#so. like. i'm not practicing the religion.

[magnetothemagnificent]

Hi, sorry to bother you, but you seem like you have some personal experience with my sort of situation.

My mom’s side of the family is Jewish. My mom converted to Christianity before I was born and married my goyishe dad, but she still considered herself Jewish and raised me and my siblings with Jewish culture and holidays. I also grew up very close with my Nana and was always interested in my Jewish heritage, but as I grew up I felt very torn between the different parts of my upbringing. I don’t know how to reconcile the Jewish and Christian parts of my identity. I can’t separate myself from my Jewishness and I don’t want to, but I feel like no matter what I do I’ll be wrong. My two older (half) siblings rejected Christianity when they grew up and it broke their relationship with my dad. I want to reconnect more with the Jewish community and participate more fully in my culture, but I can’t abandon Christianity. I feel like I’m balancing on a line and I can’t step over one way or the other. I love my Grandparents who are not, and will never be, Christian. I love my dad who is not, and will never be, Jewish. And I’m stuck in a difficult and painful place as both. I wish things were simpler.

Oof, anon, I wish I had an easy answer for you. It's true, I have a bit of experience with this, though not to the extent you do in that I never had to choose between Judaism and Christianity. My father did, though, and I know it couldn't have been easy.

For context: My dad's mother converted to Christianity before he was born and raised him Christian but with still the knowledge of his Jewish identity- he knew his grandparents were Jewish, knew his mother's extended family got together for Passover, and knew he was the target of antisemitism. It wasn't until he was a teenager that he reconnected fully with his Judaism and gave up Christianity.

I can't tell you what to do, and I don't know you personally, either, and what's best for one person might not be best for another. It sounds like you love both sides of your family, and both sides of yourself, and it's terrible that you're in a position where you feel like you have to choose.

Here's what I can tell you: If your mother was born Jewish to a Jewish mother, according to Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, you are 100% Jewish. If you were raised with a Jewish identity, as far as I know, you would also be considered Jewish by Reform standards. (Anyone more well versed in Reform Jewish theology please correct me). I don't know if you were baptized or what Christian denomination you were raised in, so I don't know where you would stand on the Christian side of things.

I think the best thing for you to do is to talk to your maternal grandparents, your mother, your father, and a faith leader from both Judaism and Christianity. Maybe your maternal grandparents' Rabbi and your father's pastor or priest. I think theologically you should think about whether your love of Christianity comes from a love of Christianity as a theology, or from a love of your father and your relationship with him. And if it ends up that you truly have a love of Christianity as a theology, and you feel like it's the most meaningful way for you to be spiritual, then that's your choice. But if you find that your connection to Christianity is really more rooted in your connection to your father, but not out of a deep conviction in its tenets, then Christianity might not be for you. And if you decide to not be Christian, then you can communicate with your father that you still love him, and can still have a relationship with him, but without practicing the same religion as him.

I know my father left Christianity completely, but his parents are still very much present in his and our lives. We see each other multiple times a year, and come together to celebrate Thanksgiving because it's an easy common ground. I'm very close with my paternal grandparents, and call my paternal grandmother at least once a week. You may decide to still celebrate Christian holidays with your father even if you decide you're no longer Christian- plenty of people do that, especially because mixed families are becoming increasingly more common.

And if you decide to be Christian, but still want to engage with the Jewish community, you can still do that. It's your heritage. As long as you're respectful of Jewish religious practices and aren't trying to syncretize them with Christianity, you would be more than welcome at my Shabbat table.

Ultimately, it's up to you to figure out what's best for you, but you should make your choice based on what you feel is best, not out of any external pressures. And anyone else who has been in a similar situation, please share your experiences and advice in the notes (though remember that every person is different and to share things as suggestions and not definitive answers).

[vulpinesaint]

excatholic will always be a better descriptor for me than agnostic or atheist cause it's not like i don't believe in god. that's not really a choice for me. my foundational perception of the world is built around a belief in god. so all that core stuff is still there. religious leaning of 'excatholic' meaning that to me the foundational facts of the catholic tradition are true, that god is real to me and so are sins and saints, but that i am consciously choosing to be contrary to all the practices of the religion because i think they are bad 👍 'excatholic' cause i think it's all real! i have just chosen to go to hell about it 🫡

[serpentface]

Do you have any information on the root scholars that you can share? They’ve always been a cool cult/organization to me

Ok it’s a facet of the Eterhimhamdli religion, which is The most widespread single belief system east of the inner seaway (which isn't saying much in terms of scale but it's still pretty significant) and also one I've barely introduced so I'll go over it a bit here.

Eterhimhamdli has spread past its initial sphere of old (~500 years BP) southern Lowlands Yuroma kingdoms, has many folk practices, and has schismed a few times, so there's a good deal of cultural variation. But its basic tenants/tendencies are:

-Creator deities are wholly rejected, the universe is an interplay between non-personified dualistic forces of Body(evil)/Mind(good). In one schism, the interplay of these two forces is the Dream, in others dreaming is an aspect of Mind.

-Deities in general are not wholly at odds with Eterhimhamdli, but their importance is de-emphasized and worship is usually discouraged in favor of making them objects of contemplation and/or tutelary figures.

-The Mind of the universe exists as a collective soul from which human souls emanate

-every person has two souls: an egoistic soul that animates the body and an ethereal soul that animates the mind. The latter is conceptualized as a single drop from a greater sea of the collective soul.

-belief that true wisdom is derived through access to this collective soul.

-belief that the trappings of the the ego-soul and the body's demands inhibits access to said collective soul.

-belief in the concept of enlightened beings who gain full experiential knowledge of the collective soul while remaining in a body, thus becoming capable of directly communicating aspects of their wisdom to the masses.

the biggest schism in this religion is over whether enlightenment just means experiencing full knowledge of the collective before you die, or whether it means transcending the limits of the body entirely and functionally becoming an immortal, godlike being.

deities of older/other religions absorbed by Eterhimhamdli are often reframed as enlightened mortals.

-most sects believe that only sophont life (or sometimes Only humans) have a etherial-soul along with the ego-soul, while animals exclusively have the ego-soul. Plants and inanimate objects Usually aren't ascribed souls outsides of heavily syncretic folk practices.

-belief in a fundamental good-evil cosmic dualism, though in a fairly complex way (evil is a necessity for life that is to be tempered and grappled with, rather than outright vanquished from the world entirely). The notion of 'evil' here is most associated with bodily desires (this includes all bodily needs like hunger and thirst, necessary to support life but viewed dangerous in excess, and being the root of conflict and pain).

the evil nature of bodily desire is not About sex, but does translate to non-procreative sex being frowned upon to varying extents.

-belief that life is a state of internal warfare between the evil ego-soul and the good ethereal-soul, with the former being more powerful and influential. To lead a good life is to bring the ego-soul into equilibrium with the ethereal soul. To live a wise and venerable life is to fully tip the balance in the latter's favor (this is not an expectation for lay followers, as it is considered profoundly difficult and requires separation from worldly life).

-lay followers practice forms of temperance to bring these forces into equilibrium, priests practice forms of asceticism to subdue the ego-soul and gain experiential wisdom in the process.

-The way you balance your life has consequences for the afterlife. An evil life causes an eternal death (this is usually posited as an underworld), a life in equilibrium causes one to be reborn into a new human body (a neutral fate), and a good life results in full return to the collective soul (this is a state of complete peace and contentedness and access to infinite wisdom).

-A selection of hallucinogenic plants are central to the monastic/priestly aspects of the religion, being seen as the key method through which the body can be transcended and the ego-soul can be quieted in order to tap into the collective. Lay followers do not participate in this facet on a regular basis.

-Priests also participate in self-flagellation, as the struggle with physical pain is a key microcosm of the broader internal war with the ego-soul, and can be a source of wisdom and contemplation. They are extensively tattooed for partly related purposes. Laymen are not expected to flagellate as a practice but rather to apply teachings to/learn from struggles with everyday pain.

-Very complicated relations with violence as a concept. Some strains of Eterhimhamdli philosophy see violence as an exclusive result of evil to be avoided whenever possible (usually more completely by priesthoods than the wider societies they live in), others see it as a neutral tool in of itself that Can be a force for good when used wisely. (Large scale 'wise usages of violence for the sake of good', shockingly, tend to favor the in-group's position in preexisting ethnic/religious/territorial conflicts).

-Most sects are proselytizing and see conversion as a necessity to create a better world, and have broadly unfavorable views of other religious practices.

This does not extend to seeing all societies that practice Eterhimhamdli or even The Same Schism Of Eterhimhamdli in a positive light (the birthplace of this religion is currently about 60 semi independent city-states organized into leagues that are frequently at war with each other)

-Highly favors education, literacy, rhetoric, debate, and the acquisition of material knowledge along with deeper spiritual wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom are venerable traits and societies should be led by the learned, or at least by people under their guidance.

---

The Scholarly Order of the Root is one order of Lowlands Eterhimhamdli monastics, functioning as a closed cult/mystery religion. They’re based out of Suurota (one of the biggest Yuroma city-states and dominant member of its league). They're at the top of the league's hierarchy of monastics, very wealthy, and have some involvement in governance (being an advisory body to the magistrate).

The Scholars primarily interact with the general public by hosting many of the league's institutions of scholarship and philosophy, and some of the biggest libraries in this part of the world. Their institutions are used by laymen Suurota citizens and members of government for study, and they host monks and priests (uninitiated to the inner cult) in their halls.

Actual membership to the Scholars cult is limited, they neither expect nor want associates to participate in their rituals. Rather, they position themselves as teachers- revealing small aspects of their secret knowledge to laymen and the lesser monastics as a form of guidance, while keeping dangerous knowledge for only the trusted inner circle.

Their baseline belief system aligns with the general schema of Lowlands Eterhimhamdli (one of three major schisms of this belief system), but their closed cult practices revolve around fairly unique interpretations, understood to be the ultimate underlying truths of this worldview.

The Scholars focus on an extention the Mind-Body model of the universe where their synthesis is the Dream (this itself is not unique to this cult, but the depths of their focus is). Under this model, the world is the dream of the collective consciousness, and achieving enlightenment or even temporary lucidity can allow the dream to be shaped to one's will.

One of their most secretive practices is god-building, in which they utilize altered mental states to shape the fabric of the dream into entities they can use as personal teachers of secret knowledge (also as a type of magic in general, they use it to 'build' guardians and curses and the like).

The process involves using mild doses of Ur-Root brew (mostly derived from roots of the clonal Ur-Wood colony, whose bark has notable concentrations of dimethyltryptamine and also hosts milder fungal hallucinogens) while maintaining an object and concept as a focal point of concentration. The altered state provided by the Root allows the user some access to the wisdom of the collective soul, and they will experience secret knowledge and revelations about this object, how it can best be used (this will be supplemented by material knowledge about the subject). This process is repeated until the user experiences a sense of Presence in the object, which must be interacted with, given a name and a face. Through more repetition, the object is believed to be shaped into a sort of thoughtform god which has come into material existence via manipulation of the dream.

This is considered to take immense time and effort to come to completion, god-building projects can last for years and be the combined effort of multiple Scholars. In the end, you have shaped an entity to your will that can operate independently of you.

The Ur-Wood itself is the center of Scholar cult practice, as it is both the purveyor of their most important hallucinogen and believed to have been the first god ever shaped by this form of lucid dreaming (it's a pilgrimage site for Eterhimhamdli where thousands of followers have undergone Ur-Root trips over the past four centuries, using the woods as an object of contemplation). To them the Ur-Tree is the ultimate teacher of their cult, an extremely powerful built-god that has been involved in almost every journey to enlightenment and contains all these journeys within its substance.

They believe that communing with the tree via Ur-Root can grant access to all enlightened mortals- full trips (with a DMT breakthrough type experience) will often involve sensations of encountering entities, which they interpret to be these historical figures. Within their religious framework, they're kind of speedrunning enlightenment. Under most conventional frameworks, the teachings of wise and/or enlightened people are conveyed in writing or speech as things to Contemplate on one's own journey- you might be able to understand them Conceptually but true understanding is Experiential, a process that can take a lifetime. In their framework, they're both receiving these teachings directly AND embodying states in which they can experientially comprehend them.

That summarizes most of their secret practices, and the rest of their practice is pretty standard for devout Lowlands Eterhimhamdlist priests. They live a partly ascetic lifestyle, they bear extensive tattoos as a contemplation of pain and marker of their journeys, they flagellate, they use tutelary hallucinogens, they refine their non-experiential body of knowledge through debate and rhetoric, they work to accumulate both worldly and spiritual knowledge, they work as scribes, etc.

[mightymelancholy]

I agree with everything you said here. Not going to go out of my way to try and change minds or say their religion is stupid out loud to their face. But religion should stop being used as an excuse and organized religions shouldn't be a thing at least. The idea of a single person or a few others spreading harmful beliefs to a mass of people isn't cute. I'd rather people make stuff up in their private lives than a pastor draw an audience in with unsubstantiated claims and outdated viewpoints to spread to 20, 100, or 1,000,000, people and more. Faith based reasoning and how people's minds logical part does a double standard 360° for religion is one of the reasons I'm against people believing in these things. Faith based reasons and supernatural claims shouldn't be anywhere near logic based discussions and our intelligent brains, especially when it comes to human rights.

Some people also diminish their own hardwork and efforts and instead create a narrative of every good thing is from this God or messenger is sad. But it's annoying when negative things with root causes being social exclusion, lack of education (particularly for Sex Ed), poverty, police violence, discrimination, mental health and the stigma around Cluster B neurotypes, or just injustice in general is seemingly lightly acknowledged or just hand waved away to instead circle it back to 'sin' and 'Hell'. Or that the person didn't try enough even though it's the system were all in that doesn't always or hardly tries.

People are allowed to practice it of course as much as other people are allowed to smoke and or drink alcohol. But I'd treat religion like cigarettes, non-prescriptive drugs, and alcohol. I don't think it can be "eradicated" entirely but decreasing the population of people who follow them would be a fine start. People can engage in the things I mentioned if they want but it shouldn't be encouraged and people should be hesitant to do it and actually think about the pros and cons of religion. Obviously followers wouldn't be fully gone but making people question if joining one is a good idea while still giving them the freedom to choose would be best. The prospect of joining a religion should make people feel like trying alcohol, like peer pressure and make the person truly think for themselves. Because I think making religion illegal or anything similar limits people's freedoms and doesn't allow further deconstruction and critical thinking and choices for the individual. I think some people base some moral and ethical decisions based on 'well the law/authority figure said so' and I really wouldn't want that. Our reasons for doing things should be deeper than that.

I also understand why kids are indoctrinated into it because it's easy to gain followers like that and parents think the teachings are helpful (Fuck the poor queer kids or anyone who may deal with some outdated teachings and followers). But honestly people need to leave the kids out of it and at most let them decide to practice and or believe in religion and deities when they want to.

But just because someone can doesn't mean they should. I think religion should be left to study not practice because most of the stuff is outdated, and the 'good' parts just make it worse, because then people want to cherry pick the appealing stuff to bring people in and not use critical thinking and deconstruct their reason for believing in such ancient ideas.

But I try to judge religious people based on the doctrine/s they support and practice or are tolerable of. Being tolerant of those who engage in incest and say 'it's just their religion' or 'it's just their culture'. Are delusional and are the exact reason why faith shouldn't be near any serious discussion that's economical, social, scientific, or political. And remember tolerance isn't acceptance. A person who tolerates women, physically disabled & neurodivergent, POC, queer people will happily vote for your rights to be swiftly taken away if it'll benefit them and their personal piece of mind. Religion, if people are gonna practice it should at the very least just be treated as a hobby and an opinion with little weight. No, one should get in trouble for saying religion isn't very helpful for today (or even back then really). When it gets to a point where people get upset when someone uses science or any facts against religion, because it's 'disrespectful' or 'not the person's place', that's when things have gotten out of hand. Denying the most basic of facts and simplest, scientific explanations for natural phenomenons shouldn't be so normalized in the modern day.

I try to respect people whenever I can but the minute what you practice, believe, and or tolerant has a negative effect on people then I don't give shit what culture, religion, or childhood you had, you cut that out and get some help from a psychologist if possible. And if not available or just unaffordable then you have a library or other humans with different opinions than your biased friends and family to talk to. You don't have to pay to talk to potential atheist Jason or Emery down the street. So, for anyone still reading this and or just wants to repeat this information to someone else, don't act up and use where you're from or how you grow up as an excuse. Because those are merely explanations not excuses for dumbass, misguided, power hungry, and or dangerous behavior.

Religion has always been a powerful thing, for many years. People cling to it for comfort, security, and a sense of belonging. I understand why. Fear of death is terrifying. The unknown is terrifying. It’s easier to believe that there’s a grand plan, that suffering has meaning, and that someone is watching over you. But I don’t think the comfort religion offers is worth the damage it causes. It demands people sacrifice their reason and individuality in exchange for that comfort. Institutions that claim moral authority have twisted and used faith to control the masses for centuries. Even now, religious influence seeps into governments, education, and personal beliefs.

I don't hate people for believing. Most of the time, they aren’t even aware of how deeply they’ve been manipulated. Faith is often introduced in childhood when belief is unquestioning. Parents, schools, and religious leaders teach children that doubt is wrong. Questioning becomes a sin. That’s not spirituality. It’s indoctrination. By the time people grow up, they’re so attached to those beliefs that challenging them feels like attacking their identity. I don’t see people like that as evil. They’re victims of the system. But when they spread harmful beliefs, even unintentionally, they become part of the problem.

Religious thinking limits people. It discourages curiousity and replaces it with obedience. When faith is valued over evidence, people lose the ability to think critically. That’s why religion so often opposes progress. It fights against science, human rights, and social change. People justify cruelty with outdated texts,, they cherry pick scripture to condemn whatever makes them uncomfortable. Even when believers act kindly, their faith still supports a system that enables bigotry, violence, and ignorance. Intentions don’t change the damage caused.

I'm not real unrealistic with this shit,, religion is woven into society. Eradicating it entirely isn’t possible, and I don’t think it’s even necessary. People will always believe in something. What matters is limiting religion’s control over others. Governments should be secular. Laws should be made with reason and evidence, not scripture. Schools should teach critical thinking, not religious doctrine. People should be free to believe what they want, but that freedom ends the moment those beliefs infringe on others. Coexistence is only possible when no belief system holds power over those who don’t follow it.

I also think it’s important to treat individuals with respect. Belief alone doesn’t make someone worth less. Most religious people are simply doing what they think is right. I don’t look down on them for it. I’ve met plenty of believers who are kind, intelligent, and willing to listen. I’ll have a conversation with anyone who approaches me in good faith. But I’m not afraid to challenge harmful ideas. If someone tries to push their beliefs on me or defend something irrational, I’ll respond. Some people get frustrated when they can’t justify their beliefs. Others double down. But once in a while, someone listens. That’s what matters.

In the end, religion is a choice. Even if it’s a choice many don’t realise they’re making,, it’s still a choice. I believe people should be encouraged to question, to think critically, and to embrace uncertainty. The world is complicated. That’s not something to be feared. It’s something to understand. And understanding will always matter more than believing.

[planefood]

This is just a thing I see on my internet romps every now and then but it drives me crazy for no reason, bare with me. Why do people draw lines in the sand about different kinds of therians lol? Who cares if someone woke up and decided that they're wolf therian or something when you decided unconsciously you were a wolf therian instead. Why do people fight about whether or not someone can choose to be therian, its the most silly gatekeeping I see. And don't come at me saying "well theres this label for chosen therians because they're not actual therians like me" you guys... made these terms up in the first place it literally doesn't matter. There is absolutely zero difference between a chosen therian and a not chosen therian and you can't convince me otherwise. How would a self proclaimed "real" therian know that they didn't just choose to be therian one day, there's absolutely no way you can know that for sure.

Every time I become curious about a subculture there's always some ridiculous gatekeeping, even objectums seem to fight over silly bullshit.

[aroacepagans]

Questions for religious aros:

Does your aromantic identity impact how you conceptualize agape/ holy and divine love?

Has the idea of divine love driven you away from certain spiritual practices?

Do you find the idea of divine love comforting when considering what it means to be loved/experience love as an aro person?

How does being a loveless aro impact your understanding of divine love?

How does being a lovequeer aro impact your understanding of divine love?

[utilitycaster]

all clear! I have stuff to do so I won't get to cooldown/reblogs/writing meta etc until later today but I will be opening the inbox, and most crucially my first thought is "lol Vox Machina, the only party with zero ties to any dunamancy, is going to have to rescue the luxon beacon"

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

ok i know i just posted a self indulgent tfrb au but i can't hold this one in any longer

it's pretty simple honestly but basically all the rescue bots are reincarnations of the thirteen primes and that's why they're so fucking overpowered.

btw by reincarnation i mean the traditional bhuddist reincarnation (i'm not v religious but i align w bhuddism/hinduism bc desi), which basically means the original thirteen still exist but their reincarnations are like avatars/forms that can exist at the same time.

one of the big examples of this reincarnation is vishnu and krishna. krishna is a reincarnation of vishnu, but vishnu was still alive when krishna was created. this is because krishna is a manifestation of vishnu's power/spirit. it's possible to be a reincarnation of vishnu and not be a reincarnation of krishna btw.

anyways that was a quick lil religious explanation but that's how i think of it for the rescue bots, and optimus too. (i think the thirteenth prime is still alive or whatever like the other thirteen, optimus is just an avatar of his.)

so the thirteen can watch their reincarnations and they talk about the rescue bots like they are them (the thirteen), because they sorta are. but then the rescue bots aren't exactly like them, because they're more like representations of the souls of the thirteen.

[quietwingsinthesky]

(For the game) I think the doctor should have more diverse companions. Give them more non human alien companions! Give them a companion is who fundamentally bad, who they have realize they can’t fix

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

yeah!!!!! oh and can i add to that! one thing i'd love to see? just like. a companion who is religious. in a way that is taken account into in the narrative and that is like. discussed? you know, how does going on time travel universe hopping adventures effect one's religious ideas. that would be fascinating to me. i think we've gotten like blanket statement things about future humans adjusting their religious beliefs or whatever but that's not what im interested in exactly. i want like. what does it do, to a modern human with modern religious ideas, to have to adjust that to aliens and shit. and how does their way of incorporating this life with the doctor reflect their character!

i think that'd be fascinating!!! and someone definitely smarter than me out there could probably write an incredible buddhist companion for the doctor and draw on the obvious cultural influences borrowed about cycles of reincarnation in constructing the doctor's whole regeneration thing to discuss shit. maybe one day. i'd love to see it.

[timetravellingkitty]

I could elaborate on said negative feelings but that would require not having a runny nose

[moregraceful]

One thing I think you guys would really appreciate knowing about me is that I don't organize any of my files on my computer, I keep everything in the Downloads folder (regardless of if they were downloaded or not.) As you can imagine, this doesn't cause problems for me.

[sssssaarn]

Would anyone be interested if I made a sort of beginner's guide/reference thing for working with nälkä entities? (Specifically I have GK. Ion and the Klavigar in mind, but I'm sure I could do some Karcists as well, if there's enough information on them.)

[blackvahana]

i am really never going to understand why people post "shifting antis dni" in the astral projection tag. "here practice that constantly gets appropriated by us and used as a weird justification for a new set of beliefs that aren't really based in the same reality you work with, and that also gets completely misunderstood by our community because we don't care to understand what you do and just pretend we know it's what we do like christians saying other religions worship the christian god, have a post! Also dni if you don't like our practice that has nothing to do with the one whose tag we just shoved this into"

if you're not astral projecting don't put shit in the ap tag. if you don't even know the difference between AP and RS I dont think your opinion holds enough weight to counter the pushback against flooding a separate practice's tag with "if you dont like the practice I'm talking about in your tags dni"

[uwuthomasuwu]

Anyone else see The Spider at the ass crack of dawn every morning but only when opening your right eye or is that just me?

[kaurwreck]

for the ask game: LILAC CHARCOAL AND RASPBERRY

anon this is so sweet 😭

[ask game provided below for reference; if you'd like to play, please reblog from OP here:]