I enjoyed this perspective on wokeism by philosophy professor Hans-Georg Møller. Maybe you will like it too.
He also has a couple of videos on Jordan Peterson on his channel.
We're a new server but we have potential to become a great place for bridging divides. I'd appreciate it if you checked us out.
https://youtu.be/GnUqrF9mAA8
I’m referencing this video, in which the man explains that he believes Wokeism is a combination of American Civil Religion and German Guilt Pride. Activities like kneeling on a football field in protest of police brutality is aimed at raising awareness, expressing one’s place in the sort of religious community of Wokeism, and attempts to motivate others to join as well. All we seem to have now is awareness raisers hyper aware of their guilt, but raising awareness so they feel superior and tell themselves they’ve righted their wrongs with minimum effort. We need to focus on issues of class struggle and racism in a way that does not attempt to act as a positive mark on our profile to uplift our reputation, but to really get at the core of the problem despite what effect it will have on the perception of our profiles.
I’d like to mention that this is a criticism of Wokeism from a leftist perspective, I’m not intending to spark some far-right dialogue about how it’s Communism and Unamerican or whatever, I’m basically arguing that Wokeism’s attitude is flawed though it’s focus is pretty good, and it’s participants should rethink their main focus and methodology if they truly want better economic conditions and less systemic racism.
Hong Xiuquan was a random guy who claimed he was the son of God and Jesus's brother. He managed to convince millions to follow him and fight for him. He caused one of the deadliest wars in history and formed his own Kingdom. This all happened between 1850-1864, less than 200 years ago.
This shows how easy it is to fool people and create a religion. It's the same thing that all other religious leaders have done. Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Guru Nanak, Joseph Smith, they were all conmen like Hong Xiuquan.
The difference is that Hong Xiuquan was even more convincing. He managed to convince millions to join his religion while he was alive, and then fight and die for him. No other religious leader managed to do that in their lifetimes.
Hong's religion banned slavery, polygamy, prostitution, alcohol, tobacco and opium. He declared men and women equal, but he also ordered strict gender segregation.
Over the course of the past few days I've been trying to debate with theists wherever I find their absurd opinions posted (YouTube comments, Instagram comments). Not the best place but I still tried.
Every single fucking time. Their conclusion came to something on the lines of,
"It takes more faith to not believe in God than to believe in God, so just do it"
"You have everything to gain from believing and nothing to lose, open your eyes"
"Something can't come from nothing"
"Revert before it's too late, he'll forgive you"
"God works in mysterious ways" (In the case of a valid point being made about people suffering elsewhere, and their God magically appearing/sending an angel to save a single redditor from suicide)
[^ YouTube video for context, check out comments]
I find it so fucking hilarious that everytime a valid point is made, it comes down to their faith and all logic is thrown out of the window.
Thinking about it, 99% these weren't even debates, literally single sided conversations with my points being ignored and them trying to convert me to their religion
How long did it take for all of Russia to be encompassed by Bolshevism ? Like were there any churches or religious communities in the Far East that lasted any amount of time afterwards?
A while back I listened to a podcast about the Irish far right in the early 20th century and it discussed the Irish contingent that answered the popular Catholic calling to fight alongside Franco against the republicans and Communists during the Spanish Civil War. Between discussing the Irish fighters' poor performance and the surprise they experienced at encountering the realities of Fascism and "dirty war", the presenters also mentioned the shock that many of the men felt when they realized that, despite the ostensible 'war in defense of Catholicism against godless Communism' that drew them and other foreign fighters to Franco's side, most of the Spanish right-wing fighters they served alongside had almost no interest in participating in Sunday worship or any rituals actually associated with the church because "religion was seen as something mostly for the women". I couldn't help but think of Don Corleone's wife in the Godfather novel going to church and praying for her husband's soul every day while he ordered the extortion or execution of anyone who got in his way, just replacing "extortion" with "disappearing of republicans, farmers, and suspected dissidents".
Spanish is not one of the languages I read and in my English searches so far on the Spanish Civil War and Catholicism the gendered aspect of worship and practice in the early 20th century has not come up. Is there any material on this particular social and religious dynamic in early 20th century Spain?
To what degree was religion important to the self-image of Catholic men broadly in this place and time and how did that differ from women? And to what degree did men specifically on the Spanish far right identify with Catholicism (I imagine a lot given what little I know of the Francoists) and was that at odds to how much they actually practiced it?
If ostensible Catholicity was an important feature of the Spanish far right as expressed by the men of the movement, why? Was it a long-standing feature of Spanish right-wing politics even before Franco? Was it specifically an affirmation of in-group and out-group boundaries (contra presumably a secular Spanish left, or the nominally atheist Communists), maybe a more recent development? Was it a tactic to exploit Catholic sympathies outside of Spain, etc.? And to what degree did Franco and those like him early on care about actually practicing what the Catholic church preached?
"Actual" is in scare quotes to anticipate some musing on what it means
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My FH and I were both brought up as christians and ideally we wanted to be married in a religious ceremony. After having postponed our wedding twice (one side of family lives overseas and can’t travel due to covid restrictions) we’ve decided to have a civil ceremony now and then have a religious ceremony at our ‘big wedding’ in 2022 once travel restrictions are lifted and our family and friends can attend. We want to include our faith in some way in the civil ceremony but aren’t sure how. Has anyone else been in this position and have any advice to share? We will be writing our own vows so there is flexibility in the ceremony itself.
I had a Google Doc I was slowly working on in 2019 and 2020, but got distracted from it for some reason or another, and never really finished it. I recently rediscovered it, and decided I would post it here just for the sake of discussion. It's not terribly refined, and a bit out of date. I've added a few new comments [in brackets], but it's otherwise unchanged.
---
Civil Religion
With Saint-14 finally returning to the Tower, I thought about how it is that many Guardians have never met this Exo before, yet he received his own station in the Hangar, complete with ‘red carpet’ treatment. As a student of religious studies, my mind wandered over to the Dawning itself, and the form of City religion.
The concept of a ‘civil religion’ refers to a nation’s implied religion, outside the confines of a deliberate, organized institution. It is not mutually exclusive to organized religions, either. A person can belong to an explicit religion of history, e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and also participate in the civil religion of their national community.
The City, as far as we can see, doesn't have much in the way of a formal religion, but applying ‘civil religion’ concepts can help us catch sight of the shape of religious expression in the Last City.
These elements of religious expression can be grouped into a handful of categories.
- Foundation myth, explaining the origin of the community, often idealizing or exaggerating the events involved (e.g. Romulus and Remus for the founding of Rome, the Exodus for Israel, the Revolutionary War for the USA).
- Sanctified heroes, whether historical or not, are remembered and honored for their tremendous achievements (e.g. Herakles for Greece, Gilgamesh for Sumer, the Maccabees for Israel).
- Sacred monuments, memorializing events or heroes important to the community’s shared identity, and the destination of pilgrimages (e.g. Mecca and the Kaaba, the Vatican, Statue of Liberty).
- Revered texts, usually inviolable but often subject to intense debate over how to be interpreted (e.g. the Bible, the Avesta, the Talmud, the Declaration of Independence).
- Holy days, a calendar of events celebrated on specific days, often with longstanding traditions (e.g. Ramadan, Christmas, Veterans’ Day).
- Symbols and icons, representing the community and its ideals (e.g. Stars & Stripes, Blindfold & Scales, Hammer & Sickle).
The mere fact of a nation’s origins in history or of historically i
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American civil religion is a sociological theory that a nonsectarian quasi-religious faith exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history. Since the 19th century, scholars have portrayed it as a cohesive force, a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. Its current form was developed by sociologist Robert Bellah in 1967 in the article, "Civil Religion in America".
According to Bellah, Americans embrace a common civil religion with certain fundamental beliefs, values, holidays, and rituals in parallel to, or independent of, their chosen religion.
In a survey of more than fifty years of American civil religion scholarship, Squiers identifies some principal tenets:
- Filial piety
- Reverence to certain sacred texts and symbols such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the flag
- The sanctity of American institutions
- The belief in God or a deity
- The idea that rights are divinely given
- The notion that freedom comes from 7. God through government
- Governmental authority comes from God or a higher transcendent authority
- The conviction that God can be known through the American experience
Hong Xiuquan was the Chinese version of Muhammad. This all happened between 1850-1864, less than 200 years ago.
Hong was a random guy who claimed he was the Son of God and Jesus's brother, and he managed to convince millions to follow him and fight for him. He caused one of the deadliest wars in history and formed his own kingdom.
This shows how easy it is to fool people and create a religion. It's the same thing that Muhammad did in 7th Century Arabia. The difference is that Muhammad only had a few thousand followers, while Hong had millions following him. The scale of Hong's movement was 1000 times bigger. Hong was even more convincing than Muhammad.
Hong's religion banned slavery, polygamy, prostitution, alcohol, tobacco and opium. He declared men and women equal, but he ordered strict gender segregation.
