#this is not about any religion in particular

[saphira-approves]

Random headcanon, but I think Saphira would be enamored by drag culture. Honestly I think a lot of dragons would be but Saphira in particular is a) fascinated by ✨Shinies✨ and b) notably preoccupied with her own appearance. She would be FASCINATED by people who take fashion and gender to extraordinary exaggerated heights.

Honestly Alagaësian drag culture would probably have a ton of influence from dragons—you know, the bright, colorful, gem-like manifestations of magic incarnate. There’s definitely a trend to wear slit-pupil contacts and paint scale patterns with tiny glued-on crystals into their eyeshadow, and wear those claw finger cap things. There’s probably awards for “most creative integration of wings and/or tail into hair or outfit” given at any drag show that has more than one dragon-inspired look, with solutions ranging from long ponytail or lifted cape (basic) to fully articulated extra limbs (no magic, because that would be cheating) to wild abstract interpretations (someone once walked onstage with just pieces of paper tied to their back with “wings” and “tail” written on them in like five different languages. yes this one won the award.).

And that’s not even touching on elf drag, elf drag is a whole other beast, elf drag has elves like Blödgharm who normally look absolutely wild walking the runway in normal human cosplay, but with exaggerated features like extremely round human ears or extremely square human jawlines. In other circles you’ve got elf drag shows that ramp up in stages of “oh yeah this is a regular drag show” to “oh my god the trees that have been here the whole time and which i assumed were part of the forest have started walking the runway” to “that is a deer. that is straight up just a deer that wandered into the show. whatdoyoumeanit’sgettinganaward-”

Urgal drag involves exaggerating their horns with intricately carved extensions, often wood or bone, but sometimes the horn of another animal or even another Urgal—one famous Kull Urgal drag king used his late father’s horns to great effect. Their competitions also usually involve combat in some form. Basically it combines drag shows and wrestling into the ultimate “dress up in elaborate looks with elaborate personas and over-exaggerated rivalries and throw down about it” pastime. They also tend to focus on makeup rather than clothes—obviously what they do wear is still intricate and beautiful, often woven to tell a story or represent a clan or idea, but the REAL visual focus is the exaggeration of the physical form, turning a broad muscled chest into that of a bear or bird, or even a mountain, animated into a humanoid form. Basically imagine if the colossi from Shadow of the Colossus were drag personas, you’d be pretty close to what I’m envisioning here.

Dwarf drag is heavily rooted in clan identity, rather than gender, as well as religion. Dwarven drag houses will often come together within a clan and claim a patron god, with all the hostility and rivalries that would entail. As a counter-culture to this, there’s always a few subversive houses established to welcome anyone from any clan, or for those ostracized from their clans, which often face vicious backlash and are ascribed reputations of dishonorable traitors, though they are rarely outright declared criminals. This results in a subculture of “anonymous” drag, where these subversive houses protect themselves by maintaining secrecy of their members and numbers, and craft personas and looks that also act as disguises. Though to some this only reinforces their untrustworthy reputations, these secretive houses are staunch bastions of those treated unfairly by dwarven society, with a perspective greater than clan ties, and due to their anonymity have been influential in several key moments of dwarven history in uniting the clans for crucial decisions.

Werecat drag is done entirely in cat form. It’s definitely done in the style of the “Be Best” competition from Centaurworld, ie to be your best self, whatever that is. There’s never a winner because every werecat votes for themself. Yes even the judges. Yes even the audience. It’s basically a big party of self-appreciation taken to narcissistic heights. Every participant gets a prize, and that prize is not getting mauled by the judges for not voting for the judges. When dragons start doing drag, this is the model they follow.

Alagaësian drag. I just think it’d be neat. Happy pride everybody.

[themyscirah]

I have so many Simon thoughts and I can’t believe the one to lick them all off was this: but would he draw the line at pork?

Just saw this ask now so apologies if it's been sitting in my inbox for a while!

Quick mention here that I'm not Muslim myself and most of my (limited) knowledge comes from talking with friends irl and the internet

but i believe Simon wouldn't eat pork. I don't think it's something he's ever really tried, especially growing up and living in Dearborn, which has one of the highest Muslim populations in the US, there wouldn't be a super high presence of it (I'm assuming) or social pressures surrounding eating it from his peers, who im assuming are also predominantly Muslim from what we know of his friendships precanon.

To be honest, I think the religiously prohibited substance he'd be most inclined to/likely to have consumed at some point to be alcohol. I mean when we meet Simon, he's fallen on hard times, like he's lost his job and turned to stealing cars and feels like he's let down his family and community, especially at least after the events that follow with him getting the ring the way he did. I'm not saying here that I think he did drink before we meet him in canon, but I think it's more likely to have happened than him eating pork, especially with the social pressures and societal depiction of alcohol the way they are.

Simon and his relationship with religion is something very interesting to me (that I admittedly know very little about) as there definitely seems to be a contradiction in some of his actions, with Simon quoting the Quran at Guy and talking about how much his religion means to him one page, and then of course having a tattoo that also means a lot to him (but is banned by his religion) at the same time. I think this more complex relationship with religion is something very human about Simon as a character, as people and their relationships with religion are oftentimes complicated and not cut and dry. It does make it difficult for his fans though as theres a lot we dont know, as Simon's relationship with religion is one I think could really use more exploration on page, especially in regard to this contradiction and his relationship with the rules of Islam as a whole.

[butchjess]

a canticle for leibowitz a book that is like a vaccine in getting you to forgive fictional christians for being annoying. i love you religion prevailing after the world ends and then starts again i love you the cyclical nature of man and empires and nations

[peachsayshi]

I’ve been connecting back to my spiritual self recently, and it’s been helping me breathe through certain situations, been helping me assess things. I’m really trying to heal through a lot of stuff and it’s such a progress (sometimes exhausting) but again, I’m not in a dark place I was in last year so being able to reflective about certain things & have that self awareness is a bit of a celebration 🥹

[capaldiera]

it was so not the point of mash and would have been jarring tbh but like rn i'm wishing father mulcahy had actually talked about religion in more than just little quips. girl what are your thoughts and what things do you like to focus on. btw

[troutfur]

My goal is to make StarClan into a metaphor for every religion ever and simultaneously none at all.

[sundial-girl]

would hiki be a friends with the crows person or a friends with the crabs person

more inclined to say the crows b/c aside from a sense of bird favoritism, i feel like its easier for him to actually encounter crows?? like crabs live near the sea man (and/or some large bodies of freshwater ig but lets ignore that for these purposes)... when/where is lil ghost boy gonna pull up to the ocean 😭😭😭

given crows' intelligence now you're just giving me the mental image of him trying (and failing) to convert crows to religion and ahkhskjhakjhskjghkjh 😂😂😭😭😭

[local-magpie]

i think its sort of fascinating to consider how religions like judaism are so steeped in their history and culture that it seems like every single holiday i learn about is devoted to memory of something specific any jew can tell you about; and then you have christianity, which is so much the opposite that i had to inform one of my mutuals the other day that Lent is actually a universal christian holiday it just varies dramatically between sects how literal "fast" is

[unproduciblesmackdown]

already thinking "and by 'religious' really i mean 'christian'" re: how the term "religion" is not really useful when it's largely like, from a christian perspective, what is considered "equivalent" of christianity, see: perhaps a "rival"/obstacle to some person or group being considered christian....and even if not thinking about converting anyone, resulting in some at best misinterpretation / misrepresentation based on framing it through/as [element of christianity] and limiting of any more accurate language

like how tumblr recommends me a post about someone thinking about "religion" in general and concluding that it's Weird and perhaps Wrong for anyone who is a "true believer" in their religion(tm) to Not be proselytizing / trying to Convert everyone. like yeah why isn't everyone being an evangelical christian, they ought to be, benevolently informing all those around them that they're going to hell, otherwise. don't see any problem with this conclusion, or that someone's getting antisemitic in the notes already in agreement, or that That's Not How This Works and you don't just know how All "Religion" works based on considering it to be an alternate version of christianity (which in itself doesn't All work like that either)

[rockingthegraveyard]

Sometimes I want to add religious aspects to my characters but that would require actually learned about religion and I'm so lazy!

[esmeraldablazingsky]

thinking about my unholy trinity of archon ships that would make one think i have psychosexual issues about religion and/or authority

[k0fii]

Excerpts from a Conversation about God

[bloodsoaked-gown]

btw this user doesn't tolerate people who lose their minds distinguishing between what's humanly correct and what is not.

[funkiestbear]

Ive seen some posts recently talking about religion and church, and it sorta erks me a bit the way both christians and atheists have this chip on their shoulder in a constant attmept to one up another. Its certainly not specific to these type of discussions, but its also extremely annoying. I hate when people dont talk. No actual ideology being thrown around, just a bunch of nothing. I know the pain the church has caused people. Centuries worth. I know, but god, the idea of god, is not inherently evil like I see some people make it out to be.

[jessicalprice]

I think the thing that most Christian atheists who are rebelling against authoritarian Christian backgrounds don't get is why Jews remain Jewish.

Like, I get it, you engaged in your practices because you were told that God would punish you if you didn't, because you're told you're supposed to fear God.

(Incidentally, we don't even use the same language about this. The term that gets translated in most English bibles as "fear" is, like many classical Hebrew words, a lot more multivalent than the English term, and has more of a connotation of "awe." (See, for example, the Gilgamesh dream sequence: "Why am I trembling? No god passed this way." A god is something in whose wake one trembles.) It's what one feels when one is faced with something bigger than oneself, something overwhelming. For some people that may be fear of being harmed. For others it may be wonder or even ecstasy, standing outside oneself.)

But in 2023, Jews have the option (and, indeed, still the cultural pressure) to completely abandon Judaism. Very easily. We can, in fact, do it quite passively. If we're not actively trying to engage with it, it will very much drift away from us.

And it's not fear of divine punishment keeping most of us engaged.

The thing is, if you proved to me tomorrow that God doesn't exist, I'm not sure anything about my life or my practice would change. (I'm already agnostic, so *shrug*. I don't believe in a God-person. Sometimes I believe in a unity to reality, a life and a direction to it. Sometimes I don't. I just don't have the arrogance to think I understand definitively the way the universe does or doesn't work.) I still would celebrate Shabbat, I still wouldn't eat pork, I still would have a mezuzah on my doorway.

I do all that stuff because I'm Jewish, not because I think God will get mad if I don't. I do all that stuff because it's part of a cultural system that I see as wise and life-giving and therapeutic and worth maintaining.

And the thing is, the cultural system that Christian antitheists want us to assimilate into, under the guise of "getting rid of religion", is very much a white Protestant culture. It's not culturally neutral. It has practices, and it has a particular worldview, and it has cultural norms that are just as irrational as any other culture's.

It's also very telling that Christian antitheists purport to be harmed by Jews continuing to be Jewish. Why? We don't impose our norms on anyone else, and we overwhelmingly vote (and organize, and engage in activism) against the imposition of Christian "religious" norms, such as the curtailing of reproductive freedom, blue laws, etc.

So you're only "harmed" by our continued existence in the same way Christians purport to be harmed by it: by claiming that the very existence of a group that doesn't share your worldview and practices is somehow an act of oppression against you.

Which is, you know, white supremacist logic.

You're still upholding the logic of Jesus's genocidal, colonial Great Commission even though you supposedly don't believe in the god that ordered it anymore.

That's gotta be one of the saddest things I encounter among my fellow humans.

You took down all the crosses in the church of your mind and chucked them out the window, but you still refuse to step foot outside the church building, contenting yourself with claiming it's not a church, and firing out the windows at the synagogue and mosque down the road, the same way you used to.

[schraubd]

In the Image of God

A recent study found that Jews are the demographic group most accepting of trans individuals in the United States.

When certain Christians assert a religious freedom right to discriminate against trans individuals -- particularly, a right to misgender them -- their argument typically proceeds something along these lines:

1. They believe every individual is created in the image of God.

2. Part of that image is the person's sex (and by extension, gender).

3. In particular, a person's sex/gender is inalterably assigned by God from conception.

4. They are forbidden from lying or falsifying God's choice.

Therefore, they say, they are religiously obligated to refer to people by their chromosomal sex, regardless of how they identify or publicly present. This religious duty, in turn, is used to press against rules and policies which require respectful treatment of trans individuals (including refraining from deliberately misgendering them, deadnaming them, and so on).

What's interesting about this framework is that a lot of it actually resonates with how I view the relationship of my Jewish faith and trans individuals -- with some crucial alterations. To wit:

1. I believe every individual is create in the image of God.

2.  Part of that image is the person's sex (and by extension, gender).

4. I am forbidden from lying or falsifying God's choice.

The major distinction, of course, comes in prong 3:

3. A person's sex/gender is not necessarily or inalterably assigned by God from conception, but rather can be part of a person's own process of discovering who they are. Where such self-discovery leads to a person to conclude they are trans, non-binary, or any other identity that departs from the sex they were assigned at birth, they are not deviating from God's plan. They are uncovering their authentic self as God has created them.

The result of this process is part of God's image. Those who refuse to accept it are not cleaving to God's image, they are rejecting it.

God's process of creation is not, in my understanding of Judaism, a set-and-forget sort of deal. It is not a matter of passively being puppeteered by a divine hand. It something we do together -- we are partners in creation. To deny the results of that partnership is, for me, a denial of God's plan and practice just as much as it is for adherents of other religious views who adhere to a more static and calcified notion of the role of the divine.

And so for me, and I suspect for many Jews, the religious freedom obligation pushes in the other direction. Many conservative states have, or are considering, laws which require (at least in certain contexts) non-recognition of trans identity. For Jews (and others) who share my religious precepts, these laws would force me to deny -- to bear false witness to -- a key attribute of how God created some of my peers. I do not believe -- and this is a deep, fundamental commitment -- that God's "image" of trans persons was for them to be locked in a body or sex or gender identity that clearly is not authentically theirs. When they find their full self, they are equally finding God's image of themselves.

Consistent with my lengthily expressed feelings on the subject, I suspect that what's good for the goose will not be good for the gander. Despite the clear parallel, liberal Jews who assert religious liberty rights to be exempted from laws seeking to enforce by state mandate a transphobic agenda will not meet with the same success enjoyed by their Christian peers.

Nonetheless, there is value in promoting this sort of framework, and in unashamedly asserting Jewish independence from hegemonic conservative Christian notions of true religiosity. It is not woven into "religion" that God's image requires rejection of trans individuals' full selves. That is a choice, an interpretation of some religions or of some who call themselves religious. Other religions, other religious persons, have a different interpretation of how to respect and dignify the facet of God that is in every one of us.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/vlsH4T2