#christianity as a belief system is fine

[agwitow]

"From the mid nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century" might be a little vague for some people, so let me be specific.

The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996.

This is not an act that happened long ago. It's not something that only happened to your grandparents and great-grandparents. There are people in their 30s who attended that school.

And there are still institutions, regulations, and policies that have carried over from that period to affect the way non-Christian people are treated. A lot of it has to do with the fact that almost all of our policy makers have been some form of Christian since day 1. But that's not the fault of the church or it's policies over the last several hundred years /s

Love seeing something from TikTok and going “girlie that is literally what led to the downfall of the Papal States”

[midnightsslut]

religion is one of the most prominent recurring themes on the album, and it has been present in some capacity for quite a few records now. taylor previously compared love to religion: her saving grace, her belief system, and a fated divine intervention (false god, cornelia street, and cruel summer are the best examples of this). ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ and ‘we’d still worship this love even if it’s a false god’ are two of the defining statements about her philosophy on the lover album.

taylor doesn’t want to leave all of that behind on ttpd, at least not at the beginning. the first supernatural force she mentions is the spaceship on down bad, which she compares to a skylight of freedom in the epilogue. *something* has finally come to save her from her life of suffering. she doesn’t care if it’s a force of good at first; if anything, she’s just fine being taken away by aliens. she views this man as her destiny. it isn’t until guilty as sin? that taylor starts to ponder the moral implications of what she’s doing. is she guilty as sin for wanting to leave her previous religion and relationship behind? she comes to the conclusion that, even if she rolls the stone away and gets resurrected/redeemed, she cannot avoid the fallout. she is okay with the thought of having to wait, as long as both lovers vow to be together forever, just as she once did with someone else in false god. ‘I choose you and me religiously’ finishes the bridge of the song in a direct callback to cornelia street.

the next mention of religion has murkier imagery. she claims that she does not need the Lord’s help to save this man. she sees the halo that he has, and she can fix him herself. now that she feels free of her prior cage, she isn’t looking for divine intervention anymore. she wants control. she is their route to salvation.

when the relationship falls apart, she retreats back into the position of a believer rather than a divine figure. she compares him to a Holy Ghost who promised to save her and take her to heaven. instead, she is in hell in every sense of the word: she’s down bad and feels guilty for digging up the grave. he was a jehovah’s witness who promised that she could break free of the cage imposed by love without changing her religion altogether; she would’ve just had to switch denominations. she could still have a marriage and kids! she could still have a blue tortured poet! the man was different, but not the dreams they had together. the story of the first part of the album ends here. her faith has been broken, and she has only found any semblance of sanity by refusing to mention these belief systems altogether.

side b/the anthology blends the christian imagery of side a with goddesses, sorcerers, and prophecies. she bargains with these powers to let her have the future she wants (the prophecy). she doesn’t sound like someone believing in salvation. if anything, she feels cursed. she decides that the concept of divinely ordained timing will never work in certain relationships (‘the goddess of timing once found us beguiling / she said she was trying / peter, was she lying?’). this disdain extends onto her perception of other people’s faith (‘bet they never spared a prayer for my soul’). she does position herself as a prophet in cassandra, but even then, she admits that the role has hurt her. perhaps the pain in thank you aimee was meant to be, or perhaps she was just strong enough to build a legacy in spite of it, boulder by boulder. is she a martyr? does she want to be? or did she save herself?

the only real love song on this half of the album makes no mention of fate or any divine forces. it wasn’t meant to be. it’s not a supernatural invisible string or lightning in a bottle. she is just in love.

the album ends with the manuscript, which revisits an old story of a defining, formative heartbreak. as she sings ‘at last, she knew what the agony had been for’ while describing the legacy of her writing, she seems to revert to thinking about the purpose of trauma. the only exception is that, in this case, she is the one who found meaning in her pain by turning it into a manuscript. writing is her belief system now, and she proselytizes by telling her stories and thus giving up the manuscript.

ultimately, her belief in destiny has chewed her up and spat her out. she so desperately clung to her existing belief systems that she was fooled by a conman, which left her feeling cursed. religion is supposed to be with someone even in their darkest moments, but the album explains that taylor often felt abandoned. the only constant in her life was, well, herself. she’ll be okay, but her pen will be her saving grace.

[etz-ashashiyot]

For those of you out there who have rejected Christianity as a religion and want to fully break with it, you have to understand that it's not just a religion, no matter how much it tries to say it is - there's a whole culture to it, too. Or, perhaps another way of understanding it is this: religion and culture used to be entirely inseparable and "faith" or "religion" were not coherent identities by themselves. Christianity changed that on a widespread level by pushing the idea of universal religion and evangelism.

Essentially, Christianity styled itself as the one singular truth that must be known and adopted by all peoples everywhere. By doing so, it necessarily severed any ties to one specific people, culture, land, or language, so that it could be practiced by all groups. Not only did this make it easier to sell to people because they didn't have to give up their whole identity, culture, language, and even certain belief systems, but it served the practical purpose of making it portable to every land and adaptable to become palatable to [almost] any demographic. [Jews are a little unique in this particular situation, because since Christianity appropriates from us so heavily, we already know how much of it doesn't work within its original framework.]

The problem is that this separation is, even in the case of Christianity, untrue. Having been raised in a Christian culture (especially if you were raised religiously Christian, but even if your connection to the religious tenets was minimal or non-existent) it creates a whole world view and value system that must be addressed in addition to faith in the religious tenets recognized internally by Christians.

If you view faith in the religious tenets of your assigned religion as being the only or even primary aspect of divorcing yourself from a particular religious outlook, then you are still using a Christian framework that is very obvious to those of us outside of it. There are a lot of things that cultural Christians might call "religious" that we view as simply being "cultural," and vice versa, because the separation is neither as sharp nor particularly important to us in the same way.

If you are truly looking to leave Christianity behind, you need to stop telling us your truth about faith is the only truth and start looking at the broader ways in which Christianity has filtered into your world view in order to root it out, if that is truly your goal.

(And if it's not? That's fine! You can be a cultural Christian who doesn't believe in the faith elements even if you take your culture and values from a Christian-based culture. But don't deny that's what you're doing because at that point you may have stopped evangelizing religious Christianity but you are still actively proselytizing for cultural Christianity by doing so.)

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

How can a world have no major religions but a vast number of small ones. Like no religion accounts for more than 1% of the entire population except maybe atheist for maybe 5% of the population? But what does that say about the distribution of culture/countries?

Tex: Major religions are often major because they are state-backed - i.e., they have lots of money at their disposal, so they become economically and thus culturally relevant. Religion answers, approximately, two major questions: 1) Are we alone in X or Y manner? and 2) I’m scared of X thing that I have difficulty understanding, what is Y solution?

For a place like Earth, the planet that we know the most about, there are no planet-wide confirmations about the physical existence of any deity in particular (as in, shows up in a grocery and says hello to you in an entirely unambiguous manner that all onlookers can agree upon). This means that religions on Earth are predicated on the idea that belief - and, thus, willpower - makes the deity real. Or at least “proves” it. Your mileage may vary.

Because of this, the real-world religions that you can observe and study will have many, many commonalities to the two general questions I stated above. The first question usually contains subjects such as sentience, and the emotional frills of that. The second question usually contains subjects such as death and the process of dying.

In order to have many distinct religions, you would need a lot of unanswered questions for various societies to answer, a severe lack of contact and communication between groups of societies, and most importantly a lack of (or lack of need of) money. The more travel there is, the more people of different backgrounds will talk to each other, and the more ideas will be confronted, shared, and discussed. Trade would correspondingly be low, because of the lack of travel.

Utuabzu: There’s a couple things to consider here. Firstly, how are we defining religion? This isn’t a trick question, it’s a genuine issue. The Abrahamic concept of religion doesn’t really carry over well to other spiritual traditions. Most other belief systems are more local and action-focused (orthoprax, concerned with what one does, rather than what one believes), and often lack any mandatory set of beliefs, or standardised mythology. Religions like Chinese Folk Religion, Shintō, Hinduism*, etc. can have wildly varying pantheons and myths depending on where you are and who you ask. So depending on your definition every tiny village could have its own religion, because it has its own version of the cultural mythos and its own pantheon including some distinctive local gods and dropping some more common cultural ones.

Universal (applicable to everyone regardless of origin or location), proselytising (actively attempting to convert people) religions are rare. There’s only actually a few of them. Most notably, Christianity and Islam. They are both also orthodox religions (concerned with believing the correct things), which means they have a standard mythology and theology (or several competing standards that have historically attempted to resolve their differences via murder). A third, very notable difference they have with most belief systems is that they are exclusive, you can’t (or at least you’re not supposed to) combine them with other belief systems. Most non-Abrahamic belief systems are more or less fine with syncretism (combining belief systems), most clearly seen with the way Buddhism** is practiced concurrently with folk religions across Asia.

So, in answer to the actual question, your best bet here is to just not have an equivalent to Christianity or Islam. I suggest reading up on non-Abrahamic and pre-Christian/Muslim religions and religious practices, as that should give you an idea of what such a world might look like. I’d expect it to be colourful and diverse, with cities filled with temples and shrines to an ever-expanding array of deities and hosting various festivals much of the year. Many people would likely layer a philosophy like Daoism or Stoicism over their day-to-day religious practice, and it would be common and expected for people to show respect to or make  offerings to local deities when traveling. Religion would be a thing you do, not what you believe.

*Hinduism is less a religion and more a family of closely related religions and spiritual traditions that all originate on the Indian subcontinent. Which is why the Indian government considers Jains and Buddhists to be Hindu.

**Buddhism can be described as a religion or as a philosophy, depending on who you ask, what the context is, and whether Mercury is in Gatorade. Western definitions don’t really apply cleanly to non-Western contexts.

[contemplatingoutlander]

“The hour is late for America. Beyond political success, her fate relies on exorcising the leftist specter dominating education, religion, and culture – a 360-degree holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom.”

--Pete Hegseth (2020) in American Crusade: Our fight to stay free.

In this detailed accounting of Hegseth's beliefs, Jason Wilson writing for The Guardian, implies that Hegseth seems to be primarily interested in "freedom" for far-right "Christians," since he seems to consider many others, especially those on the left to be "America’s internal enemies." Wilson also implies (based on comments by John Whitehouse from Media Matters) that Hegseth would be fine with using the military against anyone who protests Trump's neofascist policies--as long as that is okay with the "rightwing audience" that both Trump and Hegseth want to please.

Relying largely on Hegseth's 2020 book, American Crusade: Our fight to stay free, Wilson claimed the following:

MILITANT "NATIONAL DIVORCE":" Back in 2020, Hegseth indicated that he would be okay with a "national divorce" and/or "civil war" if the Democrats won the 2020 election, because he believed there were “irreconcilable differences between the Left and the Right in America leading to perpetual conflict that cannot be resolved through the political process.”

A "PRO-FREEDOM, PRO-CHRISTIAN, PRO-ISRAEL ARMY": However, Hegseth also believes that “If America is split, freedom will no longer have an army.” He believes that the American military is “the only powerful, pro-freedom, pro-Christian, pro-Israel army in the world.” If that happens, Hegseth believes “Communist China will rise – and rule the globe. Europe will formally surrender. Islamists will get nuclear weapons and seek to wipe America and Israel off the map.”

THE ENEMY: On the other hand, if America isn't split, and the American military remains intact, Hegseth believes it will mean the defeat of “globalism”, “socialism”, "secularism”, “environmentalism”, “Islamism”, “genderism” and “leftism.”

INTIMIDATION TACTICS: Hegseth urges his readers to “mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents,” whom he feels are engaged in “sedition.” Here's an example of the intimidation he recommends: “When local businesses declare ‘gun free zones,’ remember the Second Amendment, carry your legally owned firearm, and dare them to tell you it’s not allowed.”

WORTHY OF "DISDAIN": Regarding "the media and 'almost all' politicians and credentialed experts" Hegseth tells his audience to “Disdain, despise, detest, distrust – pick your d-words. But all of this must lead to action.”

AGAINST DEMOCRACY: Hegseth does not believe in democracy, although he continues to claim to believe in the Constitution. Hegseth wrote: “For leftists, calls for ‘democracy’ represent a complete rejection of our system. Watch how often they use the word.” He goes on to say, “They hate America, so they hate the Constitution and want to quickly amass 51 percent of the votes to change it.”

GERRYMANDERING IS FINE: Hegseth is fine with gerrymandering. He writes: “Republican legislatures should draw congressional lines that advantage pro-freedom candidates – and screw Democrats.”

PRO-NATIONALISM: Hegseth is a nationalist, who wrote: “Our weapon is American nationalism.” He went on to say, “The Left has tried … to intimidate us into thinking that nationalism is a relic of a bygone era.”

BANNING WOMEN FROM COMBAT: Furthermore, Hegseth is opposed to women serving in combat.

PRO-PARDONING WAR CRIMINALS: In 2019, Hegseth successfully lobbied Trump, who "pardoned three service members who had been charged or convicted with alleged war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan." [all color/emphasis added]

Finally, Wilson notes that

"John Whitehouse, news director at Media Matters for America (MMFA)... said that Hegseth has 'always given off a proto-fascist vibe'”, and that 'the thing that appealed to him was going into Iraq as a crusader, and when that went wrong he started looking at America through the same lens.'” [emphasis added]

Clearly Hegseth is a militant right-wing "Christian" nationalist, who was rightly tagged by the Army National Guard as being a potential threat to our nation. Hegseth certainly doesn't belong anywhere near the Department of Defense, much less in charge of it.

Wilson ends his article by using Hegseth's own words to show his affiliation with militant far-right "Christian" nationalists:

“See you on the battlefield. Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!”

--Pete Hegseth (2020) in American Crusade: Our fight to stay free.

[sepublic]

The core to Belos’ character is that he’s everything wrong with the United States of America. Why else is he a Puritan, a group of racist settlers who helped found the U.S. and contributed to the genocide of the Native Americans? Why else does he dress up like a Founding Father when not in papal robes, with a ponytail resembling a powdered wig?

Luz thinking he’s a great explorer, only to find out Philip is just an entitled asshole who takes credit from others to make himself look better, is a play on people IRL finding out that people like Christopher Columbus and Thomas Edison were assholes who stood on the shoulders of others. It’s a play on white mediocrity and how white guys do the bare minimum and expect to be praised.

Belos is a bigot whose entire motive and goals are based on genocide-level bigotry, and he refuses to unlearn any beliefs; Being a historical Puritan he is 100% racist and misogynistic and unlike Caleb, didn’t take the chance to grow out of it. He wants to believe he’s born special and better than everyone else, and that’s why he buys into white supremacy. The modern cop is the descendant of the witch hunter.

There is an explicit connection between the colonial genocide of Native Americans and Belos’ genocide of witches and demons, down to imposing a Christian misunderstanding of the local religion. He feels entitled to their magic but does none of the work to understand, nor does he cultivate a sustainable relationship with the land the way indigenous people do, hence consuming palismen.

He coined the term Savage Ages, with Savage having racist connotations. His fantasy is the Monster Hunter, the idea that it’s okay to dehumanize anything and even anyone that’s different to kill them. He believes in the Evil Races trope which is of course inherently racist. Belos treats Luz like his White Man’s Burden, a brown child who needs a White Savior to civilize (just as the U.S. kidnapped Native American children to assimilate), and then tries to kill Luz when she doesn’t go along instead of just. Leaving Luz alone or dragging her into the human realm with him anyway.

Belos makes exceptions to his religion when convenient, allowing himself to use magic but then demonizing those who do, just as homophobic Christians and Republicans do. Think of all the anti-gay politicians who are caught being gay; They’re not repressed victims, just hypocrites who think they’re entitled to special treatment. Philip didn’t rat on Caleb for hanging out with a witch for the reasons Pro-Lifers let loved ones have abortions; Caleb was important to him, and he’s not one of the witches Philip planned to murder. And even then he still killed Caleb for ‘crossing a line’!

The Puritans and other groups informed the Alt-Right in the U.S., as well as Evangelicals who rage about how something as innocuous as Pokemon is a Satanic influence (Yes this happened; The Conformatorium doesn’t seem so unrealistic after all, and remember that Dana’s father gave her a copy of Pokémon Red before he died that she latched onto). But like the Televangelist, Belos indulges in material wealth and glory via the glamour of Catholicism, because he’s not even consistent to Puritan values either.

He’s Trump, he’s Elon Musk, he’s Ron DeSantis. He’s the incel/mass shooter who fell down the pipeline, who feels cheated out of the promises of a white supremacist society and takes it out on minorities but not other white guys, because he thinks the system’s idea is fine it just isn’t working as it should, at least he’s better than those guys. He calls others NPCs because he wants to believe he’s born special and better and chosen.

Belos’ reaction to Caleb being with Evelyn was undeniably motivated by racial disgust at his brother for committing miscegenation and making Philip related to a savage in the process, it’s why he never brings it up because of the scandalous shame of it all. Belos hates those witches more than he ever loved Caleb, Caleb was never his priority or he’d have changed his mind; It had far less to do with ‘codependency’ and far more to do with white supremacy, perhaps Philip wouldn’t have minded Caleb settling with a human white woman. The issue being not Caleb leaving him but who Caleb left him for.

Belos thinks taming a wilderness and murdering its natives makes him a tough man because he’s insecure. He has a sniveling victim complex that can’t comprehend why minorities would dislike him, except that they’re mean. Belos epitomizes the U.S.’s racial and colonial violence, its white supremacy, and its global police narrative that decides the existence of another, independent world is an inherent threat to his own.

The conflict between Philip and Caleb was over racism, and so it’s black and white because racism is always wrong. Making it ‘nuanced’ would take away from the fact that the motives for real life racism are inherently nonsensical and insincere; Caleb wasn’t selfish for living with another culture on its terms, instead of staying in the racism village (The Gravesfield statues corroborate Philip being an adult when he arrived in the Demon Realm, according to the memory portraits; Caleb waited until Philip was an adult before leaving). Philip was not a weird kid, he was adhering to his social norms with games about how anyone different or actually weird should die, and he wanted to do this, he’s a Conformatorium prude like all the rest and let his fear of Evelyn justify and evolve into violence.

Even if he was weird, Belos isn’t telling other people they should fit in for their sake, he’s telling them they should just die (Unlike himself, because he’s ‘special’); It’s what he admits to the Collector in the finale about not bothering teaching them anything, just wiping them out. Belos uses magic only to kill magic and discards it out of disgust when he’s about to leave, but makes an exception for the life of the non-human he’s become.

And the choice for the villain to be a genuine Puritan makes sense, because this is a show about weirdoes, so who’s designating them as such and why? Luz has a conflict with the IRL system since the first scene and Belos symbolizes the system, his Puritan ideology marked the foundation for it and the U.S. Belos killing Caleb is just the cherry on top of his actual motives and what his character was always about, that’s why his death scene isn’t him lamenting about Caleb or how lonely he is, it’s him being racist and demanding special treatment for his race. A racist white man feels no guilt for the witches and demons he murdered, just his white brother and clones; He still keeps killing them too btw.

Deeming someone a lost cause and killing them instead of working to rehabilitate is un-Christian, because Belos is not secretly bound by his religion, he picks and chooses. His guilt is not Catholic, he is the Protestant belief in his own superiority. Belos isn’t just a Nazi, he’s an American racist, he’s the KKK; He’s a condemnation of American Values and Exceptionalism, and lowkey I think that’s part of the reason why Family-Friendly Disney canned TOH, because Belos is a condemnation of a major consumer base. Disney being more progressive than other companies means jackshit because it’s performative and the bar is in hell.

[ratinacoat]

I'm gunna be so honest, the argument of whether or not endos are valid is stupid.

I don't believe in the concept of endogenic plurality, but that's not because of DID. It's because I don't share the spiritual beliefs that come with it. Endogenic DID does not exist, period. Most endos agree with that and the ones who don't are the only ones we need to focus on in the argument of whether or not endogenic systems are valid. Whether or not plurality as a whole exists outside of these disorders is entirely a belief or a theory, it's not a proven thing. The concept of multiple people, souls, or entities in one body is spiritual. It has nothing to do with systems and there's no point in arguing about a personal belief cause you can't make someone believe and you can't simply change the mind of a believer. It's like trying to make an atheist a Christian or a Christian an atheist. It's not gunna happen just because you argue with them.

Let's say some day endogenic plurality somehow gets proven. It's still nothing related to being a CDD system at all. Endos don't have parts/alters, you can't have parts/alters without the disorder. Alters are entirely caused by dissociation due to trauma. Alters are dissociated personality states, not people in your head. DID also has more symptoms than alters. DID is a dissociative disorder, not an alter disorder. Endos don't have anything to do with systems, they share no experiences with systems, nothing about them has to do with systems. Nothing they claim relates to DID in the slightest, so it doesn't matter if they say they exist without trauma cause they're not even explaining DID existing without trauma.

I don't believe in the concept of plurality. I don't have any spiritual beliefs. If someone does though I don't care. I'm friends with endos, I have friends who believe in the concept of spiritual plurality and we get along fine. You know why? Cause it's stupid to argue about how two completely unrelated things are unrelated.

I don't care about endos as long as they're staying out of CDD spaces. I am against the toxicity in their community and consider myself anti endo but I don't actually give a shit about them cause they only matter on the internet and I have bigger things to worry about than some kid who wants to create an alter ego for their online persona.

[beardedmrbean]

An army veteran has been convicted after praying silently outside an abortion clinic for his own unborn son.

Adam Smith-Connor, who was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £9,000, claimed that the verdict had “criminalised thought”.

The army reservist, who served in Afghanistan, was prosecuted for breaching a ban on protests within a legal buffer zone around the clinic in Bournemouth, Dorset.

He claimed that he had the right to silently pray for an unborn son whom he now regrets aborting 24 years ago and that prosecution amounted to “criminalising someone’s beliefs”.

But at Poole magistrates’ court on Wednesday, Judge Orla Austin ruled he had failed to comply with the ban under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

She said that even though he was engaged in silent prayer, his presence within the buffer zone could still have a “detrimental effect” on people attending or working at the clinic.

“He was given the opportunity to leave and chose not to comply with that,” she said.

ADF UK/X

The case comes with the Home Office set to enact legislation that will ban protests, including silent prayer, within 150-metre buffer zones around abortion clinics from the end of October.

Mr Smith-Connor said after the hearing: “When George Orwell wrote 1984, he meant it as a warning, not a guide book. His predictive powers were off by 40 years but apart from that the notion that thought crimes could become established in the British legal system was sadly accurate.

“How can we ask British troops to put their lives at risk defending freedom abroad while fining, arresting and imprisoning people back home for the thought crime of praying? This court has decided even a silent prayer is now a criminal act.”

The BPAS clinic in Bournemouth has been previously targeted by protesters and was made the subject of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in 2022 by the local council.

The order creates an area around the clinic so women visitors and staff members can come and go without being harassed and subjected to verbal abuse by pro-life campaigners.

Mr Smith-Connor, 51, was spotted behind a tree on a green in a public space about 50 metres from the entrance of the BPAS abortion clinic on Nov 24 2022.

Catherine Brookfield, a council officer, approached him, told him he was in breach of the PSPO and asked him to leave.

Mr Smith-Connor, a physiotherapist from Southampton, Hampshire, refused, saying he was expressing his human right to pray and that he was “praying in my mind”.

Ms Brookfield told him that he was within the buffer zone and that “prayer as disapproval” was prohibited by the PSPO. He was issued him with a £100 fixed penalty notice. When he did not pay this, his case went to court for a trial.

Mr Smith-Connor argued in court that no-one was entitled to know the contents of his thoughts.

But in finding him guilty Judge Austin said he was “clearly engaged in prayer”.

“He was capable of being seen, he was engaged in prayer and it would have been perceptible to an observer. He said he would not be looking at anyone so he could not breach their privacy but I find his presence and the circumstances could cause detrimental impact,” she said.

“He was there without a reasonable excuse and it was a breach of the PSPO. The location was important to the defendant but it was open to him to attend Saturday or Sunday, before 7am or after 7pm.”

Christian charity

Mr Smith-Connor was supported by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK), a Christian charity. The court heard it covered his legal costs of £29,000 but he would be liable for any prosecution costs.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, said they will be appealing the criminal conviction. He said: “This is a legal turning point of immense proportions. A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – on the public streets of England.

“We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought. We will look closely at the judgment and consider an appeal. Human rights are for all people – no matter their view on abortion.”

[broomsick]

Hi,

I was wondering if you have any advice for learning to believe that the gods care about us as individuals?

When I see people saying that the gods really don’t care about us in the grand scheme of things, I find that easier to believe than to believe they care about us, which kinda feels .. shit. Although maybe it’s true, I’m not sure.

I honour Loki, but because I find it hard to believe that they care about me at all (especially given I can’t communicate with him – so he can’t tell me if he does or not, and I don’t want to assume), I feel like it puts distance between us on my end.

I apologise if this is a bit heavy or difficult to answer, don’t stress if you can’t, you’re fine to delete it! But if you have any advice, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Hi there! I definitely understand the way you feel, and from time to time, I experience this very same sentiment as well. I think asking oneself this sort of question comes naturally to many of us, because pragmatic thinking could have us believe the divine is somehow too great to care about us measly earthlings.

But let’s break down this idea that’s being spread around pagan social media platforms, according to which the Gods are too busy, too grand, or too powerful to care about their followers. I’ve never been a fan of this sort of over-the-top cynical rhetoric. Still, I think there’s no better way to tackle pragmatic thinking than in a pragmatic way. The way I see it, this perception of the divine stems from a will to fully detach oneself from common monotheistic concepts. The fact is that a lot of neo-pagans, including popular pagan content creators, come from a Christian background. Some of these creators, whether polytheistic, animistic, both, or else, seem very keen on rejecting any spiritual concept or practice deemed monotheistic in nature, such as the idea that the divine can love us. Neo-paganism entails new ideas, and therefore, any perception of the divine that’s akin to that of the big monotheistic religions is either naive, or shows remnants of monotheistic thinking. However, there’s nothing naive about believing that the divine can care about us. I can believe this, just like I can believe that this or that deity presides over this or that matter in life. Belief systems work in a way that allow for specific ideas of the divine to form, and to vary from person to person. And after all,—just as an aside—, if an entity is powerful enough to be considered divine, then they are powerful enough to know about each of their followers, regardless of how many there are. Now, I don’t think there’s any need to specify that polytheism is inherently spiritual. This means that its very foundations are built upon personal gnosis, and belief in concepts that cannot be proven. No such thing as logic regulates matters of spirituality. So why should we, as theists whose beliefs aren’t commanded by any sort of authority or rule set, be so rigidly pragmatic in this case?

In the end, it all comes down to what we personally believe, and what we’ve personally experienced. Who’s to prove that the Gods don’t love us? And if I saw some stranger on social media tell me “hey um, your God doesn’t care about you by the way”, I would think that 1. Me and this person probably don’t even perceive the divine in the same manner at all; 2. Nothing and nobody dictates belief but the believer themselves; and 3. My experience has proven to me that the Gods care for us, and it’s proof enough. But let me elaborate on that matter further.

In most pagan paths, deities embody different natural phenomena and elements of human life. That’s the way the very first forms of polytheism developed. And to me at least, that’s also the way we as pagans experience their presence firsthand. The Gods are all around us: we can see them because we can see forests, seas, storms, fire, rain… And when you see it that way, they are infinitely closer to us than some cynical social media accounts would have us believe. They don’t sit on golden thrones above the clouds, far away from the human condition. Their presence is tightly intertwined with the earth. So why should “the forest, seas, storms” etc etc care for us? Well my friend, have you ever spent time by a river, and felt that it had a soul of its own? Have you ever felt a bond with a specific tree, or got the sense that the storm was alive somehow? That is something I worship as a pagan. And in my personal experience, the God’s burning, all encompassing love can be felt in these sorts of moments. I don’t need for them to tell me directly. It’s like looking into a loved one’s eyes and feeling that they love you, even though not a single word was spoken. I know how difficult it can be to put one’s faith in such a thing, when it’s already hard for us to even communicate with the Gods. That’s why we keep an eye out for signs from them. And even so, we might never truly grasp their thoughts. If anything, that’s something we know for sure about the divine. If you want my opinion, believing that the Gods love us is a perfectly sound choice to make. They send us their blessings in too many ways to count, sometimes in the form of well-needed change, reassurance, comfort… And if you believe that a certain blessing was sent by the Gods, doesn’t that already showcase a certain care? Even for those who see deity worship as purely transactional (an offering for a blessing and vice-versa), the very idea that a deity would send a blessing implies care for the followers who make the offering. And since me, along with innumerable other pagans, have received blessings without necessarily having to ask or perform some sort of huge offering ritual, I’ve naturally decided that the Gods love their followers. Everybody else can feel free to believe what they will, but my faith, intuition and experience have told me so.

Don’t let your mood be undermined by what people say on the internet, but more importantly, don’t let other people dictate what’s true and what’s false about your experience of spirituality. Let yourself believe what you want to believe, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. You don’t owe anybody proof of what you have faith in.

[preservationofnormalcy]

hey. was looking through life after life's site for some resources. one of their links are broke and it's, unfortunately, one of the resources i need most right now. soo.. can i bug you for any advice on continuing your religious practices after contracting vampirism? i was raised and currently am catholic, if it helps. thank you.

Ooh, great question.

So, the mechanics of vampirism’s various aversions are still a little murky. It has a lot to do with where the individual experiencing vampirism was raised and the cultural norms thereof. There’s a little bit of grey area here: some vampires aren’t effected by the “counting compulsion”, some of them are fine with running water, etc. Most vampires are effected by holy symbols, but only ones they’re sort of familiar with. Ironically, it was probably your Catholic upbringing that is contributing to the aversion after your, uh. Significant life change.

As a side note, there’s a theory that the aversion to certain symbols is due to an inability for the vampire to recognize right angles, which is pretty silly to me, but you’ll hear it in some circles.

Anyway, in your case, I have actually met some vampires who wish to continue the belief system in which they were raised, and for that I point you towards the ichthys. The ichthys, or “fish” in Greek, is a long standing symbol of Christianity - but, crucially, not a popular enough one that the noospheric connotation has settled into it, leaving it broadly safe for vampires to use in their worship practices.

I once met a woman at a Life After Life event. Can’t remember her name, but she was a deaconess with the Fishers of Men, a vampire sect. They used the ichthys symbol to the exclusion of any other symbol for safety, and apparently had been operating since the ‘20s.

Hopefully that helps!

[thewinter22]

hi, since you asked genuine questions here's a few explanations:

on oct 7th, hamas broke into israel and murdered, tortured, raped, and kidnapped over a thousand people. it wasn't just a little event. it was the largest slaughter of jews since the holocaust. and it wasn't just jews that were killed, it was arab israelis and bedouins. if you want to learn more, I recommend watching "screams before silence" it's free on youtube BUT huge trigger warning for graphic descriptions of rape and torture. there aren't actual pictures/videos of the rapes in the documentary but there are many eyewitnesses and victims who share their stories.

https://www.screamsbeforesilence.com/

secondly, the term "zionism" doesn't mean what most non-jews think it means. it is a movement started by and for jews, and it is the belief that jews should have a nation in their ancestral homeland (israel). it doesn't mean that all palestinians should die, it doesn't mean that israel needs to solely be jewish (ethnostate). israel is extremely diverse with many different religions and ethnicities, it just has over 50% jews making it a jewish state in the same way that most countries are christian or muslim etc.

gaza, in contrast, has 0 jews since 2005 when israel left gaza.

hamas is a terrorist organization and has a very strict "education" system mostly consisting of teaching children how to become martyrs and shoot guns. palestinians learn from birth to hate jews and israel. hamas's entire ideology is built on jew hatred. for that reason, it is extremely hard to get a ceasefire because hamas keeps rejecting it. bibi netanyahu, who I don't personally like, has agreed to most ceasefire deals, but hamas hasn't. that's why the war is still going on. and let's not forget, hamas still holds many israeli hostages captive.

the reason jews don't feel safe in queer spaces is because currently leftist queers do not acknowledge these facts. they create "anti-zionist spaces" on campuses and in their own communities. 90% of jews are zionists, so when you're anti-zionist, you are inherently antisemitic. anti-zionists have vandalized synagogues, attacked synagogues, raped jews "for justice in palestine", stabbed random jews, and worse. people shout "globalize the intifada" which really just means "globalize genocide of jews".

the fact that so many queer people refuse to believe us when we say we are in danger, say we deserve it even, is why jews don't feel safe in queer spaces. most of us are fine with a state of palestine, but we don't want hamas as their leader because they are a terrorist organization with a goal of killing jews. jews have been a part of so many liberal movements (a black jew founded blm, many jews stood up for gays during the aids crisis, etc) and are still rejected because of backwards misinformation. our problem isn't with palestine or palestinians, our problem is with ignorance and hate that so many leftist spaces are now full of.

if you want to help jews feel safe in queer spaces, acknowledge their pain, acknowledge that hamas is bad, listen to jews when they talk about this conflict. so many queer and leftist ppl treat this conflict like a fandom, it's crazy and disgusting. most of them only learned about this conflict through social media a year ago. listen to jews and don't exclude us from your spaces just because you are too arrogant to look at the other side. that's literally all we're asking.

some instances of anti-zionism being violent and antisemitic:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67145473

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240619-french-teens-charged-with-anti-semitic-rape-in-attack-condemned-by-political-leaders

https://www.jns.org/anti-zionism-is-just-antisemitism-misspelled/

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/antisemitic-incidents-hamas-israel-attack-2023-adl

thank you for asking, and thank you for reading.

Thank you for the answers. I was worried people were going to call me ignorant, which I admit I am up until now, and is exactly why I want to learn more about something I never really looked into more deeply because of the various opinions on all sides making it hard to decypher anything objective. It's hard to believe how terribly queer spaces are treating jewish people. Which is not to say I don't believe you. Quite the opposite. I am just shocked. Thank you again

[starchilddante]

I want to talk about the criticism of Hazbin Hotel and why I sort of understand it but personally don't agree.

The main complaint I see is that it feels rushed. Personally, I don't mind the pacing, especially considering they only have 8 episodes for season 1 and from a story-telling standpoint, you want to establish all the "plot promises" (basically the many plot-lines and their premises) right away and given that they only have 8 episodes to do it I would argue they've done a fine enough job with pacing. We don't know the limitations they were given.

Aside from that, I've heard people saying that it's as if "You asked a Mormon/ Devout Christian to write an R-rated story" as if that's a bad thing or a joke to poke fun at Hazbin and I take a tad bit of issue with that.

Because I would argue, yes, and that it makes sense. First of all, who would you expect to have enough of a religious background to write all of this? Who would have the rage except for those of us who have suffered in the name of holiness?

I think it's written to make you think, "Wow, this religious stuff is totally absurd bullshit." Because it is. We would know, the ex-Mormon's and abused ex-Christians. It's stupid to think that vulgar language or sexual jokes make something "bad" or "good". We fucking LIVED through that shit, man. It's supposed to piss off the type of people we escaped from. Because their religious beliefs are utter bullshit and when they're presented with a valid argument they basically do exactly what Adam does: "Uh, fuck you."

I think the choices are intentional. It's supposed to be vulgar because it proves that good and bad aren't determined by those sorts of things. Because that vulgarity doesn't make the show "bad" or "edgy". It's just a part of the show. And the characters are so much more than "good" or "bad" too.

This show really has a place in my heart because I lived through a religious nightmare. I asked the same questions Charlie does. I cried and I prayed and I begged God to fix me. But the truth was, I never needed to be fixed. And if God exists, he's the biggest hypocritical asshole of them all. This show screams the pain of the religiously abused, and I live for it. If religion is real, then we're all victims of a shitty system. And a couple of curse words don't make a rat's ass worth of difference.

The show is trying to show you what it's like to be born into a life you didn't chose, forced to follow these shitty rules. It's written, if you will, "like a religious person was asked to write something R-rated" because that's the story its trying to tell.

It's fine if you don't like it, if this isn't your thing. But don't make fun of the people that love it by implying that its stupid and "made for prudes trying to be edgy" because then you're implying that we're all stupid for enjoying it. I love this show because it shows the story of the lives of us who suffered in the name of religion. You don't have to love it. But don't shit on me for holding it close and enjoying every part.

[neiviele]

There is such a strange overlap between anti-endos and a particular set of harmful, discriminatory behaviors that I keep on seeing.

In particular:

• Despising schizo-spec people for some reason

▪︎Actively trying to trigger schizo-spec people in psychosis despite being told otherwise

▪︎Ignoring their boundaries - being told that they're harming people only to insist that it's good for them

▪︎You can recover from your DID! Not so for schizophrenics, who must always constantly fight to be normal and never give in to their delusions

▪︎You can never have fun with this. No delusion entertaining here! Not like DID/OSDD systems, who make pk profiles for their alters and learn to love their systems with time.

• A sort of tunnel vision directed only at fellow traumagenic systems compared to endogenic systems.

▪︎You're having fun with this disorder? Not possible, you should always suffer... unless you're a traumagenic system, in which you can do anything you want.

▪︎You're not one of us? Pssh, must be an endo

▪︎Obviously your trauma didn't happen if you're a pro-endo traumagenic system, otherwise you would know how bad it is to be this way

▪︎"Why aren't you suffering exactly like me"

• Gatekeeping of alterhumanity and other communities

▪︎Endogenics are pushed out of every community. Doesn't matter if the community is for them, doesn't matter if it has nothing to do with syscourse. Get them outtttt

▪︎▪︎Bonus points if you make other people feel unsafe in the process. Don't look at me, look at those endogenics that were doing nothing!

▪︎Putting their own conditions on a pedestal when compared to others (ex. it's fine to be autistic, but God forbid you identify as plural)

• Othering and a kind of racism directed at POC and spiritual folk

▪︎If your practice is spiritual and mystical it's 🥰beautiful🥰, if it's clinical and psychological it's 👎harmful👎

▪︎▪︎Bonus points if it's an ancient, old practice from long ago, conceived in the wilderness far away from the "toxicity" of the "modern world". Slavery? Genocide? Cultural oppression? Not a factor, you should all have practices from long ago. Don't blame me for not having them!

▪︎POC are used as pawns in syscourse. If you're endogenic you must be white (certainly there can't be any POC endos out there) and if you do exist, you are dismissed. However if you are POC, you must exist in all areas of discourse and hold all the right opinions.

▪︎Certainly you can't hold multiple viewpoints on your origins - a spiritual plural who also believes in science? A spiritualist who also believes in spiritual things, yet takes their medication to function? Not possible, you're either psychological or spiritual.

(Apologies for the snark near the end, but in truth it is annoying.) We've noticed these beliefs seem to appear in tandem with each other to a greater degree than other beliefs- could be wrong, but it's a pattern we've noticed. I'm guessing this behavior is a result of a traumatic cultural Christian-European upbringing? Which makes sense, but I wish they'd unpack that before jumping into syscourse.

[qsycomplainsalot]

Recently the French news cycle has been dominated by us patting ourselves on the back from refusing a racist law project from some dickhead in parliament, and a frankly shameful debacle where a teacher took their students to the Louvre and took them without warning to see a painting featuring naked people, with the students being eleven to twelve years old in that context. I invite you to read about it yourself although you should keep in mind that a lot of sources show a very strong bias in their language describing the event.

What we see with that whole nonsense is that 130y after Alfred Dreyfus' trial, we still have the proceedings over controversial facts and statements be ruled over by some clique with obvious conflicts of interest passing judgement by telling us that no everything's fine we swear, it's the minorities that we need to worry about. A teacher shows artistic nudes to 12yo's with no warning but no no it's their fault you see, and the fault of their religion, this eternal enemy of the Republic (except when it's fairweather catholicism)/s. The students complain that this is part of a pattern of hostility from said teacher, but it's okay because the teachers tell you that it's not. And now the minister of education wants to punish the students. Classy.

It's honestly not hard to see a pattern of abuse towards these kids and we don't need to have this teacher personally involved in it either, because if even a single student in this class was Muslim, or Jewish, or literally any other religion than Christian, there are laws that should be unconstitutional in nature that already bars them from even harmless outward displays of their religion, because of a fundamentally moronic, stunted understanding of what secularism and the separation of church and state was about. It was supposed to stop discrimination, but instead it hits on the head any and everything that might stick out to a white Christian point of view with absolutely no self-reflection on how hypocritical it is. France has had a deeply religious culture for as long as it existed, our national myth STARTS with our people's conversion to Christianity, but because it is our culture and we're used to it we do not see it, we do not question it, and any attempt to point it out is an attack on the values of the Republic, you filthy non-assimilated foreigners. Ignore over half of our holidays being literal Christian holy days, all of our stores legally having to close on sundays and wearing cross pendants in school literally never being prosecuted, we're so fucking secular it's beautiful.

Mind you this is borderline irrelevant in this context though, because a teacher decided to shoulder the responsibility to show nudity to children, not all of whom were Muslims and they were obviously made uncomfortable by the experience. There's probably an age at which one can expect students to look at tits in a painting and be able to contextualize them with their art history lesson, I'm going to be honest though it's not gonna be twelve years old. Reframed without the racist "their obscurantist beliefs can't handle our beautiful art of chubby ladies in what I can only assume are poses an Italian man four hundred years ago thought were sexy", it's not an attempt against the sanctity of the republic not to show tits to children without warning them and their parents. But apparently some fucking dullard did a dumb, and rather than address it or any of its systemic issue the French education system is circling the wagon and shitting on its students twice as hard.

“At French schools, we do not challenge authority, we respect it! At French schools, we do not contest secularism, we respect it! ! At French school, we don't look away from a painting, we don't cover our ears in music class, we don't wear religious dress, in short, in French schools we do not negotiate the authority of the teacher nor the authority of our rules and our values!”.

--Gabriel Attal, French minister of education/Macron simp, showing how becoming minister at age 34 might be a bad idea and an indictment to the institution you claim to represent by ignoring the past some two hundred and forty years of French history.

"Shut up and do as we say, after all the French system as an impeccable record of mediocrity so clearly we're doing everything to merit your obedience !!"

I cannot stress this enough, kids this age are NOT COMFORTABLE WITH NUDITY AND SEXUAL THEMES, it is not a purely religious thing and not all kids who complained were Muslim. The school and media are brushing over that because it doesn't fit their racist framing job, because it would not be convenient for them to report the news accurately because it would expose how the education system in France is rotten from top to bottom, from underpaid teachers who stopped giving a shit all the way to a political appointee minister who couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

[vaspider]

Okay so this is probably super weird to ask you, but I’m basically just asking if you can help me find the right place to look. We (a system) were raised christian, and it was honestly a very progressive church (runs like five homeless shelters, very diverse, current minister is loved by everyone and is also an openly bi woman, and had pride flags in every window regardless of month until their county police showed up and had to tell them “we’re so sorry, we love what you’re doing and it’s a great stand to take, but we are 100% certain that this’ll get your windows and probably members shot”). The thing is, since they were kind of going it alone with bible interpretation, most of their answers to hard questions were effectively “it means what you think it means”. Most of us have been able to brush it off, but some things have really stuck with me. I’m just very done with the “He is always good, so everything in the bible must also be good” explanation of most christians in my life, or even worse, the claim that “it’s all a part of His plan for each of us, and so you mustn’t question it”. So I want to ask: are there any good jewish sources you’d recommend on how to understand certain parts of what we’ve been taught as the old testament? I’m fine with either a good person to ask or some assigned reading.

- Miriam

There are ... so many Jewish sources on that, because that's basically our entire thing, forever. You basically just said, "Explain Judaism?" :)

Uh. You could start here, I guess? Both of these are online & free sources on Jewish writing & beliefs.

[jimi-rawlings]

Fallen angel - Wikipedia

Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels who sinned. Such angels often tempt humans to sin.

SIN OF THE ANGELS

Lesson: The sin of the angels has been traditionally spoken of as a sin of rebellion. “I will not serve” is the statement attributed to satan and the other fallen angels. “I will not serve God or obey His will.” Recall also the statement that the serpent spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden when he seduced them to act in disobedience to God by eating the forbidden fruit. The serpent convinced them to eat the forbidden fruit by saying, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5, RSV-CE). This line also reveals the hidden first sin of the angels. They wanted to be gods. They did not want to serve the one God. They did not want to obey. They rebelled. They wanted to be the masters of their own destiny rather than to humbly submit to the plan of God for their lives.

BELMÔNT'S SIN: STREET IDENTITY MURAL CROWN APOTHEOSIS

In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world, and some that are active today. It requires a belief that there is a possibility of newly-created gods, so a polytheistic belief system. The major modern religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism do not allow for this. In Hellenistic culture, a mural crown identified tutelary deities such as the goddess Tyche (the embodiment of the fortunes of a city, familiar to Romans as Fortuna), and Hestia (the embodiment of the protection of a city, familiar to Romans as Vesta). The high cylindrical polos of Rhea/Cybele too could be rendered as a mural crown in Hellenistic times, specifically designating the mother goddess as patron of a city. Nightlife entertainment is often more adult-oriented than daytime entertainment. Location theory has become an integral part of economic geography, regional science, and spatial economics.

Example; Mt. Pleasant Road Pluto Effect Invocation Wing Transfer

NOCTU [PLUTO ANGEL/NOCTURNALIS]

(Left-handed Path Apotheosis Pluto-Mural Crown Wing Transfer) Angelology Acrostics Treatise Text: Material World Angels: Spiritual Angelology not Religious (Bible Influence: De Coelesti Hierarchia and Summa Theologica), Left Handed Path Apotheosis, Illusions, Dionysian Mysteries, Black Angel Wings, Sagittarius-Scorpio Sensory Overload Asperger's (Fetus Alcohol Consumption and Prenatal Hormones Vitamin) Birth, Virtue Heavenly Host, Pluto Evening Star Astral Body Planetary Intelligence, Self-Defication Mural Crown Horcrux Oversoul (STREGA), Change Oversoul to New Title (Salesian), Cardinal-Mutable Human Form with Fixed Spirit, Invocation Possession, Angelology Students, and Angel Philosopher), Mural Crown (Tutlery Deity, Civil Heraldy, Heraldy), Salesian Church Enterprises (Real Estate; Liberal Arts Immersion Schools; Gold; Athletics; Fine Arts), Philosophy (CAAB: Culture, Art, Aesthetic, Bohemian; 5 Senses City, Selective Sensory Development, Distorted Sensory Play, Sensory Overload Asperger's, Culture Antagonist Liberal Arts)

RUSSE NOIR (À MA SAUCE) FOOTBALL

À ma sauce Literally: To my sauce, True meaning: Suit my style

VEDETTE: 3-4-1-2 has 4 Pivot Formations so 5 Total: Transition to a 4-4-2 Diamond, Transition to a 4-4-2, Transition to a 4-2-3-1, Transition to a 3-3-1-3

Central African Republic 4-4-2 Diamond Variant: 1-3-4-2 (1) À ma sauce (Sweeper Deep-lying Playmaker Wingback) (4) Diamant (À ma sauce: Counterpressing Pivot Pressing Triggers, Sweeper-Winger Pivots, Overlapping Runs, W; V; I Box Keeping Formations) [Key Stats: Front Foot, Pressing Triggers, Clearance, Aerial Duel, Interceptions, Blocked Shots, Tackles, Final Ball, Key Dribbles, Overlapping Runs, Set Piece Taker] Spacing, Possession, Pass Completion, and Counter Pressing with Pursuit and Ambush Predation One Team Box Touches and Capture the Flag with Analytics-Geometry Total Football Trixie Bet on CNS Drugs (Xanax and Modafinil)

Define a run in one of two ways: (i) as a set of consecutive goals scored by one team, without the other team scoring a goal; (ii) as a set of consecutive scoring events by one team, each event being either a goal or one or more Set Piece. Play aggressive and with counter pressing and run it up on the score board in the first half and after halftime play defense. You get a break at half and it's easier to win when someone plays defense and looks for opportunities instead of Attacking.

Posterior Chain Super Compensation and Speed-Endurance (Elastic-Connective Tissue) Force-Velocity Curve; Crescent Moon Horizontal Plane Vertical Force Sprinting Mechanics.

WM or Diamond Rover Futsal Pivot Formation

Set Piece Stylistic Biomechanics: Shooting Knee at Wall for Curve and Placement Knee for Corner. Follow through with Shot with proper Body Alignment

W, I, M, V; Box Keeping Formation with 3 Centre-Backs

Knee to Feet or Shoulder to Feet Cradling for Touch/Entertainment

UEFA Front Office Curriculum

Museum d'histoire: Broken down into three major section — “A Lineage of Coaches Players and Places,” “Proving Grounds” and “Cultures of Basketball” — City/Game documents how basketball first found its origins in the neighborhoods of NYC and then went on to produce a roster of local legends who played everywhere from Rucker Park and the Cage on West 4th Street to Christ the King High School and St. John’s University.

Agility Ladder Eyes Pocket: Eyes Between Defenders Feet and Ball, Numbered Footwork V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step), All moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle (Coup de Pied)

*Push-Pull Sprint/Shooting Cycle: Pull Glutes et Hamstring; Push Calf et Quads for Sprints.

Sprint Size Up: A series of feint Karaoké dribble moves with Eye Tricks (Fake Pass) but Sprint Position Finish

Triangle Philosophy: All Dribbling Moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle while using V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step).

Thé Crescent: In Close Dribbling; Crescent Footwork with L Shapes (Paul Pogba)

On the Run Dribbling Moves: Letters and Shapes; Still Play 1 on 1: Numbered Footwork

Piedi Felici Courts: Drills Side/Box Play with 1 Net; Design Vaporwave Action Painting Angels; Knee for Direction and Sole Drags for Dribbling Touch and Crescent Moon Sprint Mechanics

Gambling Games: 5 Roll (Captain, Ship, Crew); Live-Pool Betting Monopoly

Stylistic Biomechanics: Dribbling Foot To Ball Contact (Balls of Feet and Arch of Feet); Knee for Direction; Foot Drags; & Hip Angle, Crescent Moon Running Mechanics, and Laces Kick.

Diamond Football (15 mins)

Set Up

-Lay out two overlapping sets of 4 flat markers in the positions shown above.

-Ask the players to stand on a flat marker for their teams colour (Red on Red, Yellow on Yellow).

Instruction

-Whenever the ball goes out for a kick in or for the defenders ball, the players must stand on their markers before play begins.

-As soon as the ball has been played in, players are free to move.

-Reset everytime the ball goes out.

Coaching Points, Progressions Ect.

-Ask players to shout out what each position on the park is to devlop understanding of their roles.

-If you decide to go to a normal game , leave the markers out for a visual aid for the players.

-If more than 8 players, Add in Goalkeepers who would then play the ball out to the DF,LM,RM.

-Rotate Positions, Ask Players to stand on a marker they haven't been on before

BELMÔNT'S ACCENT

Full Lips Endings with Vertical Narrow Mouth and Soft Rs

BELMÔNT'S SIN INDEX FUND PORTFOLIO 

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries (Cabaret and Burlesque), and weapons manufacturers.

Diageo 

Phillip Morris

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Business Clusters with Scrum Management and Accelerators to produce Festivals.

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

BELMÔNT'S DECENTRALIZED GAMBLING ECONOMY

Corporate-Capital Gains Tax Haven

High Stakes Minimum Buy In

Card Gambling (Signal and President): Top 2 highest bids fight for the Coup d'état and the other two are lesser men, the lesser men are subordinates that aid in playing cards for the warlord, the winning team splits the money, the warlords switches based on the 13 cards dealt and bets placed, the first team to shed all of their cards win.

Domestic Gambling: Boxing

Retirement Gambling: Boat Racing

Residency Program for Tax Benefits

BELMÔNT'S TURF ACCOUNTING MODEL

+EV

Python Programming Gaussian Distribution

Exotic Options Trading Live Betting

Parlays Minimum for Round Robins

Daily Fantasy Sports Rakes

NOUCHI PALACE

Definitions of ballroom. noun. large room used mainly for dancing. synonyms: dance hall, dance palace**. types: disco, discotheque.

Go Go Music Influenced, Eurphoric Trance Chord Progression Melody, Progressive House and Drum n' Bass Percussion-808 Call and Response Staccato Polyrhythm or Layered Kick and Punch 808.

In his 1972 study of French lute music, scholar Wallace Rave compiled a list of features he believed to be characteristic of style brisé. Rave's list included the following: the avoidance of textural pattern and regularity in part writing; arpeggiated chord textures with irregular distribution of individual notes of the chord; ambiguous melodic lines; rhythmic displacement of notes within a melodic line; octave changes within melodic line; irregular phrase lengths.

Have the Snare and Kick say, "Hi, How are you?" And the 808 say, "I am good thanks for asking.”

Use progressive House to push the Drums Conversation to either Fast and Punchy for Happy or Slow and Deep for Sad.

In technical terms, "go-go's essential beat is characterized by a five through four syncopated rhythm that is underscored prominently by the bass drum and snare drum, and the hi-hat... [and] is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, rototoms, and hand-held cowbells."[5]

Polyrhythm: In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.[1]

Four-on-the-floor (or four-to-the-floor) is a rhythm used primarily in dance genres such as disco and electronic dance music. It is a steady, uniformly accented beat in 4. 4 time in which the bass drum is hit on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4).[1] This was popularized in the disco music of the 1970s[2] and the term four-on-the-floor was widely used in that era, since the beat was played with the pedal-operated, drum-kit bass drum.[3][4] (Punch 808-Kick)

Polyrhythm 4 on the Floor examples 2:4 or 5:4

Hard trance is often characterized by strong, hard (or even downpitch) kicks, fully resonant basses and an increased amount of reverberation applied to the main beat. Melodies vary from 140 to 180 BPMs and it can feature plain instrumental sound in early compositions, with the latter ones tending to implement side-chaining techniques of progressive on digital synthesizers.

Singles Only Email Raves Blogger then Multi Market Distribution Deal: A distribution deal is a contract to release the music to platforms, but not own the publishing or exclusively lock the artist in. Record Artist Producer Label: Have Polyrhythm Artist earn Streaming Percentage under a Recording Artist Deal. Label has Distribution Above Me and I have Manufacturing over Polyrhythm Artist. Have a end of the Year Album for New Year's Raves!

"ALWAYS WELCOMED" by POPCAAN

No jezebel can't enter di Heaven gates

Angels only

She wan pull up a long time she ah wait

Guyanese girl dem ah heavyweight

Pretty girl always welcomed (Trouble)

Tight pussy gyal always welcome

Gyal yuh body hotter than Kingston

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Love when yuh bubble up, mi wan lock you down

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Bend it over for me slowly

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Baby yuh thick like phone ah

Wan you sit down pon di throne yah

Love when you bend it over

Jump on the first flight to Arizona

Fuck you pon di dresser top slowly

Get yuh pussy wet rub yuh clit, hold me

Sink it in deep dat mi kno yuh love

Mek yuh draws fly weh like a likkle dove

Tight freaky girl wha me singin bout

Love when you put di cocky inna yuh mouth

Turn yuh back way and fuck it up right

Gyal yuh pussy tight, me will pay down

Mek yuh wine pon di body pon di head pon di pine

Underneath yuh nuh big like stadium

Wine fast a way now

Bite up di K now

Skinout and lay down, yeah

Pretty girl always welcome

Big pussy gyal always welcomed (Woioi)

Gyal yuh body hotter than Kingston

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Love when yuh bubble up, mi wan lock you down

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Bend it over for me slowly

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Cock up yuh pussy mi wan see it

Sit down pon di body like ah issa van seat

Pon yuffi gwarn badder although you conceit

Hot gyal ah George Town, hot gyal a Berbice (Trouble)

Love gyaldem freaky an bad yeah

Wine up and den turn it back weh

Open yuh legs dem fi Poppy

Hammer yuh body like Rodney

I'm giving you a rough ride

Love when you ride on me

I'm giving you a rough ride

Love when you ride on me

Baby

Love when you ride on me

Pretty girl always welcomed (Trouble)

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Gyal yuh body hotter than Kingston

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Love when yuh bubble up, mi wan lock you down

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Bend it over for me slowly

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Pretty girl always welcomed (Trouble)

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Gyal yuh body hotter than Kingston

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Love when yuh bubble up, mi wan lock you down

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

Bend it over for me slowly

Tight pussy gyal always welcomed

BELMÔNT'S SYSTEM: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT WITH ASSET PROTECTION TRUST

Capo: Describes a ranking made member of a family who leads a crew of soldiers. A capo is similar to a military captain who commands soldiers. Soldier: Also known as a “made man,” soldiers are the lowest members of the crime family but still command respect in the organization.

A capo is a "made member" of an Italian crime family who heads a regime or "crew" of soldiers and has major status and influence in the organization.

Consigliere: Defense and Corporate Lawyers

Head Boss: Ministry of Medicine

Underboss: Pharmaceutical Industry

Capo: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT

Soliders: Artisans

Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit.

Commercial art is art created for advertising or marketing purposes. Commercial artists are hired by clients to create images and logos that sell products. Unlike works of fine art that convey an artist's personal expression, commercial art must address the client's goals.

The word 'Commercial' is defined as follows: Concerned with or engaged in commerce. Commerce is the exchange of goods or services among two or more parties.

Craftsmen are committed to the medium, not to self-expression. Artists are committed to their self-expression, not the medium.

A medium of exchange is an intermediary instrument and system used to facilitate the purchase and sale of goods and services between parties.

Stretch and Micro Goals

Music Medium System: Distribution and Retailers Contract Theory (System) for Music (Instrument)

Football Medium System: Analytics and Geometry for Free Role (System) Trixies (Instrument)

Age 16-19

Bond Funds

Farmland REITS

CFDS

Real Estate Brokerage Trust Account

Age 20-30

Farmland Recession Proof Stocks (Cosmetics, AgTech, Ag ETFS, AgETN)

Incubator and Startup Accelerators

Real Estate Joint Ventures

Age 30-40

Farmland Blue Chip Indexes w/ Credit Spread Options

TUNNEL STRATEGY (OFFSHORE BANKING)

Purpose: Permanent Residency Card

$250k Deposit

$125k: 60/40 portfolio, 60% Fixed Income & REITs and 40% Blue Chip Stocks

$50k: Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) and term deposits are secured investments. This means that you get back the amount you invest at the end of your term. The key difference between a GIC and a term deposit is the length of the term. Term deposits generally have shorter terms than GICs.

$75k: Spending Cash

SIN STOCKS PORTFOLIO

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries, and weapons manufacturers.

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

FESTIVALS DEAL

Singles Only Email Raves Blogger then Multi Market Distribution Deal: A distribution deal is a contract to release the music to platforms, but not own the publishing or exclusively lock the artist in. Record Artist Producer Label: Have Polyrhythm Artist earn Streaming Percentage under a Recording Artist Deal. Label has Distribution Above Me and I have Manufacturing over Polyrhythm Artist. Have a end of the Year Album for New Year's Raves!

NEUROPLASTICITY DRUG-CRIME NEXUS BASED ON TRAFFICKING

CPP, CNS Depressants, et FENTALOGS: Cul-de-sac

Defensive Penalty Capture The Flag Raiding Warfare

Grey-Decentralized Markets

Bastilles: Cul-de-sac Artist Résidences Penthouse Complexes

Polyrhythm Raves

Acid House Art Gallery

International Film Festival

Hôtel Chefs

Seigneurial System/Tableau Economique Raw Material Économics Production Spot

Surautomatism

Discount Networking Acid House Party

Opium Dens and Fragrance Festivals

Pill Pressers

CNS depressants

Upper-tier County System

Defense Lawyers are Traplords (Trafficking P4P and Malicious Prosecution)

Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)

Brain Receptor Dealing

Neuroplasticity Drug-Crime Nexus

Religious Ecstasy

Entheogens are psychedelic drugs—and sometimes certain other psychoactive substances—used for engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts

Live-Pool Betting Monopoly Board Game

Summary Sentencing

Urban Level: Street Culture Art Gallery (Street culture may refer to: Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities, Street market, Children's street culture, Street carnival, Block party, Street identity, Street food, Café culture, Several youth subculture or counterculture topics pertaining to outdoors of urban centers. These can include: Street art, Street photography, Street racing, Street wear, Hip-hop culture, Urban fiction, Street sports, Streetball, Flatland BMX, Freestyling), Art Pedagogy, Artist Residency, Art Schools, and Art Plugs

Art Pedagogy: Arts-based pedagogy is a teaching methodology in which an art form is integrated with another subject matter to impact student learning. 28-30. Arts-based pedagogy results in arts-based learning (ABL),11 which is when a student learns about a subject through arts processes including creating, responding or performing. Aesthetic Teaching: Seeking a Balance between Teaching Arts and Teaching through the Arts. In aesthetic education, learning must be developed especially with the inclusion of sensations and with the help of feelings. Sensations and feelings should lead to movement, representation, and expression. Aesthetic learning often entails learning to distinguish certain qualities or objects aesthetically in different ways depending on the situation and the purpose. Certain things can be experienced in negative ways in one activity and in positive ways in another.

A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests

Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. Each individual 'patch' of the tattoo can be a different design, symbol or element with a little space in between. Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. In short, the gun-toting angel was a multifaceted metaphor. “It undoubtedly also reflected the Catholic Counter-Reformation militaristic rhetoric,” wrote Donahue-Wallace, “which promoted the church as an army and heavenly beings as its soldiers.”

DECADENCE AESTHETICS THEORIES

Slogan

J'Cartier, Je cours après les vœux de champagne,

Subjective

Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

Gastronomy

Precarious Balance

Precariously: If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. If something is on the verge of danger, then the word precariously fits.

Grey & Decentralized Markets

Tableau Économique

Semblance

Semblance is generally used to suggest a contrast between outward appearance and inner reality.

High Socioeconomic Status & Tattoos

Phantasmagorical

Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance

adjective. having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern.

Socioeconomic Status Development Immigration Multilingual Sensory Play

Law of Polarity in Relationships

In any successful relationship that has an intimate connection and sexual attraction, there is polarity. What does this mean exactly? Polarity in relationships is the spark that occurs between two opposing energies: masculine and feminine. Gender does not affect whether you have masculine or feminine energy.

Second Reflection

Burden Aesthetics with Intentions

The Second Reflection lays hold of the Technical Procedures

Tattoos

NOCTU