#Abrahamic

[thejewitches]

Before you say “religion”...

Take a moment and ask yourself a few questions:

- Do you mean just 1 religion? 

- Do you know enough about the all worlds religions to make a potentially harmful generalization about all of them?

- Are you making assumptions about other religions based off of your experience with one religion?

- Are you making assumptions about other religions and cultures based on your limited experience with a single person or group of people from said religion or culture?

- Are you taking out your valid frustrating, anger, hurt, and pain with one religious group on people who have nothing to do with it by making a generalization?

If you don’t actually mean the every single one of the vast, diverse, multi-faceted religions in the world, don’t make a blanket statement and list the one(s) you mean specifically. This also goes for using ‘grouping’ labels that do not apply, like Abrahamic, etc. 

[gayleviticus]

I overheard a guy today giving a progressive Muslim take on Islam to someone else - not proselytising, but sort of like 'here are the good things about Islam and why it makes sense to me and how it's liberatory' - and power to him for it! but what I found interesting about it from a progressive Christian POV was that even as he was expounding a antiracist, feminist, anti colonialist, anti capitalist version of the faith, he did not hesitate at all to draw on language of judgment and hell.

and ofc it was in an inclusivist way - God judges only evildoers not non-believers, Islam is not necessary to be s good person but is about going further to have a relationship with God. hence the targets of judgment are Israeli politicians and IOF soldiers who martyr Palestinians destined for paradise. but it was interesting bc I feel like progressive Christians tend to shy away from the topic entirely. heck, not even just on the topic of hell, even just on the afterlife in general.

and tbc i don't necessarily think this is in progressive christianitys favour! im not trying to be 'eww even progressive islam is so cruel and judgmental unlike christianity the perfect religion of peace'.

i think there is strong biblical language of judgment for a reason, and even as a universalist who believes all will eventually be reconciled to God, it doesn't mean I don't think any kind of judgment takes place.

I think judgment is an integral component of God's plan to recreate the world- to judge is to deem unfit, unworthy. we recoil from this because we see the language used of marginalised people far too often. but I think fundamentally judgment is on sin and death. sin cannot exist in heaven not because heaven is an exclusive VIP members club, but because heaven is defined as a place without sin. to admit sin into heaven is just to recreate hell. So judgment is God discerning what has a place in human flourishing and fulfilment of the law of love.

ofc that's not to make a blanket statement about all progressive christianity or all islam. but I did appreciate this guy shining a light on how judgment can have a liberatory dimension to it

[obsessivefangirl]

If you're something else or specific that you think should be known for your answer just put it in the tags

[theunfairfolk]

hi please will you elaborate on why the term abrahamic is whack I would like to know more

i tried real hard to find a non-paywalled article that could explain this better than me but alas.

basically it's an overly reductive term that's mostly used by christians to create an us vs them mentality ("them" being multitheistic religions, atheists, or the enemy of the week) as well as paper over the rich theistic differences between the three religions. it's at best an arbitrary grouping and at worst a crack at absorption based cultural erasure .

[degeneratedworker]

" Women's Emancipation: The essence of his character is clear: He has two bottoms. On top - where he unfolded the newspaper, Below - where he is faithful to Muhammad." Soviet Union c. 1970s

[lokesven]

If the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only true god, the creator of universe, and all others are false, then he is to be stripped of his name and origin.

[disgruntledexplainer]

list of abrahamic terms and how they are used

monotheistic: describing a religion which believes in only one God. examples: judaism, islam, jehovah’s witness.

trinitarian monotheistic: describing a religion which believes in only one God, who also exists as three Persons, typically described as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. examples: Catholic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, and most mainline and evangelical christian sects. some trinitarian monotheistic religions also believe in “Saints”, but these are merely particularly virtuous humans and are not worshiped (though they may be prayed to; there is a distinction between prayer and worship i may get to later).

monolatrous: belief in many gods, but only one that is worthy of worship. example: mormonism.

henotheistic: belief in many gods, but one is held up as more worthy of worship than others. example: early Yahweism (extinct for about 3200 years now).

Dualism: describing a religion that believes in two gods; usually a good God who is actively worshiped, and a weaker evil god who is rejected. All other “divinities” are typically emanations of these two gods, like rays of sunlight emanating from the sun. example: zoroastrianism

Polytheistic: describing a religion that believes in many gods that are all worthy of worship. there are no major polytheistic abrahamic groups, despite accusations that often fly this way or that between groups.

Abrahamic: describing a religion that shares a common cultural mythos with Yahweism, Judaism, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and Islam. Examples: All Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions.

Judeo-Christian: describing a religion that claims direct continuity with second-temple judaism, rahter than a separate revelation tangentially related to it. Examples: Judaism, Catholic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, all mainline protestant christian sects, most other protestant sects.

Christian: Describing a religion which believes that Jesus is the actual Son of God and worships Him as such. Examples: All self-described Christian groups except Jehova’s Witnesses and Mormons.

High-Church Christian: Describing christian groups which retain the ritual practices and beliefs from the early church (circa 30 AD). Examples: Catholic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Coptic Christianity, Anglicanism, Episcopalianism, and Lutheranism.

Low-Church Christianity: Describing christian groups which reject all aspects of early christianity, instead opting to adopted a more free-form individualistic form of devotion more reminiscent of germanic or norse paganism. Examples: most other forms of christianity.

i may add to this post later.

[vibesaresubjective]

[plutointerludeart]

Eve; mother of us all

[girlactionfigure]

Joseph Waks

[bs-specialist]

Every single Christian had their ancestral cultural deities and spiritualities forcibly and violently stripped from them ages ago.

To see Christians constantly trying to pass laws that outlaw any way of life but theirs, and acting like they are being or have ever been persecuted when they are both a part of the largest organized religion in the world and also have been taken in by a very savage and tyrannical theism without choice of their own, is a kind of horror and frustration that can be difficult to stand against.

[indo-europeans]

Was killing men for their wives + having lots of wives the norm during Abraham’s time in general or more near Egypt?

 “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'this is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you”

- Abraham, to his wife & half-sister

[gayleviticus]

the Sabbath law can seem like the most archaic and arbitrary of the 10 commandments but in a way enshrining an absolute non negotiable need for some level of work life balance feels like a very modern concern actually

[septembergold]

I have a dream

That my Middle Eastern Family will come together and embrace its many differences and find solace in shared grief and hope. For we might be scattered like the sand through the wind in all Cardinal directions yet we are all equally dancing under the stars and God's eyes (whoever he or she or it may be).

Israel

Palestinian

Lebanese

Jordanian

Syria

Saudia Arabia

Kuwait

Bahrain

Libya

Tunisia

Algeria

Morocco

[hkunlimited]

Buddhism 101: There are no Winners or Losers... 

There are no winners or losers. There are only players and non-players. Either one is fine, but if you play, then play well. The concept of winning and losing is obviously a binary circumstance, as are players vs. non-players or even East vs. West. But sometimes binary terms are effective in conveying a message, even if they are often ineffective in organizing your life. Because, we Buddhists…

[symphonyofsilence]

Let the poor man rest.