#fuck theocracy

[kotorno]

Fun Story Time

Growing up, I was raised Christian as my family was considered Lutheran protestants. At least that’s the kind of churches we went to. As I got into my teens I questioned religion a lot because it starts to crop up, “wait, some of this doesn’t make sense.” My parents were upset with me for having such a shake in faith, but I persisted on. What I would eventually learn is that my parents’ marriage was absolutely HATED by the majority of dad’s family as he didn’t marry “the right kind of Christian” and so my mother at the time, trying to still be in their good graces, wasn’t upset so much at my lack of faith, but was more upset that they’d look down on her MORE because one of her kids abandoned religion altogether. I’ve found Catholism a toxic dump ever since. If people are going to judge you based on your fucking DENOMINATION of religion, they can fuck off. Didn’t know at the time, but there’s even worse denominations than that. Fun. As part of the (at least lutheran-protestant) christian tradition, I had to get “confirmed” with the church. For those unaware what this is, the common practice of christian tradition is that no baby is born “good” in a sense. You first need to be baptised in order to be “cleansed” to have the holy spirit with you. (If this sounds 100% incorrect, I apologize, but it is how it was told to me by my fucking pastor.) After baptism, your ritual for “adulthood” in christian faith is to get Confirmed. This basically is “I’ve been saved by the holy trinity, now I am affirming my belief.” Depending on church will depend on how it goes, and I’m guessing denomination as well, but what it meant for me is that for 2 years, I would have to take extra church classes after school at least once a week to truly “understand the value of christ.” And of course, with most old religious traditions that go, “you’re an adult now!” this is sprung on you when you’re about 12-15. You know. WHEN YOU ARE GOING THROUGH FUCKING PUBERTY. Definitely the BEST time to force faith down your throat as you don’t understand what the fuck is going on with your body. As a side-note, let’s think for a moment. Isn’t fucking WEIRD that you “need” to be baptised to be saved from evil? The baby doesn’t have a conscious choice in this, they just get it done to them because the parents said so. But I suppose that’s why the confirmation exists, for you as “an adult” to choose if the religion is right for you or not. ...except the part where you’re a FUCKING TEENAGER and you still live (most likely) under the roof of the same people who baptised you and they are forcing you to go into this regardless of your opinion or not. As such, I went through the confirmation program. It was mostly, and I shit you not, just “let’s redo bible school, but now it’s required to be part of the church.” Which is ridiculous as it is. For many churches, they have an alternative to younger children instead of church services, and that is a class they partake in that teaches the same lessons, just in a classroom setting instead of those uncomfortable wooden bullshit couches. So for me, who was already subjected to this school on sunday (that taught really no real lessons that you wouldn’t already find in a fairy tale), the majority of these 2 years of “can’t hang on wednesday, I gotta go to church and learn how to be a good christian” were review and nothing else. At this point you’re probably going, “wow, we get it, you hated it.” Yes. But I think it’s better to understand the temperament in which I went in with for these classes. As I was only 12 at the time of these starting, I was given an ultimatum by my mother: “Go in with an open mind” as my faith (or lack thereof) was already waning. But shutting yourself out completely before hearing at least what the other side had to say was indeed wrong. So I went in with this mindset. If I HAD to go to these classes, then I would go to LEARN. Why is the bible the way it is? Do we quote scripture properly? Why do we bother to use the Old Testament as keys to lectures/sermons/whatever when the story of Jesus Christ is literally him saying, “no, fuck that” ? I came with those types of questions for most classes starting off. I wasn’t trying to be, “well, actually,” I was genuinely trying to get, from the perspective of either a devout congregation member who taught the class or a pastor, WHY they thought this was the way it was. What insight did they have that would assist? Of course, these classes weren’t one-on-one. They were with others. Some who were devout already and just ready to believe whatever the teacher told them. Some were bored and annoyed they were forced to be there. And me, being as polite as possible, would raise my hand when questions were allowed... “Excuse me, but from what I could read in the bible, I couldn’t find an exact passage that supports this. Could you elaborate on why ____ is mandatory in service?” I think one time that blank was filled in with “song” (I hated singing in public), sometimes it was about communion, but always I would look through the book, to the best of my ability, to see if there was a direct correlation. This was the holy text, and I needed confirmation on how the rituals came about if there wasn’t a road map. After all, you read about 2+2 and you can read the history of WHY 2+2 and how it got there, etc. The knowledge is there to be learned, understood, and accepted. It gets updated (hopefully) to match with the times in order for current generations to better understand it. That’s how textbooks should work. In the context of this class, the bible itself was the textbook, and the textbook didn’t bring up the examples I commented on. In fairness, at least the pastor would be able to give some historical context to why some of the rituals were used. I liked these answers as they gave me more understanding of how the religion was founded. After all, if I was going to be a devout believer in this, just knowing Jesus died for our sins wasn’t enough. I needed to know what had happened between then and now. And that’s when it happened. Someone in the class just shouted at me, “Devil Child!” I was confused by this. I was trying to get information in gaps that the text could not provide. I paid it no mind at first... But I kept asking questions. I wanted to be open minded, so for me to be open minded I needed to know as much as I could. If I just “believed” what was in the text directly, that would be just as close-minded as shunning the religion altogether. Now though, almost EVERYONE was commenting on me each time I made a question. “Devil Child.” “Only the devil would ask questions of faith,” some reasoned. Others just wanted to jump on me because that’s how they got their kicks. Be it the congregation member teachers or the pastor, they sat in silence as I was continually called this. Just ignoring it passively, though I could see at least the congregation member teachers sometimes smugly smiling at me, “shut up freak, just accept the religion and piss off” is what their expression told me. I endured this for 2 years because my parents told me to. I knew I was being harassed and did tell my mother one time. She took it up to the pastor who then said, “oh, well he’s a bit of a disruptive student” so I was shat on again. Asking questions... when you say, “does anyone have any questions?” is being... disruptive? What? Nevermind that the issue wasn’t my questions, it was, ‘why are these kids being so harassing toward someone who wants to understand the faith better?” I would meet with that pastor shortly before my actual confirmation ceremony. In which I learned, he was pretty much A-OK with those other kids being assholes to me. “Part of faith is having faith in it, it’s typically frowned upon to ask questions,” he said... after I had already endured this for the past 2 years. “Then why even entertain my questions in the first place? Why ask for questions?” I would say. “Oh. We know most don’t care to ask them, it’s just a common phrase to make sure people understand and we just move on, you know how it is,” he said. “But I DIDN’T understand, that’s why I was asking them.” “Yeah, and that’s your problem. Faith isn’t about understanding, it’s about belief.” I was adamant on NOT being confirmed. But apparently (and this could be 100% bullshit told to me just to do the ceremony) if you don’t get confirmed it’s harder to become a member of a church later in life. So I did what I had to, and had a fun picture of my 14 year old self pretending to smile in confirmation robes planted on my parents’ shelf for all the years to come. When I brought this up much later in life, mainly as a joke as to how horrible christian people can be, my mother was horrified, “Why didn’t I hear about this?!” “I told you. You tried to do something, they did jack-all.” “I thought they were having a problem with your lack of faith.” “Oh no, they probably thought that based on how my conversation with that asshole pastor went. I was just trying to get kids to stop bullying me for wanting to learn.” I gave up most all faith after that. While I’m probably more agnostic than anything (there are too many good people who do not deserve to die while the wicked still live, and I’m scared to shit of death after being extremely suicidal in high school), I’ve had an extreme bad taste for Christianity ever since. That doesn’t mean you can’t be a good person and still be very religious christian. I’ve met quite a few who may wear their religion on their sleeve, but don’t use it as an end-all be-all that I see... far too common nowadays. In a quest to understand, I was told, “shut the fuck up and just take this in, no questions asked.” And I look now, especially today, to how that mentality has spread to extremists. The church I attended wasn’t batshit insane, it was considered highly respectable by most in my metro area. It wasn’t mormon or evangelical or fucking jehovah’s witnesses levels of batshit insane. It wasn’t even Catholic insane. But the point remained between all of them, from what I saw and learned: To ask a question, is a sin to god. The God that is “perfect,” “infallible,” “loving,” “all-knowing.” If they’re perfect and all-knowing, they should be able to answer some goddamn questions. If they’re infallible and loving, they should be smiting truly wicked people from this world. This is the God that the New Testament speaks of. One would would literally give a human child to bear the brunt of human sin. This is the christian God. And it’s a fucking lie. Maybe, just maybe, people know of such a god. But none who invoke that name constantly to push their own viewpoints see such a god. They see a malicious, hateful, evil judge who must destroy anything that does not fit their ideal image. And now we have the US run by people who think that. By people who “believe” that because belief is all that matters. Fuck what anyone else says. Belief in this all-powerful asshole that wants to destroy anything they deem incorrect. PRETTY SURE that’s what the devil was supposed to be in the christian mythos. But what do I know. I am in fact, a “devil child.”

#fuck theocracy #fuck the supreme court

[danepopfrippery]

If u live in rural hell know hobby lobby took out an ad pulling for full christian theocracy. They stole antiques from iraq for a jebus museum and made it so employers dont have to cover birth control. Srsly they suck so hard a quick google will tell. And ditto fareway and pizza ranch (both uber jesus, uber republican, anti woman and anti lgbtq)

#fuck hobby lobby #fuck pizza ranch #fuck theocracy #jebus shit

[angrycartoonsquirrel]

To be fair at the start, this is a drunk post as an atheist thinking of the Christian religion. If you are offended, your religion is not the reason.

That said, I think that while Christ's sacrifice upon the cross absolving our sins is fantastic, I think that within that sacrifice was His will to push helping the less fortunate, not stealing from them.

Can't wait to see the outcry... go ahead and tell me what you think...

#fuck you if you think this is communism #nate hazis #help the poor #fuck theocracy #seriously trump smells really bad #seriously he deliberately shits his pants

[infinitemonkeytheory]

As far back as 2001, Republican lawmakers proposed the first of what are now nearly 900 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. More than 500 of these were introduced in 49 state legislatures and the U.S. Congress during the first five months of 2023. To date, at least 79 have passed.

Many of these anti-trans laws are written and financed by a group of far-right interest groups, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, the Liberty Counsel and the American Principles Project.

These groups claim their proposed laws would protect cisgender women and girls – those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth – from the sorts of violent trans people that are often depicted in movies and other media.

But as criminologists, we know these claims are without merit. No reliable data supports the argument that transgender people commit violent crimes at higher rates than cisgender men and women. In fact, transgender people are more than four times as likely to be the victim of a crime as cisgender people.

#trans lives matter #protect trans rights #fuck fascism #fuck the gop #fuck conservatives #fuck theocracy #fuck christofascism

[lenbryant]

Scary Project 2025 and its authoritarian backers have marching orders ready for the next conservative President that gets elected (while probably losing the popular vote again as usual).

#politics #project 2025 #coyote annie #republicans #authoritarianism #anti democratic #authoritarian #fascisim #theocracy #conservatives #focus on your own fucking family

[bypatia]

The bjp government introduced the ucc bill in Uttarakhand which has made it mandatory for live in couples to register with the government and a copy of the registration will be sent to respective families. It also added the father as a first class legal heir for inheritance of property, encroaching upon the the right of the mother, wife, daughter (the actual victims of patriarchy, who most likely did not have any social right to gain access to financial independence or inheritance from other family members) to accommodate the father, who more than likely than not already has financial freedom and ownership rights over land property. Moving on, they removed the Muslim personal law, which guaranteed the rights of the daughter in a fixed inheritance percentage. Not to mention the whole act is modelled after hindu personal laws and demanding other religions to bend according to it is inherently regressive no matter how progressive the law on paper looks to be. So should I just bang my head against the wall right now and be done with it or watch as the bjp government slowly sets fire to all our lives?

#guys is it play by play what the nazi party did or is it play by play what the iranian theocracy did or is it play by play what #every other fascist government did on the planet did? #hindutva #any Sanghi who sees this block me #I have no energy to fight you because you’re dumb as fuck #bjp is not protecting any rights #especially women’s #except for Adani’s or the Ambani’s #and you can lick their boots all you want #but you too will be grinded in the same mob-military industrial complex like the rest of us #you are not a special case #I don’t live in Uttarakhand don’t even try #fuck Modi #fuck bjp #in case I wasn’t clear #we told Sanghi women #you’re next on the chopping block #but sunta kon hai? #you will also find better essays than this online but I had to share my two cents

[cheesebearger]

a lot of people will play dragon age 2 and they'll be like... whoa.... anders is truly a grey character who does both good and evil......

when in actuality anders blowing up the chantry was not only good but based, sexy, and inspirational and he has never done wrong a day in his life

#dragon age #anders #i refuse to believe the non-game added lore by dave gaider - via his tumblr blog - placing several hundred orphans in the chantry #there are no fucking kids in that building in the game. if we were meant to care about a bunch of fucking exploded orphans they'd be there #if we go just by who we the player see in the church a bunch of fucking shitty pastors got blown up #and given the chantry is the nonviolent part of a military org #theyre not like blameless or innocent bystanders lol #any attempt to put children in the chantry is simply an attempt to justify the violent oppressive theocracy they represent #by adding 'innocent bystanders' for anders to additionally kill #thus making him look more violent compared 2 the banality of the true horror enacted by this military theocracy's oppressive violence

[secular-jew]

A picture from Iran, without hijab and with a lot of contempt.

#secular-jew #israel #jewish #judaism #israeli #jerusalem #diaspora #secular jew #secularjew #islam #Iran #hijab #without hijab #no hijab #fuck hijab #sharia #no sharia #khomeini #theocracy #fuck Iran

[gatheredfates]

#ffxiv #my edits #GOD I HAD A BRAINWORM I SPAT THIS OUT RIGHT BEFORE I HAD TO GO TO BED #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 : elandervier #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 : alaice #anyway the dichotomy of two women being screwed over by the theocracy am i right lads #fuck ishgard

[violottie]

"IS ISRAEL A DEMOCRACY OR THEOCRACY ?" (caption continued under video) from African Stream, 27/Feb/2024:

During an interview on BBC HARDtalk, renowned Egyptian-American comedian, Bassem Youssef, questions Zionism and the notion that Jews are God’s chosen people. While calling out these religious-political ideas being deployed as justification for Israelis to steal Palestinian land and build their own settlements, he also discusses the paradox of Israel’s very identity, on one hand describing itself as a secular state and on the other a religious Jewish one.

In the UK and US, a lot has been made of the protest chant “from the river to the sea.” Critics describe it as being “anti-semitic” and pro-Hamas. However, Youssef explains why it is not Islamic-inspired at all. In fact, the mantra was coined by the right-wing Israeli Likud Party who claimed the land between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan river as part of the Jewish state of Israel.

#palestine #free palestine #israel #gaza #free gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #i stand with palestine #rafah #save rafah #zionism is antisemitism #zionism is white supremacy #anti zionism #fuck israel #israel is committing genocide #israel is an illegal occupation #theocracy #israel is a war criminal #israel is an apartheid state #israel is a terrorist state

[anqaspond]

yknow youd think the plural/ramcoa community would have a better grip on cults and organized abuse but a lot of these fucks are about as dense as anyone else when it comes to poc being subjected to cults or ritual abuse. somehow its okay when we're subjected to it because somehow its our culture (just another way to say "in our blood".)

#how do you woke-ify abuse ??? #by hiding it under the guise of multiculturalism. #oh and american sensationalism. these guys think the rest of the world is held under american laws and standards. #hey as someone who lives in a theocracy #no! are you stupid! #also what a shitty fucking display of racism to look me in the eye and tell me fgm is my culture so i should just let it happen #you dont know fuck about my culture fuckface #christ. this is why plurality is so associated with being white #ramcoa #ramcoa survivor #plurality #plural system #did #osdd

[incomingfenderbender]

I feel like pro-life is way to forgiving of a term, it should be something like pro-patriarchy or pro-theocracy or pro-let’s turn women into baby making objects. Just to keep things accurate, y’know?

#pro choice #fuck pro lifers #humanity is doomed #everyone is fucking crazy #i hate america #fuck the patriarchy #America is not a theocracy #keep religion out of politics

[hikari-ni-naritai]

I'm glad that my oc creation efforts haven't neglected religion. Most of my characters that are involved with gods have very different relationships with them. Hikari worships an ancestral goddess, and also she killed god who was also like her mom, but that's kind of an outlier as far as god narratives go. But like, violet was chosen by a god and failed, and is determined to make things right. Valyrie works for a god she probably shouldn't. Dr Marion hates gods on a personal level. Adela was forced into servitude by a god she hates. Elyria wants to serve a god but that god hates her and rejects her. étoile's mom turned into a god and abandoned her except for the equivalent of leaving money on the table every morning to buy dinner from a convenience store. I think it's fun to explore things from multiple angles.

#and of course all the characters from my fucked up theocracy setting have really specific relationships with gods too #ocposting

[dougielombax]

And I’ve just come across more IDIOTS spreading the old Nazi collaboration myth again!

Calling Ireland a theocratic peasant nation run by terrorists.

Which is less than wrong.

What’s next? Are you gonna call us traitors to the crown? Again!

Get in the bin with that shite!

#dougie rambles #personal stuff #vent post #political crap #lies #myths #bullshit #disinformation #ireland #history #irish history #bad history #shit takes #theocracy #or lack thereof #fucking morons #brainrot in action #siege mentality

[greentea-mp3]

This is no longer a democracy or even a republic. This is an oligarchy at BEST. It's on It's way to becoming a theocracy. I want to leave so bad. I hate america.

#america #overthrow the government #government #democracy #oligarchy #theocracy #tax the rich #eat the rich #fuck america #fuck the supreme court #roe v wade #abortion rights #trans rights #blm #black lives matter #lgbt+ rights #socialism #socialist #communism #communist #agnostic atheist #athiest #athiesm #i hate america #anti capitalism #human rights #abortion rights are human rights #womens rights

[mango-dolphin]

bro i can't fucking take this shit anymore (drew a meursault that is hurting me physically)

#mango japery #not to exaggerate too much but holy fucking christ. what the fuck #ummm ''those are the eyes of a jailbird who witnessed heaven for the first time since imprisonment'' #or something more poetic/concise than that #listening to string theocracy on repeat losing my mind btw