#i’ve been much more vocal on my twitter because im more active there

[kolsmikaelson]

seeing as i haven’t really spoken about this on here before, it will always be free palestine. this is a genocide and i cannot believe that some of you are sitting around not caring about it.

[castiellesbian]

i feel like i need a glossary of terms or a contact list for all these people involved with the show. i have shit memory and dont pay attention to the credits who is sera (sara??) and why does everyone hate her!! why is he Bobo!!!!!! please... has anyone posted about this im desperate

lol well including everyone involved with the show would be difficult, but I’ll give you some highlights

Eric Kripke: creator of Supernatural, showrunner for seasons 1-5. People have differing opinions about him but general people enjoyed his run and he’s considered the best showrunner in the series overall. Not much to say because there’s a lot to say lmao (notable episodes: “Pilot,” “Lazarus Rising,” and “Swan Song”)

Sera Gamble: writer who was involved from the beginning of the show, became showrunner after Kripke left. Her seasons, 6 and 7, are typically regarded as the weakest seasons. She was a huge brothers-only supporter, and was responsible for Misha being written out of the show (as well as Jim Beaver, Bobby) in order to get the show to just be about the brothers again. There’s a lot of drama regarding her treatment of Misha/Cas, but more recently she’s known for the Magicians debacle, a horrendous example of the Bury Your Gays trope. She’s also involved with (the showrunner of?) You on Netflix. She was a pretty good writer, but overall fans dislike her because of her showrunning tenure (notable episodes: “Faith” with Raelle Tucker, “Death’s Door,” “The Born-Again Identity”)

Jeremy Carver: writer from season 3 that was promoted to showrunner from seasons 8 through.... some time in 12, the timeline has been a little murky to me. He was the one who brought Cas back into the main plot, as well as allowing the deancas storyline to become genuine subtext (we can argue whether it was queerbaiting or what he was intending to do if he had been running the series finale, but yeah). Unfortunately, he was also the showrunner when Charlie was killed off brutally, which dampens his legacy. People are conflicted about his seasons, but generally he’s looked upon favorably (not related, but the picture that comes up when you search him on google is NOT him, he’s really like a typical white nerdy looking dude lol) (notable episodes: “The Rapture,” “Sacrifice,” “Do You Believe in Miracles?”)

Andrew Dabb: writer from season 4, promoted to showrunner during season 12 and is the last showrunner of Supernatural (he wrote the finale). He was well-liked by deancas fans for awhile because of how much screentime they were allowed to give, and because of the focus on extended/found family. Sam and Dean only fans didn’t like him for the same reasons. Unfortunately, HIS legacy has been marred by the awful series finale, though it’s debated whether that was his fault or because of network meddling. (notable episodes: “Dark Side of the Moon” with Daniel Loflin, “The Prisoner,” “Moriah”)

Robert Singer: executive producer since the beginning of the show (he’s also co-showrunner throughout Supernatural, but I don’t think he typically was involved with the plotlines too often). He’s directed quite a few episodes, including the infamous wire fight episode (s13 finale) as well as the series finale. Married to Eugenie Ross-Leming, writer of the show

Eugenie Ross-Leming/Brad Buckner: writing partners TECHNICALLY from season 1, but they only wrote one episode until they were brought back in season 7. They are regarded as the worst writers in all of Supernatural, responsible for tactless death scenes of fan-favorites (and typically minorities) like Kevin, Charlie, and Eileen. They also feature a gross amount of dubcon/noncon, racism, weird unnecessary sex stuff, and are SUPER into Lucifer for some unknown reason (they have a crush on Mark Pellegrino I guess). They’re also just kind of bad writers in general, their pacing is weird and their plots convoluted. To be fair, though, they have written some good moments, like Dean trying to reach Cas in Hell’s Angel and Dean’s confessional scene in Paint It Black. But overall, they suck. Why are they still on the show even though BOTH sides of the fandom (who never agree on ANYTHING) dislike them? Well, because Eugenie is married to Singer. Nepotism. (notable episodes, the ones I can stand to watch lmao: “Holy Terror,” “Hell’s Angel,” “Our Father Who Aren’t in Heaven”)

Ben Edlund: writer from season 2 who left after season 8, but people STILL talk about him simply because he is arguably the strongest writer of the series. Cas fans particularly like him because he did most of the heavy-lifting regarding Cas’ characterization. He also wrote the famous bi!Dean scene with Aaron in season 8, where Dean is flustered after being flirted with. (notable episodes: “On the Head of a Pin,” “The French Mistake,” and my all-time favorite “The Man Who Would Be King”)

Robert “Bobo” Berens: writer from season 9, his first episode was “Heaven Can’t Wait,” which is all you really need to know about his influence on the deancas storyline. He’s also gay, so people particularly enjoy seeing how he approaches destiel in his episodes since it’s not just another straight guy potentially just catering to fans. He was also the one who was meant to go off and run Wayward Sisters, and is responsible for a lot of their development in recent seasons. I believe he also created Rowena? He wrote the episode this season where Cas confesses his love to Dean (along with other heavy deancas episodes like “The Trap”). Sam fans typically don’t like him because he doesn’t give him much focus. (notable episodes: “Heaven Can’t Wait,” “Who We Are,” “Wayward Sisters” with Andrew Dabb)

Steve Yockey: writer from season 12 through the beginning of season 15. Also gay, and also responsible for deancas moments in recent years. Generally loved for his deancas subtext but ALSO because he is an amazing writer who came out with iconic episodes. (notable episodes: “Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox,” “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets,” “Peace of Mind” with Meghan Fitzmartin)

Robbie Thompson: writer from seasons 7 through 11, and wrote some fan favorite episodes in the meantime. He is also the creator of fan favorite characters like Charlie and Eileen. He was also one of the few writers who was vocally supportive of destiel during his tenure rather than just later. I’m not implying anything about his intentions, but it was validating for him to encourage fans during a time where most of the cast/crew ignored or actively dismissed it. Plus his episodes are just fun! (notable episodes: “LARP and the Real Girl,” “Fan Fiction,” “Baby”)

Meredith Glynn: writer since season 12, has worked closely with Bobo during their seasons together. She and Bobo cowrote “The Future,” which is the mixtape episode, so she has been taken in by deancas fans haha. She also wrote the episode where Cas makes the deal with the Empty, so it’s pretty safe to say she and Bobo had worked on the deancas plotline together :) She’s also liked some deancas-related tweets on twitter, so she’s being subtly supportive (notable episodes: “Regarding Dean,” “The Future” with Robert Berens, “Byzantium”)

Davy Perez: writer since season 12 (a lot of the ones I’ve mentioned are, since this is when Dabb became showrunner and made changes in the writers room). His episodes tend to either be horror or bizarre. I mention him because he’s responsible for episodes like “Stuck in the Middle (With You)” (Cas’ first “I love you”) and “Tombstone” (aka Brokebacknatural lmao). I don’t know much about him otherwise, but that’s why he’s brought up usually (notable episodes: “Stuck in the Middle (With You),” “Tombstone,” “Atomic Monsters”)

hopefully this helps, and hopefully I didn’t forget about anyone major. There have been a LOT of people behind the scenes so it’s hard to say who to include. Like, I didn’t mention Jerry Wanek, Jim Michaels, Kim Manners, Thomas J. Wright, or others who might be mentioned from time to time.

[aesthetic-survivor-of-twd]

U know what, im glad u feel this way too because i know u arent bias. I like Kent alot but his i "like violet and Louis equally" always seem like a way to calm fans down rather then it being true. If he likes violet more, fine. She a great character. But with the trailers, the bonus stuff and all the violet x clem pic he reblogs defiantly tell a different story. And u know what? Thats fine. But just cut the whole i like them equally. Cause his actions says something different.

I’m glad you know that I was coming at the topic with a non-bias perspective. I may love Louis, but I also ship Violet with Clem as well. I just like to take things apart from a neutral stance because I often feel like that’s where the most logical and grounded explanation is. Because it allows you to see things without clouded judgement.

The thing is though, is that I actually do think Kent likes Louis with Clem as well (yes i’m being serious). Because in the early episodes he reblogged a lot of Louisentine fanart and during the first AMA he stated Louis was his 2nd favourite character after James (in the Telltale forums before episode 1 dropped). And I recall him entertaining so many Asks regarding the ship/Louis as well where he defended the route. Based on what he reblogs and posts, he definitely seems to like the Clem/Louis/AJ family dynamic as well.

If Kent does in fact prefer Violentine, I actually don’t think it’s as drastic of a gap as many people think it is (and i’ll explain why it might also seem that way in the game near the bottom).

I don’t think it’s entirely a case of Kent having a bias as much as it is that Kent sees Violentine as the most popular ship due to statistics (and he stated as such) and from a marketing standpoint he wants to try and appeal to that side of the fanbase more when it comes to extra content under time constraints - which I still think is wrong given the reasons I mentioned in the previous post - but it does explain part of why he acts that way.

Then there is the fact that Kent himself is a gay man, and as we know from his posts about James - having that kind of representation is really important to him because it’s the type he wanted as a kid (like a lot of us do). So I think by nature he has more of a personal attachment to Violentine in a way and more or less advertises it (in the trailers, for example) because of that.

Now i’m not defending Ken, I admittedly do get the impression he isn’t being entirely honest when he says he likes both ships evenly and is in fact, just trying to keep the fandom calm from blowing their lids of at the staff members.

But at the same time, I feel like it’s not entirely on Ken either for how things ended up. 

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this during the season and I actually think part of the Violentine focus also comes from the fact that the writers for her character are far more active and involved in the game than the ones for Louis are. 

For example, the minigame during the Violet date was a concept thought up by Mary Kenney (who was also the lead writer of episode 2) and it was designed by her as well. She is also the most vocal writer on Twitter for TWDG. On the Louis side of things, we don’t really have that. Lauren is sweet and occasionally talks to us on here but the other dude (Adam?) who is seemingly the major writer for Louis and is more in charge of his character direction - is silent on everything fandom related. I feel like if he wanted to write a mini game for Louis he could have.

Now i’m not saying that they couldn’t have still provided Louis some more content to balance it out (as in Kent could have added some direction)- they really could have. But I do think Violet’s writers being more enthusiastically involved in her route is also the main reason why she got more content in general. From what is seems as well, the Violet route in episode 2 was also written first (as Mary was the lead writer) which may explain some things regarding the budget and also the trailer for episode 2 in general (as well as the trend of the popular choice in the previous episode affecting the next episode’s trailer).

Like I said, I agree with you that Kent probably does have more fondness for Violentine and that him saying he prefers them equally does more damage than good (it just invalidates and dismisses people’s feelings on the subject) - but I also thought it was worth explaining a few other factors as well regarding the development of the game since I don’t think Kent is the main reason why the imbalance is a thing (it’s a combination of things). It’s also a little more complicated than that.

With that said however, I still refuse to believe they couldn’t make a piano key (i’m literally tempted to make a 3D model of one right now just to prove my point lmao).

[brightlytae]

Okay okay. I'm an Exo-L and I used to be an Army but the fandom really hurt my feelings when I got into EXO. (Like fell in love but I never stopped loving Bts) I felt shunned by some Army who felt like I couldn't like Bts if I liked Exo. So I just became an Exo-L. But after seeing about Bts' new album, I really wanna get back into Bts again. But I find it really hard to do it. Maybe because of what I associate them with. But can you tell me reasons why you love them? Maybe I'll remember too!

Hey there! First I guess I want to apologise on behalf of other ‘armys’ who made you feel like you couldn’t listen to Exo. Unfortunately there is such a longggg and (very tired) rift between exo-ls and army and its just so unnecessary. As someone who listens and enjoys both groups, I believe that there is no reason for others to try and stop people from enjoying both! Kpop is meant to be enjoyed and fans shouldn’t feel like they get to control other fans! I hope that you can get back to enjoying both groups!!

I understand what its like when something effects you to the point that it turns you off from your interest. Sometimes people can be so mean and so pushy that its understandable why you would begin to distance yourself. Something I have always done in being a part of a fandom, is to keep myself away from a lot of the fandom issues- such as fanwars and toxic fans who have a little too much to say about other groups. ive said this a few times on my blog, but BTS are not their fans, and these ‘fans’ shouldnt stop you from enjoying what you want to enjoy!

why do I love BTS? for me there are many reasons:

1) Plain and simply- they make me smile. When i’m having a tough day, when i’ve been working late or something has gone wrong, i can watch a bangtan bomb or a run episode and they make me laugh so much. All of the boys are such characters that compliment each other so well and they all have a streak of humour that is just attached to my funny bone. like they’re just so chaotic and fun, they arent afraid to laugh at themselves and have a good time and that to me, is so refreshing to see. When I watch them, i just feel so connected and drawn in, they make me somehow feel a part of the jokes and i really enjoy that.

2) Their music and message. BTS songs really are pieces of art. I really love how active a role the members have in the production of the songs and i specifically love the way they use their music as an outlet to talk about very real problems that teens and young adults are facing as well as just addressing social issues in such a mature and intelligent way. Songs like no more dream and N.O from their earlier albums, songs like Paradise and Answer: Love myself from their newer albums… these are things that i feel like people like me need to hear. They have reminded me that i will be ok and that i deserve to be happy. They tell me that i am worth something even when i am confused about who i am/ what i want in life and they tell me that i am allowed to believe in myself. They use their talents to create these songs that speak to people and connect to them. When I think about Agust D and Mono i know for a fact that there are songs on those albums that have helped so many people (me included). but also songs like Baepsae and 21st century girls are just so so important too? As someone very interested in politics/class systems/society and someone who considers themselves a feminist- i just love seeing these things being brought up in music!

3) Their bond. The boys are so so so connected and that was one of the early things that really pulled me towards bts and made me stay. i noticed when watching their videos, just how considerate they are of each other, how much they look after one another, build each other up, rely on one another, remind each other that they are doing a good job… that they matter. Their friendship is so beautiful to see and for me, it makes the content they release feel so organic- they’re just so themselves around each other and its very real to me, they ways in which they are dedicated to the group. they are a family and they love each other so much!

4) They are good people. They run the Love myself campaign with unicef and several members have donated thousands to charities around South Korea. They truly want to make a difference in the world and they really want this difference to be a positive one. They’re so dedicated to giving and giving- and we dont see this often with celebrities really. 

5) they are relatable. I strongly believe that groups deserve privacy and to have a personal life but bts have always been very open with their fans and i have such a huge amount of respect for them for doing that. They have been vocal about the hard times they have faced, some of their struggles and they remind us that they are just like us.Where they have opened up, they have allowed others to feel like they too can share their concerns and that is so important! And they have torn down the fan/idol barrier in so many ways and allowed us to view them as friends or family. They really care about us all and want us to be happy- they’ve dedicated songs specifically to give us this message and they never forget to tell us just how much we mean to them.  

6) They work so so so damn hard! They dedicate hours and hours of their time to making music and practising choreography, even on their breaks they find time to record songs and covers for us, go on vlive, post on twitter and connect with their fanbase. But really the amount of work they apply to their craft shows- they’re comebacks are always so flawless and intense, I am always surprised and excited by what they are going to do next and they are never predictable! their music videos are literally some of the best things i have ever seen in my life- the artistry, the vision, the storylines…. its all on another level to me. Things are not half-assed. They make sure that when they want to show us something, that something is perfect and it really is always just. so.  damn. perfect!

7) and that leads me on to the steps bts have taken beyond just music. They dont just give us albums, they have given us a whole world! We get notes, a comic book and short films all dedicated to a whole story-line of events that (sure is confusing af) but it keeps me so intrigued! I cant help but want to always know more, find out what I can and see whats coming next! 

I think ive probably rambled at you for long enough but i just want to say that i  found bts at a time in my life where i felt very confused and unlike myself. Bts reminded me of who I was and what I like. I have to say that Taehyung especially did this for me. As i was learning about them and i saw how unapologetically himself he was, how he was so optimistic and caring, how he didnt let things bother him, he reminded me that i used to be like that and that i wanted to be like that again. He and the rest of the group helped me find myself and reconnect to a lot of my emotions. 

I hope this could help you in some way remember what it was about bts that you loved so much, and please dont hesitate to contact me again if you want to talk about this more! When the new album comes out, I hope you can get back into bts like you want to do! Im sorry again for what happened with those other army who shunned you. On this blog I will never make someone feel bad for enjoying exo or any other kpop group out there. 

Thank you for stopping by and asking me this question. It was really nice revisiting why i love bts as much as i do and reminding myself of all they have done for me!

[sharedheadspace]

a copy/paste of [this] twitter thread on the fawning response to abuse, found through [this] tumblr post encouraging clicking through to read the whole thing

because when i come back to this i know im not going to be in the brainspace to bother clicking through, and nobody wants to fucking read eight thousand twitter screenshots. ever

[bolding added by me, in pieces i know im going to want to look at]

I want to share what has been, in the last year or so, one of the most important things I've realized about my own trauma history — something that has been massively important for my own healing.

Let's talk about the link between people-pleasers and emotional abuse.

Confession: I am a people-pleaser. It took me a long time to realize this, though. Because I'm opinionated! And I speak my mind! I'm an "open book" about a lot of what I've been through. Clearly I don't care what people think... right?

But people-pleasing is a lot more complex than that. It's actually part of a trauma response. Most people know about fight, flight, and freeze — but another response, "fawn," is at the core of what people-pleasing is actually about.

To avoid conflict, negative emotions, and retraumatization, people who "fawn" when triggered will go out of their way to mirror someone's opinions and appease them in order to deescalate situations (or potential issues).

For me, this meant that the more invested I was in an emotional connection, the less likely I was to criticize that person, vocalize when my boundaries were crossed, express unhappiness with their behavior, or share anything that I felt might damage that relationship.

This could come across as being excessively nice and complimentary, overly-concerned with another person's happiness, and waiting for cues in conversation to determine if something was "safe" to share or disclose. People-pleasers are often considered "emotional chameleons."

People-pleasers are often really warm, encouraging, and generous people. They tend to overextend themselves and say "yes" to everything and everyone, eager to make those they care about happy and comfortable.

They often grow up in very controlling and chaotic environments, and internalized the idea that if they were perfectly good or well-behaved, they could minimize conflict and secure love and attachment. 

And. When you have this tendency to defer, make yourself subordinate, try to become smaller, ignore your boundaries and intuition, and minimize your own needs... you are profoundly vulnerable to emotional abuse.

When you are excessively concerned with pleasing others, you learn that in order to be effective at this, you have to shut down your gut instincts, your values, your emotions — bc being an individual, rather than a mirror, doesn't serve you in securing the love that you want.

People-pleasers can become drawn to abusive relationships, and repelled from relationships that are abundantly loving — because love has to feel "earned" in order to feel secure. In other words? If love is given too freely or easily, it doesn't feel safe.

This means people-pleasers can be drawn to relationships that are controlling (they feel safest when they defer to others), emotionally-withholding (they are driven by the need to "secure" affection/elated when they do), and even abusive (their lack of boundaries is exploited).

Another part of being vulnerable to abuse is that people-pleasers are so easily gaslit, because when they are inclined to suppress their own instincts, values, and beliefs, they're infinitely more likely to defer to an abuser's version of events or narrative.

This also means that "fawn" types often go through cycles of restricting emotionally (I can't be "too much" for others) & then purging emotionally ("unloading" onto a trusted person bc the expectation to be perfect gets to be too much).

(I think this is why so many of us have eating disorders — just an anecdotal observation, but I digress...)

People-pleasers (the "fawn" trauma response) isn't intended to manipulate others and it's not meant to be dishonest. Every single person presents a version of themselves to others. This merely describes how trauma informs that presentation on an often unconscious level.

The "fawn" response is driven by fear, not a hidden agenda. The "fawn" type is less about manipulation, because it's not being used to *overpower* someone. Instead, it's an excessive *relinquishing* of personal power, driven by fear and a desire for validation.

For example, someone who runs personal errands for their boss — despite it not being part of their job description — is not manipulating their boss into liking them. (It won't work anyway.) Their boss, testing those thin boundaries, is exploiting their need for approval.

In more intimate relationships, this can show up as "fawn" types gravitating towards hot/cold dynamics, where affection and love are offered unpredictably.

This is where the emotional abuse piece comes into play. You have someone who is controlling, who feels safest in relationships where they call the shots, and most loved when someone is actively seeking out their approval. Enter: The "fawn" type.

An abuser will offer validation only to keep the fawn type tethered. But they'll withdraw that it before things feel secure, to ensure that the pleaser will continue going out of their way to "fawn" — continually giving over their power and autonomy so the abuse can continue.

I'm sharing this because, holy shit, my friends, the number of traumatic relationships I've thrown myself into — professionally, personally, romantically — to get stuck in this cycle, with my self-esteem pulverized, has made my heart so heavy.

It took stepping away from a friendship that had so thoroughly gaslit and demolished me — while plummeting into the deep depths of anorexia — before I realized that chasing controlling, emotionally unavailable, even abusive people was crushing my spirit.

I'm not going to leave you hanging, though. If you're reading this and say, "Holy shit... it me. Oh god. What do I do?" I'm here. I've got some advice, some books, some resources. Hang tight. For starters, I'm going to ask you something: Which of your friends do you cancel on?

Personal experience: I had this tendency to bail on friends, partners, acquaintances, whoever, that were the most generous, warm, and emotionally-available. I avoided those relationships where love was free and easy. Because it didn't feel "earned," so I didn't feel "worthy."

Which isn't to say that everyone with this trauma response does this, BUT, we seek out the familiar. Which means many of us tend to avoid what feels unsafe. For people-pleasers, we're so used to working endlessly hard in relationships — it's disorienting when we aren't asked to.

I made a google doc (no, I seriously did) where I listed out people who were "way too nice to me." And then I asked myself, do I like this person? Do I enjoy their company? If I did, I sent them a text message and told them I wanted to commit to spending more time with them.

I was completely honest about my process with those folks, too. I said, "Listen, I get really scared when people are nice to me. You've always been SO nice to me, and I get afraid of disappointing you. But I want to change that, because I just enjoy your company so very much."

In my phone contacts, I put emojis by their names. I put strawberries next to people who were super loving. I put seedling emojis by folks who taught me things that made me think/grow. So when I saw a text from them, it reminded me that I should prioritize that message. [seedling emoji] [strawberry emoji]

And? My life completely changed... in every imaginable way.

My "strawberry emoji people" went from being acquaintances/friendly to becoming chosen family that I literally could not imagine my life without. With the help of some amazing therapy, I grew to love myself so much — because that love was being modeled for me in a healthy way.

I'm going into a partial hospitalization program for my anorexia in the next couple weeks (because I've taken it out on my body as much as I have my mind), and my strawberry people (who are now all in a group text together) have been there every step of the way.

Resources! I genuinely believe that every single person should be reading Pete Walker's book about complex trauma. "Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma." It's really damn good. It talks about fawn types in more detail!

Most of all though, I just want to validate the hell out of you. [heart emoji] I understand the very hellish cycle that we find ourselves in when we're consumed by this idea that we need to be "exactly enough," and that, if we measure it out correctly, we'll never hurt or be hurt again.

But relationships involve putting ourselves in harm's way sometimes. What they shouldn't involve, though, is self-harm — and ultimately, that's what "fawning" does. We're harming ourselves. We're making ourselves smaller, we're self-silencing, and we're punishing ourselves.

You are allowed to have ALL the feelings. You are allowed to take up ALL the space. You're allowed to be everything that you are & then some. The right people — your people — will love you even more when they see how expansive your life becomes when you give yourself that space.

It doesn't happen overnight. It's a process! But I want you to know that it's a process you can begin at any time. It's never too late to give yourself permission to be, to show up more authentically, and to find those who will celebrate you for it. I promise you that.

[dipulb3]

Opinion: Why I'm going to church for Easter

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/opinion-why-im-going-to-church-for-easter/

Opinion: Why I'm going to church for Easter

That’s a question I’ve been asked by bewildered friends my entire adult life. As a gay man who advocates for social justice, I get why some people look askance when I mention what my Sunday plans entail.

“Yes, I do.” Sunday is Easter and I will be at church to celebrate this sign of God’s solidarity with the oppressed. But I’m not about to bemoan all those who aren’t going to church today.

Fewer and fewer Americans, especially young Americans, identify as Christians. While there are a number of factors impacting this trend, one stands out to me this Holy Week: The impact of the Christian right’s political prominence in driving progressive Christians away from the faith. A recent study by two political scientists found that the rise of Americans who identify as “nonreligious” has resulted, in part, from backlash against the Christian right.

Consternation about church decline and the secularization of America reached a fever pitch this Holy Week when Gallup released a new poll that found a majority of Americans do not belong to church, synagogue or mosque. This was the first time the membership percentage fell below a majority since Gallup first started asking the question in 1937.

These findings are troubling to many. “This is perhaps the most distressing graph related to the future of America,” Eric Sammons, editor-in-chief of the conservative Catholic Crisis Magazine wrote on Twitter, adding, “We are officially living in a pagan nation.”

And it’s not just conservative Christians. Shadi Hamid, a Brookings Institution scholar who is Muslim, expressed concern that Christianity is being replaced by “Wokeism” in an interview with the Washington Post about the Gallup poll and in an essay for the Atlantic. Without Christianity, he wrote, our country will “no longer have a common culture upon which to fall back.”

Yet seeing this poll released during Holy Week made me think about what it means as a Christian to reflect deeply on church decline. Jesus called on his followers not to live in fear, so I cannot in good faith lament church decline. Instead, I’m hopeful for a resurrection of social justice-focused Christianity in America that lives up to the teachings of Jesus.

This Easter, I hope my fellow Christians who deeply care about the future of our movement to spread the Gospel of love will recommit ourselves to build a movement that more people want to join. We must contest the popular depiction of what it means to be a Christian today. Church decline is not a rejection of our message of love, it’s a rejection of our movement’s failure to model that message for the world.

Since this poll has received so much attention, it’s important to point out a few things. First, Christians, Jews, and Muslims are distinct religious groups with their own traditions and dynamics with regards to the membership at play. They collectively also don’t represent all religious Americans. And membership is only one metric — some Americans participate in or attend houses of worship without claiming formal membership.

We should also be careful not to equate membership with religious belonging or belief in God. Practicing faith does not always happen under the auspices of a house of worship; nor does maintaining a membership in one guarantee religious conviction. Some members remain because for them, it is the socially respectable thing to do, separate from beliefs or spirituality.

There are problems with paying too much attention to any specific individual indicator of religious trends — for instance, decline in church membership doesn’t necessarily mean society overall has grown more secularized — but there is a host of recent research that points towards declining membership, attendance and reported importance of religion in Americans’ lives.

Polling from the Public Religion Research Institute and Pew Research Center mirror the new poll findings from Gallup. A 2019 survey by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shed light on several reasons why Americans, especially young Americans, are leaving religion. One finding stuck out to me: “Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) young people say religious people are generally less tolerant, while only 34 percent of seniors agree.”

In my book “Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity,” I examine the question of how perceptions of Christianity at-large are shaped by the media. I call the media’s focus on the more outrageous expressions of our faith the Westboro Baptist Church Effect. The church is virulently anti-LGBTQ and offensive, but get vastly more attention than the small size of their congregation deserves. In the past year, we’ve seen this with the media’s obsession about White evangelicals during the 2020 election. Will they or will they not turn out for Trump? My question was a different one: Who are the faith-based backers of the devoutly Catholic candidate for president? During the pandemic, almost all churches heeded public health guidance and moved away from in-person services. Yet we’ve paid more attention to the few churches opposed to Covid-19 orders than the churches who faithfully saved lives by moving to digital gathering spaces.

It’s understandable why some people are leaving church when these are the stories we hear about Christians. They just sound nothing like the stories about Jesus we read in the Gospels.

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and other women visit the tomb of Jesus only to realize it is empty. They are told, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Likewise, we as Christians should not look for the living Jesus movement among the dead remains of conservative Christian hate that looks nothing like the love Jesus embodied. Instead, we should look forward to a resurrection of Christianity that fights system oppression and stands in solidarity with the most vulnerable.

We should look for the living of the Gospel among America’s youth today. Alongside their relative lack of formal religious devotion, today’s young Americans are known for their commitment to social justice. Two surveys from Pew Research Center illustrate this dynamic. While disaffiliation from religion is rising fastest among young Americans, researchers also found that majorities of the Generation Z and the millennial generations are more approving of the country’s increasing racial and ethnic diversity, as well as interracial and same-sex marriage, than older generations. Millennials are born between roughly 1981 and 1996 and followed by Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2010. According to the CIRCLE/Tisch College 2020 Youth Survey, 27% of Americans ages 18-24 say they have attended a march or demonstration.

They are the generation whose stereotype most resembles what Christians should be known for: restless for a better world and refusing to comply when their elders tell them to obey the rules. The #BlackLivesMatter movement, the #MeToo movement, the fight for boldly overhauling our democracy and economy. These are the same causes Jesus championed in the Gospels.

Imagine if American Christianity at-large were known to share the concerns of young progressive leaders today like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is vocal about how her own Catholic faith has shaped her concerns for social justice. Thankfully, Ocasio-Cortez is just one of the progressive Christians who are speaking up in the political sphere where so much harm has been perpetrated by conservative Christianity. There’s also newly elected US Sen. Raphael Warnock and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Sen. Warnock spoke about faith and voting rights during his first speech on the floor of the US Senate and Buttigieg spoke about being a gay Christian during his presidential run. They each embody the mission of Jesus followers to work for social justice.

While Ocasio-Cortez, Warnock, and Buttigieg are three of the most vocal progressive Christians living out their faith in the public square, they are the latest in a long history of activism. “The progressive wing of Christianity is not, of course, new,” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently wrote, highlighting several other examples of progressive Christian activism. “It began with Jesus.”

For Christians celebrating today, Easter means that God’s love is more powerful than the systems of oppression that crucified Jesus. It’s our responsibility as followers of Jesus to join in the work of fighting those systems of oppression — alongside such powerful leaders today like the Rev. Dr. William Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign and Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus.

As I head to (online) church this Easter, I respect how people may not feel inclined to identify as Christians or join a church for good reasons. There’s no reason to bemoan that reality. Instead, let’s make the church actually live up to its calling. Only then, God willing, will I be interested in what the church membership numbers report.

[cannoliao]

((I get frustrated with the shipping AND oversexualization of randl on here. I like the cute and dorky dads randl and no body else seems to.. I feel like I'm surrounded by people who either watch to ogle them or to dwell on the ""gay"" moments (I.e. men displaying friendship, which is sometimes foreign to Tumblr bc we expect straight men to be no-homo all the time) rather than people who enjoy them for the content randl consciously create. It makes me sad))

+ ((like hardly anybody here likes forest patrol!! It was great!!! I want more randl cartoons but no one else here would!! :[ ))

How did we get ourselves into this situationBitterly divided over rhink orientation……

ya i understand where you’re coming from.. i’ve been in this fandom for about a year and i’ve only met one person who doesn’t ship rhink (just recently too) and i think that’s crazy… it made me feel lonely in the fandom because i felt like i wasn’t enjoying the same content as other people. i felt like i was watching a completely different show from others. what’s worse was that i kept quiet about my feelings for so long…

but don’t dwell on something like that for too long… in the end we’re all here for RandL and a HUGE amount of us+shippers genuinely enjoy randl content for what it’s for!! trus me. i’ve seen A LOT of people want Forest Patrol back too. We all crave randl content! but maybe i’m just seeing things differently since im more active with the fandom on Twitter and im not that exposed. the randldiscussions blog gave insightful tips on how to curate your fandom experience if you’re seeing lots of posts that are bothering you too much though.(read the bold, erin’s part) and celery made an interesting point with her comment here on just being on tumblr for fandom. 

i don’t have a problem with the concept of rhink. just the way some people talk/engage about rhink goes to a level that i can’t relate on? you’re not alone on wanting non-shippy content from randl, despite it feeling that way. it’s not hard to be friends with shippers because we’re all enjoying the same thing at the end of the day!(like my closest bud in the fandom who ships rhink). some shippers just arent as vocal about the other stuff bc of ship feels(theyre passionateee). 

what’s helped me was actually talking things out if/whenever you get bummed again feel free to DM me!!