that's what the adults in my life told me to think.

"It's so sad when you have nothing to believe in," they said. "There are people out there who think that we're a mistake, that our actions and dreams and hopes don't mean anything, that all the beauty in the world is just an accident and that life has no purpose at all. How sad it is that they believe in nothing. How sad they must be, how depressed, all because they cannot see that there is purpose and truth and reason behind everything that happens."

That's what I was told when I was young. That there were only two options: believe that Everything Everywhere All The Time is part of God's plan, or believe that there is No Purpose, No Reason, and No Goodness in the universe.

Shockingly, this absolutist binary is complete dogshit, exactly like every other absolutist binary I was taught.

Being poor doesn't mean I don't know how to handle money, and being rich doesn't mean that I'm financially responsible.

Being disabled doesn't mean that I'm incapable of working in any capacity ever, and being able-bodied doesn't mean that I'm capable of or suited to any job I see fit.

Being in the majority doesn't mean that minority rights don't affect or benefit me, and being in the minority doesn't mean that my rights mean less than anyone else's.

Being educated doesn't make me intelligent, and being uneducated doesn't make me stupid.

And most importantly, for the point above:

Just because I believe the human body was not "intended" for anything and that there is no "inherent purpose" for human life does NOT mean that there is no meaning or value or goodness in the act of living.

Actions have meaning.

Choices have value.

What that meaning is, and how to measure that value - that's something called "philosophy," and each person has a slightly different set of thoughts, reasons, and beliefs that create the ideological paradigm through which they view the world.

Belief is not a moral binary, a cosmic light switch marked "Good" and "Bad" or "On" and "Off."

The question was never "does human life have a purpose"?

The question is: What purpose do you assign to your life?

Is your purpose to tell people that they are Sad and Wrong?

I hope not.

women’s bodies weren’t “made” to do anything, nature didn’t “intend” anything, no human action is “unnatural” and there is no inherent “purpose” to a human life

[charlesoberonn]

[omnybus]

I think what I love most about mythology is that the “Trickster God/Spirit” is an archetypical character found in almost every body of folklore. It’s like “Oh, here’s our God of the Sun, our God of the Sea, our God of Fertility, and our God of Being A Wretched Little Gremlin Who Causes Problems On Purpose”

[heresylog]

I don’t care if you make fun of Catholicism as long as it’s accurate! The best humour has its roots in the truth.

[lizardsfromspace]

JD Vance defining his whole persona around Being Catholic only for the Pope to loathe him so bad he openly denounces him & then drops dead after just a brief meeting. Congrats buddy that's the worst anyone's ever done it

[franzis-frantic-thoughts]

[victusinveritas]

[lizardsfromspace]

Pointing out that the Rapture as a concept is a little less than two hundred years old - it's originally from the 1833 - that really buries the lede on how recent it is. Bc the modern evangelical take on the Rapture is from a book published in 1970. That predicted the Rapture would happen no later than 1988.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

@blaackbiird

Thinking about Fray Bigotón (brother moustache), mascot of the Franciscan Monastery of Cochabamba in Bolivia who was adopted after being found as a stray

[postal97]

Me and my angel

everything you are is so very perfect... desirable ;

[dailyeffectiveprayer]

Maybe this is the season that God is asking you to fully trust Him.

[within-stars]

you are not betraying a former version of yourself by evolving.

[fuckyeahreligionpigeon]

[ultra-raging-ghost]

Something something lamb of god something something black sheep (plural) of god idk anything about catholicism