#Theology Forum

[eli-kittim]

Eli Kittim Theology Group on MeWe

[nicosraf]

If someone wanted to do research on Lucifer where would you recommend starting? Any good books or websites you would suggest?

Hello! It definitely depends on what route you wanna take — the more theological route or historical (for ex., Judaism influences, theories about what mythologies his characteristics were snatched from, the way Satan developed from just a punisher angel figure to the All-Encompassing Creator of Evil devil) or occult.

Since I stick to theology, I started my research with the Bible, particularly the books of Genesis, Ezekiel, Job, and Revelation. I lift a lot from St. Augustine's City of God for my understanding of Satan (and other church leaders), Milton's Paradise Lost, and William Blake's writing (the latter two because of their cultural influence on Lucifer). I use a couple of Christian forums as a guide for how Lucifer/Satan is treated in modern religious circles. Also there's this one jstor article about Lucifers beauty that I like a lot and enjoying sharing: this one. I like reading commentaries on him in some old angeology texts, but you'll notice a lot of the same information is regurgitated in them.

If you want to go the more historical route, there are a ton of "where the idea of Satan came from" books, like The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels and Satan by Ryan Stokes. These will be less about "Lucifer" and more about the historical context to how the devil became a part of Christian doctrine.

For occult, I'm not really a good guide here but you can skim the most popular grimoires and find some Lucifers. I find that Lucifer and Satan are treated as separate entities in a lot of occult stuff, so keep that in mind. You'll also find more of the 7 deadly sin stuff here, if that interest you.

I hope this is helpful! I'm not at my computer so I can't go through my files for anything I missed, but yeah!

[keshetchai]

As someone who enjoys religion blogging/discussions, I've come to realize that it's a good practice to be aware of the general signs/symptoms of religious-OCD thinking (aka scrupulosity), because if the conversation is taking on all the hallmarks of scrupulosity, it's actually a definitive sign that we cannot meaningfully and compassionately engage in a conversation about religion in a healthy way. I've actually had this play out a significant number of times online, and when I realized what it was, I also began to realize that the intrusive thoughts/obsessive and compulsive thinking are only ever fed by continuing the discussion with that person.

[[ Important edit to clarify why I am saying it's not healthy — made after I went back to look for more concrete facts about OCD or anxiety (I have GAD, not OCD, but many resources overlap since they're both anxiety disorders):

When Reassurance is Harmful — this explains how/why reassurance-seeking specifically about an OCD fear is a compulsive behavior, and engaging with reassurance-seeking interferes with recovery/management/treatment.

This table from the Anxiety Disorders Center lists key differences between Information Seeking and Reassurance Seeking.

This IOCDF page on Scrupulosity info for Faith Leaders identifies "symptom accommodation" as enabling. Two of the examples of doing this by participating in the OCD behavior are: "Engage in excessive conversation focused on if-then scenarios (e.g., "If I did this, then would X or Y happen? And what if Z was involved? How about W?")" And, "Repeatedly answering questions about ‘correct’ religious or faith practices."

That page also goes on to outline more info about reassurance seeking. "Although providing answers to (often simple!) questions may seem harmless, providing reassurance serves to maintain the anxiety disorder cycle." (This BMC psychiatry article cites a lot of related studies establishing this.)

The IOCDF page on What is OCD and Scrupulosity? ]]

Imo, the responsible thing to do is to recognize that (even if the other person hasn't outright stated it/isn't diagnosed)* the conversation is not about religion, it is about needing mental health support from professionals and experts. Talking to me, the layperson who enjoys chatting theology and my religion — is not only not helping, but is actively harmful. I'm not just talking about the person who I replied to today, either. Like I've said, I've seen this happen dozens of times in various online forums.

*[while I am against diagnosing strangers on the internet, it's important to realize A) lots of people don't know what Scrupulosity is, so it's possible they've never considered this is a mental health concern that could be treated, and that B) for the purposes of my concern, it doesn't matter if they actually have diagnosed OCD. The only thing that matters is that their thought-process causes them genuine distress/fear, and every response given to them seems to only incite new/additional distressing questions/thoughts, or further entrenches the original distress.]

Ultimately, any discussion aside from "you might want to speak to a mental health professional about scrupulosity OCD" seemingly puts me in the position of feeling as if I am being used for their self-harm. I hate that feeling. I do not want to be leverage for fear and pain. I have GAD, I despise the idea that I am making things worse.

No matter how much I love religious discussion, the answer in these cases is always "please reach out to an OCD specialist/mental health professional. I am not qualified to discuss this." And then to stop there. I have never once seen anyone stuck in this compulsive thought spiral be reassured or feel any better by hearing from someone else's approach to theology handled with things like empathy, compassion, logic, or even atheism. It doesn't matter what we say, how we say it, or how we relate to our own religion. The urge to engage in this kind of conversation in order to chat about religion is a sign that we are not equipped to help.

You can't have a conversation here, because intentionally or not, ten times out of ten, you are adding fuel to the fire. Just like people can't simply tell me something that would erase/talk me out of my ADHD/depression/anxiety disorder, you also cannot simply argue/reassure/persuade people out of scrupulosity. We should not try. We have a responsibility to consider that it's outright harmful to do so, and to disengage.

[tsunflowers]

around 2015, a man wanted to deliver an unforgettable proposal to his girlfriend. fortunately one of her favorite writers, kim bo-young, was an old friend of his. so he commissioned ms kim to write a romantic story for him to read out loud as his proposal. that story was called "I'm waiting for you" and it was published in English in the collection "I'm waiting for you and other stories" by kim bo-young

this story is so good and it made me cry. it's in a setting where space travel always involves time dilation, so when the protagonist learns that his fiancée won't be back to earth in time for their planned wedding day he gets on a different spaceship to make the time go by faster. but they keep missing each other. situations on the ships and on earth degrade. hundreds of years pass in real time. the story is told entirely as letters the man sends or tries to send to his fiancée bc his love for her is the only thing keeping him going. there's also a companion story called "on my way to you" from the fiancée's point of view and it also made me cry

the other story in the collection is called "the prophet of corruption" and did not make me cry but I feel like it's a good story with a lot to sink your teeth into. it's inspired by Buddhist theology and Roman forums, with the main characters as god-like beings who created the earth as a kind of sandbox for them to live out human lives and then return to the heavens to debate different ways of living. their nature is to return to the whole bc they were once all one being, but one of them has started to value the experience of an individual human life over the shared reality of the heavens, and the main character takes it upon themselves to fix that one's corruption

I strongly recommend checking this book out. it has some great short stories as well as the author's notes on each one, the reactions of the man who commissioned the first story and his wife, and some letters the translators wrote to each other during covid lockdowns. it gives you some behind the scenes action on how the book got written right there in the book itself

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

Extended excerpt:

CHARLES BLAHA:* We give Israel $3.3 billion of foreign military financing every year, and that is subject to the Leahy laws. Arms transfers that are sales are not because those are deemed to be commercial transactions, not assistance. The State Department in 2020 set up a special forum for Israel to try to identify units that have committed gross violations of human rights. And to date, there has not yet been a finding by the State Department that any Israeli unit has ever committed a gross violation of human rights.

FADEL: Why is there a special forum on Israel? I mean, for example, Egypt gets a lot of military aid.

BLAHA: There's a similar process for Egypt, but it's not as formal or as elaborate or as high level. The Israel Leahy Vetting Forum has its own special rules, and it has resulted, as I said, in no units being identified.

FADEL: So are you saying it doesn't work?

BLAHA: In my opinion, it hasn't worked to date.

*Former director of the State Department's Office of Security and Human Rights

-----

Just a reminder: At least some of the support for Israel on the Evangelical Right (and thus, the U.S. Republican Party) comes from their belief that the State of Israel must exist in order for prophecies about the Second Coming / Rapture, and not because they respect or support Jewish people. For more on that, see this video, from Renegade Cut (2018; almost 2 hours. But it's mostly the first quarter that deals with Rapture theology in America. Some flicker/glitch effects. Auto-generated English captions. No sustained eye contact)

I'm fairly certain that fear of alienating that cohort is one factor preventing a real response to Israel's crimes. A bigger factor may just be historical inertia.

[yellingmetatron]

On Meta's Relationship with the God of Abraham

One thing that comes up fairly frequently in roleplay with characters derived from religious lore is the way these characters relate to their Creator. In particular, assessing God's qualities-- whether or not He's a good parent, whether certain actions recorded in various scriptures were justified, and whether or not He deserves the respect generally accorded Him. And I just want to go on the record as saying, I am completely disinterested in Metatron exploring any of that.

Most portrayals of the Abrahamic god in media tend to portray him as essentially just a really old and powerful human. This notably goes against essentially every Abrahamic theistic tradition. Even Gnosticism, if you account for the fact that there's a true God separate from the Demiurge. Classical theology within Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions have always emphasized that ultimately the nature of God is unknowable and inexpressible; that doesn't mean certain qualities are impossible to apprehend, but at root, God's nature is not human nature.

(Depending on your denomination as a Christian you might see Jesus as simultaneously human and God, but that's a whole other issue)

I have always written this character with the assumption that he is serving a vast an unknowable intelligence that has Creation's best interests at heart, but has more knowledge and perspective than any other individual could. We are not dealing with a being with human psychology. The classical answer to "Who is like God?" has always been "no one". If this seems disconcertingly alien, good. I'll never forget lurking on a forum where someone tried to Gotcha Christians by comparing their God to Lovecraftian deities... only for those Christians to enthusiastically agree. YHWH as essentially a benevolent Yog-Sothoth or Azathoth.

There's an old Rabbinic rejoinder to atheists that goes "The God you don't believe in, I don't believe in, either". We could modify this for Meta to be "the God you reject, I also reject". If God in your setting has human failings, Metatron will not consider that God to be his true creator. You are more than free to engage with Metatron under the assumption he is just deep in denial, but I'm only ever going to play him as if he's right-- that ultimately, he serves the great and unknowable "I Am". Not any petty pretender. We should still be able to make any RP work, just never expect him to believe anything else.

[milkboydotnet]

THE NEW DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION THROUGH PROTRACTED PEOPLE'S WAR

Lecture at the Forum for Liberation Theology Centre for Liberation Theologies, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 15 May 2014

By Jose Maria Sison Founding Chairman Communist Party of the Philippines

Full text here

[docileandlazy]

your relationship with ur faith is really inspiring to me. I see people on tumblr talk about their religion and It feels very different from what I see represented everywhere else. Do you have any tips for someone who has little to no experience with this kind of thing exploring a relationship with Christianity / God

What are you looking for in God ? What does God mean to you ? Why are you searching for a relationship with God ? With Faith ?

These are some of the questions I asked myself when I first began to explore my own relationship with religion. As part of that exploration, no matter the answers arrived at, I think it's important to understand that God isn't one set thing. I know who/what God is to me: I know what he represents, how I view him, and how I see my relationship with him playing out with him in the way that best suits myself and my lifestyle. God to you doesn't have to be the same thing God is to me, God isn't the same thing to me as he is to many of my friends or fellow theists I speak to. We all have such beautiful and unique relationships with him - for some of us, that means acknowledging him, praying to him, worshiping him, loving him, and for some that means having no personal relationship with him at all, or any combination of these things. There is no right way to have a relationship with God and Religion. However you do it is good and it is holy and it is beautiful.

I started exploring religion personally by looking into the saints and their stories, the devotion and love they held for the Lord were things that were really inspiring to me. Even if you don't view the saints as vessels of divinity the way we catholics do (as it is often the protestant belief that it is a sin to do so), i believe their stories of devotion and the stories of their lives are still something that can be so inspiring. So hopeful. Reading stories of the Bible (though, they don't have to be directly from the Bible - it can be an overwhelming book to start with. You can find condensed versions elsewhere) gave me Hope. To read of Judas and the kiss he granted Jesus, of the love they felt. Of the love Adam felt for Even in the Garden of Eden, a love so deep he'd go against the wishes of his creator. The separation of the sea, the love Jesus had for people of all kind, his brothers and sisters blood or no blood. These were all things that brought me hope, and it is the stories such as this within the Bible that I recommend to people first. The stories of love. Of devotion. Of hope.

I also enjoyed looking into other peoples interpretations of these stories and happenings. As silly as it sounds, tumblr did help me find my faith. So did forum websites. Youtube theology videos. Reddit, oddly enough. Catholic church websites, protestatnt church websites. Peoples personal blogs. Books from the thrift store, from the library. What drew me first to religion was the community I found within it, the love that is held there. I began to question my faith as the result of the steady decline in my physical and mental health, and it was through God that I was able to get through the mental health part of that. He helped save me, or at least my love for him did. So look for others, look into what people say, believe, think, how they live - it helps. It continues to be my favorite part of my religion. My relationship with God and religion is always changing, its always an active process.

My biggest piece of advice is this: if you do find yourself coming to faith, to religion, to God, it doesn't have to be some big, awe inspiring "oh wow" moment. It can be little things. Religion clicks for some, it doesn't for others, for some the process is fast, for others it's slow, for some it's any combination of things. It's a process that is different for everyone. Be not discouraged. In my earliest days, when I truly began to believe in God again I found myself closest to him when I was doing nothing but sitting on my bed, writing prayers, listening to music. There was no big moment, no spark. I just took a deep breath and realized that I'd found the love I was looking for, and that I'd found it in God.

[victorianpining]

How do you reconcile Christianity with queerness? Really struggling 😑

(Putting this under a read more because this is obviously a triggering topic for a lot of people)

First, you are really, really not alone, and for me that "reconciliation" process started there. Like not only have I been there, so so many people have. You are not the only queer Christian, even if you feel like it, even if everyone around you is telling you that you can't actually be Christian if you are queer, even if you think you've never met someone in the same boat as you (you probably have). Obviously the specifics of what your worries are and how someone comes to accept their queerness as not contradictory to their faith are very personal. So before I give my answer, I want to direct you to some of the thing that helped me. It's bad timing with Reddit in crisis right now, but the Open Christian subreddit has been an extremely helpful place for me, everyone is so kind and loving, and being in a place where people have discussion about parts of theology that I was not aware of in my formative evangelical upbringing just really broadened my horizons and helped me really get into my head that the people shouting that you have to listen to them specifically to be a Christian are just plain wrong.

Obviously another option is finding an affirming church. I haven't had much success finding a church I feel 100% comfortable in for other reasons, but affirming churches are out there. United Church of Christ/First Congregational Church, Episcopalians, and now some United Methodists are all safe bets. If you want to find a "non-denominational" church *read their website!* I have found that if a church is affirming, they will clearly tell you that up front. If they something more vague about "all are welcome" that almost always means they aren't. And some queer people are okay in those environments, but in my experience, especially when you're trying to find peace with your identity, getting regularly told you're choosing to identify with sin or whatever is not helpful.

Lastly, making other queer Christian friends, in a forum, online, in real life, has been the most helpful thing to me. If I being a fallible person can meet these bright, kind, earnest people and think they are deserving of love, how much more is God able to love them just as they are?

So to the specifics. Again, that Open Christian subreddit has lots of resources pinned, so if you want to deal with the "clobber passages," (verses that get used to tell queer people they are irredeemable sinners, for people out of the know) and learn about the ambiguity of the original Hebrew and Greek, or alternate interpretations, or even ways to approach the Bible outside of a literal reading, that's all there.

However, in my experience when I was dealing with this, feeling so bone deep afraid that there was something fundamentally wrong with me that God was angry about me over, that anything that was reassuring to me was just me seeking out what I wanted to hear, that anything that didn't scratch that anxiety itch was just a pleasant lie, I found about 0% of that convincing. What helped was a combination of meeting other queer Christians and getting reassurance that none of us were evil people looking for any excuse to sin or whatever else people say, and focusing on what I fundamentally believe to be true about God.

And the God I know is a God of love and forgiveness, who saw humanity and decided to come and live among us, to give Himself for us (like think of that, God Himself suffering for ordinary people, knowing everything about us, even the worst, and He still thought we were worth it). And so it helped me in my anxiety to settle it that even if the shouting people are right that being gay or trans is a sin (the more time goes on the more convinced I am that it's not, but I wasn't there yet) then it is like all other sins in that it didn't stop God from loving us and dying to redeem humanity. It doesn't stop God from loving me and it doesn't stop God from loving you. Jesus' ministry showed that none of us are without shortcomings, that people so focused on other people's sins are ignoring their own, and that ultimately if we are commanded to do anything, we are commanded to love. (And unlike what conservatives say, we do know that God's love is kind and gentle, Jesus compared God to an earthly father, saying if someone had a hungry child, would one of them give a stone instead of bread? Presumably the answer was no because he went on to say "if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him?" (Matthew 7:7-11). And going a step beyond that, we are only able to truly love God and love our fellows when we are assured that God loves us. (I think I'll leave off with that verse, since it's one of the most comforting passages in the Bible to me)

 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  We love because he first loved us.  Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

I pray that God will reassure you of His steadfast love for you, it's so much stronger than any voice that would try to contain it. Please feel free to reach out again if you're feeling anxious.

[haleviyah]

Andrew Torba has just announced Israeli's have been banned from using Gab(dot)com, a Christian themed Reddit-like forum. He may blame porn bots or scammers for the reason of proposing blocking Israeli IP addresses, however I have watched this man since 2020, his reasons are as fickle as his arguments.

At one point he went as far as channeling Hitler's ghost by stressing the Jews are to blame for the current economic issue, completely ignoring that the government has been purposely printing money and reckless spending that led to the American dollar to be devalued recently.

There are other instances where he suggested as reviving the Constantine-style of economic strategy only giving leeway for Christians - turning this parallel economy into a three way fight, when it should be a team effort to bring the country back from the brink of collapse. From a former-Christian's perspective, I know exactly what Torba is doing: He is purposely trying to implement the the Four Horsemen to destroy America from the inside out. Instead of political or personal affairs motivating him (like a certain senile man is doing in the White House) Torba is destroying American in the name of Christian doctrines, however it's failing.

Torba's main weakness is the use of the internet and dependancy on technology. Alas, despite his only audience being people who don't have a life outside of the box they created the dominion Torba's feeding the main issue.

We worry about caliphate of radical Islam, well radical Christianity is just as dangerous - do we really want another battle of Jerusalem again? Consider the mass slaughter of children, the casualty rate you are going to be dealing with, Torba! If you think you can go up against that ideology armed with ChatBots and no military experience you're a bigger imbecile than I thought.

Even worse: If you even dare to go against Israel like you are now- you're done for, Torba.

DONE.

No exceptions. Don't you dare hide behind your Jesus, grow some balls and own your mistakes like a man!

You extort everyone with your "If they hate Jesus they don't belong here." excuse. So anyone who questions your messiah is basically treated like a nobody? Like you were before you found salvation in Him... is that it?

What happened to "Do unto others as you want others to do unto you?" or "Love your neighbour as yourself?" - do you hate yourself that much you have nothing to offer but bitterness and indifference?

You violated Romans 11 and Leviticus 19 and that is between you an G-d, and I don't care if you write a news letter about me and send it to my inbox - do it! Let's see if you feel better at the end of the day!

You are not an example of Christ. Completely the opposite, you hate everyone even those who share His bloodline. Replacement theology is your agenda, not reaching out the world and helping others. You lack forgiveness and now you will reap the consequences of this.

I've heard of suicide bombing, but this is the first ever coming from a Christian Crusader.

On a bit of lighter news, guess who was just banned from Twitter:

This is going to be you Torba!

You don't to share this world with us, we don't have to share this world with you!

p.s. To any Christians reading this, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for allowing people like this guy to get away with hating G-d's Chosen People... not the TV show - HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE. Israel! And for what, to avoid a fight? To wait for your Christ to make the fight stop? Jesus would be disgusted of this lukewarm attitude you have if you care of his opinion so much. Either you do something, or be uprooted and burned like wheat by their hatred - it's your choice.

[ausetkmt]

In a brilliant essay, “Decolonial Theology and Changing the Global Church” on the Berkley Forum, Dr. Debora Tonelli says that “At the end of official colonialism, religion has often been the space in which colonized people have fought to build their new identity.” With regard to Indigenous nations and peoples, I would suggest a slight modification of that concept: “...the religion of the invaders has often been the space in which dominated and colonized peoples, those who have survived the intergenerational onslaught, have fought to build a new identity under an imposed system of domination.

My inspiration for that modification comes from a number of Vatican papal decrees issued by various popes during the fifteenth century (1436, 1452, 1454, 1455, 1456, 1481, 1493, 1506, and 1514). The Latin language of those documents is quite useful. It provides insight into the church-state coalition that served as an engine, so to speak, for establishing a system of domination over distant non-Christian lands during the so-called Age of Discovery.

​Are the Papal Bulls Political Documents of Christian Empire?

While present-day Catholic Church experts tend to say that the language of those papal bulls is not part of official Church teaching, this is beside the point. Years ago, in 1992, Bishop (now Archbishop) Charles J. Chaput told me that the papal bulls I was referring to were “political documents.” I think he meant that they are not based on and do not express official church teachings. 

I understand his use of the phrase “political documents” to mean that those papal decrees expressed the political intention of the popes of the Holy See, an intention to extend the system of domination of Western Christendom to distant lands in a spirit of “Christian empire” (Christiani imperii, in the Latin language of the bulls). This was to be accomplished by “reducing the barbarous nations” (ac barbarae nationes deprimantur) to subjection or domination. 

The more egregious political language of those documents, going back to the Dum Diversas of 1452, expressed the directive to “invade, capture, vanquish, and subdue” non-Christians; “reduce their persons to perpetual slavery”; “take away all their possessions and property”; and “convert” the land, meaning to unlawfully or wrongfully take away that which belongs to another. 

That kind of language provides us with the insight into what happens when free and independent nations and peoples have been invaded and deadly colonial patterns have been brutally imposed on them for generations, in the name of “the state” and Jesus. A resulting system of domination will then become “the space” within which Dr. Tonelli says that colonized people have fought to build “a new identity,” and within which they will perhaps “struggle for independence.” 

However, this “new” identity will be a “colonized” rather than a liberated one. The colonized will then be working toward a form of independence under and subject to the imposed Christian European system of domination. Curiously, Dr. Tonelli’s account does not envision dominated (colonized) nations and peoples working to restore their original free and independent existence, by liberating themselves from the imposed system of Christian empire and domination.

​Dominorum Christianorum: Christian Dominators

During a 2016 meeting with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, I said to Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, “With respect, I believe there is much of your own history you don’t know. Let me ask you, have you ever actually read the papal bulls” from the fifteenth century? He replied, “No, I must confess.” The point being that most Catholics and even some of the highest Church officials have never studied the Latin language of those Church documents, and certainly not from an Original Nations or Indigenous peoples’ perspective.

A book published by the U.S. Library of Congress, just a few years ago, contains replicas of the papal bull of September 26, 1493, the Dudum Siquidem. That line is taken from the middle of the papal bull dated May 3, 1493, “que sub dominio actuali temporali aliquorum dominorum Christianorum constitute non essent.” This refers to lands discovered and to be discovered in the future “that were not established under the domination of any Christian dominators.”

Whether the intent of domination expressed by that language is part of “official Church teachings” is irrelevant in my view. What is relevant is that, throughout the world, the present-day context and conditions experienced by “Indigenous” nations and peoples is an outgrowth of the patterns of domination and dehumanization expressed in those many documents issued centuries ago by the Holy See. 

In State of the World’s Indigenous People (2009), published by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, there is section titled “The Concept of Indigenous Peoples.” After saying that no specific definition has been “adopted by any United Nations-system body,” an example of a “working definition” is provided. It refers to “Indigenous communities, peoples and nations” which have “a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories.” Terms such as “pre-invasion” and “pre-colonial” suggests a post-invasion and post-colonial period, or, in other words, after the claim of a right of domination has been asserted and maintained.

Furthermore, the international working definition says that Indigenous peoples “consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them,” which means “now dominating.” It also says that Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations “form at present non-dominant sectors of society...” The opposite of the non-dominant is the dominant, or the dominating states, which are the non-Indigenous. Despite these clear connections, the UN working definition never uses the word domination. Nor does it focus on the fact that the phrase “Indigenous peoples” is accurately interpreted as meaning “dominated peoples.” 

Here’s one thing the Vatican papal bulls are able to teach us: Over a period of more than five centuries, a system of domination (the dominio of the dominorum Christianorum) was globalized by means of the language patterns found in the Vatican papal bulls of the fifteenth century. 

That system now serves as the linguistic and behavioral “space” in which colonized Indigenous peoples, without being aware of it, have been working to build an identity as dominated peoples within the framework of the United Nations, which is an organization of “states” of domination. The question arises: How do we end the global system of domination and its devastating effects on the planet?

[solradguy]

As someone who was raised Catholic works at a Catholic school and likes reading theology as a hobby I can confirm Catholicism in guilty gear is 100% unchanged from how it’s practiced in the modern day. Despite all the posturing there’s not a practicing Catholic alive who wouldn’t jump at the chance to wage holy war against crazy hell beasts. This makes metatextual sense as well since Catholicism is the most metal of the mainstream branches of Christianity. All that said don’t judge me too harshly, I’m too overeducated and homosexual to be a Catholic myself.

A long time ago I saw a comment on a metal forum that was like "No matter how hard these black metal church-burning types try to be 'metal' they'll never be more brutal than the actual stories in the Bible" and honestly they were right haha

While religion (especially Catholicism) isn't for me, I understand that it is for a lot of people and the culture/art inspired by religions can be beautiful. I won't judge.

[anarchistin]

I think it is important to understand that modernity is not a continuous trajectory with what preceded it. Modernization theory continues unabated in almost every academic field. This theory, foundational to writing and making history, operates on the assumption of what I have labelled a “theology of progress.” The theology is founded on the assumption that time has a homogeneous teleological structure, that this structure is inevitable, and that the earliest phases of history were preparatory for the later ones, which were in turn simply the means to reach the intended summit of real human progress: Western modernity. Integral to this understanding is that no culture or “civilization” outside of and prior to modern Europe possessed the same validity, competence, and moral and intellectual development. Whatever these civilizations had possessed of value, culturally or otherwise, was consumed in the process of preparing for a higher goal, outside and beyond themselves. The goal was Western modernity, which was imposed on the world by colonialism, coercion, and hegemony.

Even if we were to concede—however objectionable and repugnant this may be— that modernity’s violent tools were adopted by necessity with a view to improving the human condition, we find ourselves facing the bitter reality of a world in which we have destroyed almost everything around us, from communal and social structures to ecology and environment.

What many do not seem to understand is that all this is integral to modernity as a particular project, as a particular epistemology which has dictated a particular set of practices, all of which are the work of a particular subject, a particular subjectivity. My argument is that modernity’s structure of thought created a novel relationship between man and nature, one that produced a pathological sense of domination over nature, including our own.

Colonialism did not start in the colonies, but in Europe itself, and this is because early modern Europe embarked on a quest in which knowledge was systematically harnessed to subjugate nature, including our own selves. Orientalism is nothing more than a strand of discourse by which this bleak result was achieved, but every branch of knowledge – philosophy, science, law, etc.– is equally involved in the same project. That modernity now is everywhere in the world should not hide the fact of its European origins.

Wael Hallaq

[nulfaga]

Pfff the kind of greek philosopher thoughts i'm having about names and theology and gender and family lately... i need 2 see my genius turtleneck wearing trans dude writer bestie so we can take a stroll about the forum together. bro my brain is gonna burst

[magsstore2]

Commonweal Magazine

Commonweal Magazine is a prominent American publication that holds a unique place in the landscape of religious and intellectual journalism. Founded in 1924 by a group of Catholic laypeople, Commonweal has maintained its focus on the intersection of faith, politics, and culture for a century. Its mission is to provide thoughtful analysis and commentary on contemporary issues through the lens of Catholic social teaching while also offering a forum for diverse perspectives, fostering dialogue across ideological lines.

At its core, Commonweal seeks to engage with the moral and ethical dimensions of political and social life. The magazine covers a wide range of topics, including theology, politics, literature, art, and current events. In doing so, it appeals not only to Catholic readers but also to anyone interested in the deeper moral implications of society’s most pressing issues. The publication's approach combines intellectual rigor with a sense of social responsibility, making it a go-to resource for those looking to explore the intersection of faith and reason in a complex world.

One of Commonweal's defining characteristics is its commitment to independent lay Catholicism. Unlike many other Catholic publications, Commonweal is not affiliated with the institutional Church, allowing it to explore topics with a freedom and candor that are sometimes difficult to find in more official Catholic media outlets. This independence enables the magazine to take positions on issues like war, social justice, immigration, and economic inequality that may not always align with traditional Church views but are rooted in a broader, values-driven understanding of Catholic teachings.

[dialogdesherzens]

Eine Liste linker, christlicher Bewegungen: Liberation Theology, Red Letter Christians, Christian Peace and Justice Movements (e.g. Pax Christi), The Catholic Worker Movement, Kairos Movement, Christians for Socialism (Cristianos por el Socialismo), Christian Socialist Movement (CSM), Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), Worker Priests, The Progressive Christian Network, The Progressive Christian Network, Jesuit Social Justice Movements, Christian Anti-Capitalists, Ched Myers and the Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, Catholics for Choice, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Black Liberation Theology, Network (Catholic Social Justice Lobby), Christen für gerechte Wirtschaftsordnung (CGW), Kirchliche Arbeitsstelle Südliches Afrika (KASA), Pax Christi Deutschland, Christliche Initiative Romero (CIR), Ökumenische Initiative Eine Welt (ÖIEW), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christentum und Sozialismus (ACS), Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung (KAB), Kirche von unten (KvU), Erlassjahr.de, Attac Deutschland-Christliche Arbeitsgruppen, Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung (KAB), Arbeitskreis Christen in der SPD, Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (ASF), Katholische Friedensbewegung Österreich, Evangelische Akademien in Deutschland, Forum kritischer Katholizismus.