#religious trauma for the win

[flanaganfilm]

A fan made me aware of this video, and I thought I’d watch for a few minutes on a lark, just out of curiosity about what kind of conversation could possibly involve MIDNIGHT MASS and the GOD’S NOT DEAD movies.  Three hours later, I’m very glad I watched this thorough, thoughtful, and above all very entertaining analysis. 

the art of religious interpretation (midnight mass vs god's not dead)

[basketobread]

does warlock know the secret technique to use the forge without having to fight Grym (using mage hand on the lava wheel)

who needs mage hand when you can just seduce the robot and marry it and live happily ever after

[sparrowsupportgroup]

religious symbolism with both ais and leander -

Basically these two fucking weirdos, Ais and Leander, are like God in their own way. They anoint “sinners”(the sinners being people drinking from the Seaspring, joining the Groupmind vs. the people joining Leander’s Bloodhounds) through “blood offerings”(aka drinking from the Seaspring or craving your name into wood and joining the Bloodhounds)

Both Ais’s and Leander’s concepts having references to blood is interesting because blood is symbolically seen as LIFE. By taking an blood oath(Leander) or drinking blood(Ais), you’re essentially absorbing a new life within you; when you take the blood offering, you’re being purified and made anew

Interpretation of blood offerings from The Old Testament - From the perspective of Christianity that everyone is a “sinner,” the forsaken people that drink from Ais’s Seaspring and the lost people who join Leander’s Bloodhounds are like sinners who take the blood (aka the life) of the victim, which is the source of atonement that said sinner is looking for, in hopes of finally achieving a holy union with God

Both can change lives like a God would, they both have religious connotations - Leander’s whole design/lore touches on his powerful magic, Christianity, God, the Virgin Mary, and priesthood. The fact his cult gang is called Bloodhounds is so interesting because God was frequently called The Hound Of Heaven by Puritans because God will relentlessly pursue an fleeing lost soul in order to force them into accepting His Divine Love and Grace. This is similar to how Leander slowly wore down the bartender and got her to crave her name in wood and join the Bloodhounds and his slow yet persistent wearing down of Mhin

The religious symbolism is more subtle with Ais but it’s there - joining the Groupmind is preceded by drinking from the Seaspring for a “miracle” guided by Ais, in which the drinker’s trauma and identity is washed away, similar to how one’s sins is washed away during a baptism, how Ais calls MC Sparrow and biblically, sparrows represent God's love and care for His creation, as well as the importance of humility and trust in God's provision/plus there’s this gospel song “His Eye On The Sparrow”(heavy eye imagery with Ais)/his “blood in water” concept makes me think of how drinking blood of Christ in Christianity signifies His human body and death and eventual resurrection, and the heavy blood-and-water imagery in the Bible that speaks of both the purification powers of water and the sacred price of blood that represents Christ’s martyrdom is similar to Ais being able grant the forsaken a miracle(cleansing power of the Seaspring) but it comes with a terrible sacrifice(losing your sanity/identity and being in a Groupmind). Ais is a martyr in the sense that he’s a host for Ocudeus and is responsible for “curing” the people that come to him for help

[fandomtrashbag]

Y'all I live in Bangladesh right? So

My university had a recent women in careers seminar thing, and they invited a trans woman. One of the few "out" transwomen in the entire goddamn nation. This happened amidst finals and basically some unofficial student unions got together and protested it. In the middle of finals. The protests got so volatile they had to cancel her talk because of "security concerns". She's been getting all sorts of threats since then. This woman has been backed by the Prime Minister in some indirect ways. And yet here they are, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, you name it. Standing against her.

I'm queer and deep in hiding in this fuckall university. I see people I cared for and respected sharing about how trans people are the end of the world. People that were my friends and people I cared for and I respected. Sharing posts about how trans people are a blight upon humanity. I had to delete Facebook off my goddamn phone because it was triggering me so badly.

Most of these people are Muslim, and so am I. I was born and raised Muslim. I flip flopped around the religion and circled right fucking back. If I could, I'd go up to these people and say

" I have seen you commit sins. You are in an unmarried relationship which is therefore deemed haram. You smoke cigarettes and weed and drink plenty of alcohol. You guys sing and dance together. There's no respect among any of you women, it doesn't even matter if you're a woman yourself I've heard shitty remarks from men and women alike about women that don't fit your standards. I've seen you all play Hindus in plays. If you all can dare call yourselves Muslim, then I stand on equal fucking ground. I'm just as Muslim as you are. Allah as my witness I hope you see how hateful each of you are to each other and learn to be fucking compassionate and to be kind in those different than you. Clearly that's something that you never picked up from the Qur'an."

I wish I could say it. But I'm a coward. And there's nobody that can speak for me either.

So I will hide behind my stupid Tumblr blog, screaming into a void that rarely screams back, and I hope that when you and I inevitably die, I hope by then you've learnt to love humans that are not like you in the slightest.

[gxlden-angels]

Did you hear that 700 club guy is dead? I'm going to buy myself some cake and celebrate that my apostasy has outlived my memory of his voice. Felt like you might wanna celebrate too :3

HELL YEA I HEARD! WE'RE POPPING THE BIGGEST BOTTLES TONIGHT YALL

[hollowflight-propaganda]

"Oh, let's see if I can find anything about the upcoming Narnia remake since I haven't looked into it for a while!"

*finds next to nothing in terms of actual news and only sees people talking about how "woke" it's gonna be because oh no, NOTHING'S worse than the idea of DIVERSITY*

"................ that's enough internet for today."

[joseopher]

My honest belief that Tristan Caine would not be in a conventional relationship vs. my internalized issues with my desire for non-conventional relationships

[kuroshika]

i caved. i made an ao3. i’m writing fanfiction.

[therabbitthatpostthings]

No bullshit, I was so preoccupied with Owl House this morning I forgot it was Easter

[peggy-sue-reads-a-book]

Paper Cranes

TW: homophobia, bullying, church abuse, swearing, assault, ED, SH, compulsive exercising, Republicans, purity culture, evangelical crap, but most of all middle school. If I’ve failed to include anything, just let me know. Fr I wrote it for me and posted it for those who might find my experience affirming. I’m all good if you need to scroll right on past a trauma post.

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The first time I ever watched homophobic bullying was in my pastor’s office. All the teens were waiting around a table for our youth pastor. There was one gay boy, a close friend of mine in a relatively small group. From the first week his family joined our church, an older girl in youth group announced to the rest of us that she couldn’t stand him because “he’s too happy and sings too much.” It was true. The new boy was the most cheerful, outgoing person I’d ever met. And he loves to sing.

The same girl gave a similar PSA behind my back when I was new. “We shouldn’t play with her because she’s weird and wears dress up clothes.” I was six. And it was true, I did wear a princess costume every day. Eventually I traded in my tutus for some looks that better reflected internalized misogyny and everyone figured out I’m funny as all shit and can get along with most anyone. I graduated from the bottom of the food chain.

So I shrugged off her hot take on my new friend. I don’t think she liked that her plans to cancel the new guy flopped. Because as we were waiting around that table she jumped up and grabbed his earlobe between her finger nails. She was super proud of her nails. They were long and scraggly like a cat and she was into filing them in public in case anyone felt too safe.

She dug her nails in on either side and no one said anything. You don’t stand up for a boy to a girl. I can’t remember if he tried to swat her off or just took it. It was only a minute but it was a damn long one. Blood started to bead around her nails. Then the door opened and she sat back down. Sunday school started.

Nothing I believed, no books, no paper, no concept of abomination could override what I’d just seen, the revulsion deep in my gut. It was more than rage. More than disgust. I still have no word for it. I was too young and the feelings that well up are still those of a thirteen year old.

It doesn’t matter what you call it. Anger like that is like walking around dead and suddenly finding your pulse because it’s roaring in your ears like a jackhammer.

I prayed to be like everyone else. To care about the same social issues in the same way. The only way I could make sense of my loneliness was that I was cursed in some way. If God loved me, he would make me content with the same values as my peers. But I had just seen someone harm someone else and not a single one of these fine, upstanding kids I’m supposed to make friends with say a damn thing.

A few years later, there was some kinda touchy-feeling Jesus shindig where everyone got real sugared up at night and had a big sing along with some college kids who were supposedly qualified to talk about the deep shit with us. If I mentioned their university you’d recognize it. Hint: assault cover ups

One guy, nineteen or so, must have gotten particularly inspired in the spirit because he starts preaching off-the-cuff about the sins of anorexia, binging, purging, and cutting. I inched backward. I tried hiding behind a football player; I was about half his width after all.

Peggy, what’s up with the bandaids?

I guess I tripped over a wall.

Hey I have a joke. How many Peggies can you fit in the shower? No one knows because—-

— I keep slipping down the drain. Heard that one.

Eat a fucking sandwich, you skinny cunt

The best part of the speech is it was addressed to us about the bad, vague other kids who barfed and otherwise screwed around. Those poor fuck-ups, insulting God’s creation by choosing to defile their bodies.

I couldn’t wait to get home and go for it, but felt a whole lot more like a compulsion than a choice.

I’ve heard this sermon twice, by the way. The second time, the pastor held up a paper crane and asked us to admire its delicacy and the skill it took to make it before shredding it up. Guess he worked hard on that metaphor.

That was me. A paper crane. Pure white, crafted precisely, folded up small. You could pinch my wings between your fingernails and pull them off. I wouldn’t bleed and you could vacuum me up. That was my power. The control in the fine lines and tight folds.

Anyway here I am squirming on my butt and waiting for my chance to burn off my two bites of pizza and Oreos. I’m pretty sure I’d made everyone laugh by scooting the cookies into my mouth from my forehead with no hands. See, everyone, I eat. Yeah, I was gonna have to get in some crunches tonight.

I wondered if I could chug enough lemon water to get diarrhea without being noticed, when somehow, we were looking at each other. The boy’s eyes were bright blue. Ice blue, like in cheesy books. Gay.

Skinny.

Leviticus. The apostle Paul.

Cutter.

It’s a powerful feeling, that two seconds of eye-contact that lets you know you aren’t crazy. That you aren’t the only one in the room who is angry. It is taking a hand to find it as wounded as yours.

Whatever is divine in this world, whatever is true and special and outside of ourselves, it is in the rage you can’t shake. If a voice is telling you that no one deserves to be treated this way, that you inherently do not deserve this, and you say shut up and shut up and shut up and it won’t

Shut up, shut up,

and your only answer is this is bullshit. You should get up and leave

Shut up

I said you are free to walk out,

I can’t,

well then I say you can. I say Truth never left you and you’re not dead.

disclaimer: I did not write this to shit on Christians (I am a Christian) or any tradition in general but the corruption that exists in specific systems

other disclaimer: the other kids in this story were literally also just kids, even the mean ones. I’m pretty sure all of them have grown into sensible adults I’d hang out with. I did not write this to shit on them either.

[gramarobin]

Love the response at the very bottom...

[alana-ha1m]

Top 9 Albums of 2023

the aces - i've loved you for so long

taylor janzen - i live in patterns

rin mcardle - rin mcardle

christine and the queens - paranoia angels true love

caroline polachek - desire, i want to turn into you

boygenius - the record

aamarae - fountain baby

hozier - unreal unearth

chappell roan - the rise and fall of a midwest princess

[driedlavenderandsage]

Loving her never felt like a sin.

It was patient, and kind,

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

If god is real, and he inspired those words, he'd know they were about her.

[sicktwistedlimpwristed]

running around the woods until you are covered in scratches and blood....gods perfect penance

[priceofpiety]

I just keep spilling my guts in every format imaginable hoping something will give me some sort of relief. When will I learn that nothing will ever work? The only thing it does is leave me with shitty poetry and paragraphs of pathetic venting. Doomed to be a sad sack of shit until I finally fucking die.

[catholic-character-tournament]

FINALS - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Wolfwood

I love him. Man who has no faith in himself or humanity or god with so much blood on his hands, fighting for something he knows he can never see come to fruition in person. He carries his own literal cross and grave marker on his back. Just… he’s so iconic to me.

I'm sure I'm not the first to submit him. But I did it anyway. I hope he wins and I'll do anything in my power to make sure he does

Dude is literally a priest who carries around a giant cross. Yes he uses the cross to murder people but that is besides the point. Also he has a mini church he carries around for on-the-go confession services.

hes literally a priest(hes not a priest in the reboot but he is in the original and thats what matters to Me). he carries around a cross that is actually secretly a gun with guns inside that gun. he runs a church/orphanage. he carries around a portable confession booth and charges people money for it because he is broke as fuck. he dies bleeding out over an alter begging to god for forgiveness he doesnt think he deserves. he is everything to me.

look at this man he's a priest with a cross shaped gun that (spoilers) dies against the side of a church while waxing poetic about life and redemption (/spoilers), this is the Catholic ever.

Wolfwood is liiiiiterally Judas coded in the text. AND his weapon is a massive cross that turns into a machine gun and a LASER. Not to mention his religious trauma. Oh baby. The religious trauma.

Homeboy literally walks around with a giantass 300lb machine gun shaped like a cross called the Punisher. Hes a priest/undertaker depending on what version of trigun you reference. Grew up in a church orphanage. Also literally walks around with a portable confessional box for people to pay to confess to him. Need i say more.

HE IS LITERALLY JUDAS. he is literally leading the jesus allegory to his doom. hes also in love with the jesus allegory (vash). he is also carrying arouns a giant cross rhat is also a gun. hes literally catholic and judas and his tits are perfect. in one piece of official art he's wearing a cross choker. also the catholicism on gunsmoke is about making vash submit. wolfwood looking at that pathetic wet mess of a man oh i can make him submit easily.

He literally carries around a giant cross and is referred to as a priest by multiple characters. also he offers people confessionals

He carries a huge machine gun that is in the shape of a cross that is really heavy (he is strong) and his boobs are huge. So you know hes serving cunt in a god honoring way. Also in trigun 1998 he brings around a small chapel that he uses as a portable confessional and in trigun stampede he holds funeral services as an undertaker which are way overly priced. Also he dies very gayly (basicly confessing his love to his best boy friend forever)

Nick's funny bc he's probably the least Christian acting guy but is literally a preacher. There's a running gag with Vash asking some variation of "what the hell kinda churchman are you?" His gun is a gigantic cross. He rides a shitty motorcycle in the middle of the desert.

ok so thematically the main conflict in trigun is about peace vs violence and its represented by the characters vash and knives respectively. the two aren't /technically/ angels but thematically and through imagery they are and are comparable to michael and lucifer specifically. ANYWAYS. vash and knives are the characters who are constantly pushing and pulling at wolfwood's morality, sort of like a "the devil and god are raging inside of me" kinda deal. his grappling with his morality and faith is a big factor in his character. also he has a giant fucking gun shaped like a cross. and he dies in a church while praying.

Bros an orphan who grew up at a Catholic orphanage and taken away to be trained and genetically changed into a supercharged assassin for interworldly beings that have lots of angel imagery attached. Guy thought he was just going to be taken to become a missonary...instead he got 6 years of religious trauma. He still wears a cross necklace and holds it often. His gun is a literal cross "full of mercy" (its a missile launcher). He never really believed fully in the faith or anything, but the way he interacts with it is FASCINATING. He's jaded by the planet he lives on and his upbringing, and makes him say his most iconic quote: "We're nothing like God. Not only do we have limited powers, but sometimes we're driven to become the devil himself." He prays to a God he doesn't know if he actually believes in, asking for another day— for hope for the human race. The organization hes part of (The Eye of Michael) works for an interdimensional otherworldly being that has an incredible amount of angelic metaphor and imagery attached who intends to purge the planet of humans... and ends up siding with that guy's twin brother who is so Jesus coded it's insane. They are best friends even as Wolfwood is acting under instructions to babysit and watch him for his twin brother. He dies after facing down against his old mentor (named Chapel) and his pseudo brother from the orphanage who was taken into the Eye as well and his Jesus bestie buries him and sticks his cross-gun in the ground after losing his shit crazy style and using his pseudo alien angel Jesus powers to lash out at his brother for being the cause of Wolfwood's death. Rest in peace king

64.media.tumblr.com

via @monvment

Sister Michael

She drives a DeLorean. She does judo on Fridays. She likes a good statue and despises the French. Her full nun name is Sister George Michael, after the guy from Wham!. She is the fiercest nun you’ll ever come across and, if you’re attending Lady Immaculate College, she’s the woman in charge. So whatever you do, if you’re feeling anxious or worried or just need a chat: don’t come crying to her.

joined the nunnery for the free accommodation?

she does love a good statue it has to be said

She is the headmistress of a catholic school <3

sister michael so reminds me of the nuns who taught me. they're tough and sometimes a little harsher than a woman who dedicated her life to god should be but they're also wonderful people. i had a nun teacher who was 60 years old and would do handstands. another nun (also in her 60s) told me god was nonbinary. another was really mean and made me cry. (so did the handstand nun.) while the catholic girls school is The Catholic Experience, the school wouldn't have been the same for me or the derry girls without at least one nun who seemed to have sprung up out of the ground fully formed, ageless.