(December 10, 2024 at 4:08 pm)MR. Macabre 666 Wrote: Fucking cowards, will the authorities even bother investigating who specifically did this? Probably not.

I imagine they will. The same thing happened in Iowa a year ago, and the vandal was fined, placed on probation, and ordered to make restitution.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/...838438007/

Boru

Modern-day witchcraft is on the rise in Australia as support for organised religion plummets

Today, tens of thousands of Australians identify as witches and globally, we’re in the midst of a bona fide witchcraft boom.

While a fascination with the occult is nothing new, witchcraft has never been as big, or as mainstream. But why? And why now?

“A huge part of the rising popularity is social media and the internet,” said Owlvine.

“It’s so easy to jump online and find information. Once upon a time, it was really difficult to find a willing teacher, or even get your hands on the few occult books available – now we have abundant information at our finger tips.”

The image of the witch has been a staple in pop culture for the last century, but it’s only in the last few decades that we’ve seen a major PR job done on the witch archetype.

Beautiful, political and environmentally-minded feminists, today’s witches are as far away from the clichéd old broomstick-riding hook-nosed hags of our childhood storybooks as you can get. And they can be found on big and small screens alike with ever-increasing frequency, with the likes of Sabrina, A Discovery of Witches and Mayfair Witches adding to the swag of older shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Charmed and The Vampire Diaries.

There’s clearly a direct correlation between the increasing presence of fictional witches and the rise of real life ones.

In the past, movies and TV shows often cast the witch as hugely unsavoury characters. Now we’re seeing witches depicted as young, modern people we can relate to.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l...ab3f780f38

(December 11, 2024 at 2:10 pm)Fake Messiah Wrote: Modern-day witchcraft is on the rise in Australia as support for organised religion plummets

Today, tens of thousands of Australians identify as witches and globally, we’re in the midst of a bona fide witchcraft boom.

While a fascination with the occult is nothing new, witchcraft has never been as big, or as mainstream. But why? And why now?

“A huge part of the rising popularity is social media and the internet,” said Owlvine.

“It’s so easy to jump online and find information. Once upon a time, it was really difficult to find a willing teacher, or even get your hands on the few occult books available – now we have abundant information at our finger tips.”

The image of the witch has been a staple in pop culture for the last century, but it’s only in the last few decades that we’ve seen a major PR job done on the witch archetype.

Beautiful, political and environmentally-minded feminists, today’s witches are as far away from the clichéd old broomstick-riding hook-nosed hags of our childhood storybooks as you can get. And they can be found on big and small screens alike with ever-increasing frequency, with the likes of Sabrina, A Discovery of Witches and Mayfair Witches adding to the swag of older shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Charmed and The Vampire Diaries.

There’s clearly a direct correlation between the increasing presence of fictional witches and the rise of real life ones.

In the past, movies and TV shows often cast the witch as hugely unsavoury characters. Now we’re seeing witches depicted as young, modern people we can relate to.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l...ab3f780f38

Nothing but good news. The best thing about witches (and similar types) is that they don’t threaten, shame, or try to convert you. Never had a witch knock on my door of a Sunday morning and ask, ‘Do you have a minute to talk about The Horned One?’

Boru

They fixed the statue

Quote:The Satanic Temple statue is back in Concord



The Satanic Temple, a nontheistic religious group that espouses separation of church and state and humanistic values, placed this occult deity statue on the State House Plaza a week after vandals had destroyed an identical one last week.

https://www.unionleader.com/news/politic...61933.html

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Meanwhile

Quote:Outrage as Minnesota Satanists Given Holiday Display at State Capitol

The Satanist question has sparked debate in political discourse and the legal system for years. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits the government from establishing a set religion. Courts have interpreted this to mean that certain religions cannot be given preferable treatment over others.

The group is often met with pushback from Christians, who view Satanism as an illegitimate religion and a blasphemous group that should not be entitled to First Amendment protections. They say the Satanic Temple, rather than a religion, is more of a provocateur group whose members don't necessarily believe in Satan.

The Satanic Temple, however, argues the government cannot pick and choose which religions are legitimate, and that religion does not have to be tied to the supernatural to be a sincere belief.

The display features a phoenix and text from the Satanic ritual The Mass of the Phoenix.

https://www.newsweek.com/minnesota-satan...ge-2001513

The Satanists are a curious group. Most of those I've encountered have more in common with Ayn Rand Objectivists than the humanistic worldview more commonly seen in atheists.

I definitely approve of their activity regarding violations of church-state separation. I believe their approach is much more effective than trying to prosecute violations. It's much simpler too. You can argue until you're blue in the face that displaying this or that Christian symbol in this or that public space is a violation and get nowhere. Display your own symbol right besides theirs though and it leaves them in a tough spot. It's a lot harder to defend why you should be able to do something while others should not be able to do exactly the same thing.

I think the Satanist approach also has the added value of frustrating and pissing off the holier-than-thou Christians too which is something I always take delight in.

The LaVeyan (Church of Satan) Satanists seem like objectivists while the Satanic Temple folks strike me as humanists.

(December 17, 2024 at 3:00 pm)AFTT47 Wrote: The Satanists are a curious group. Most of those I've encountered have more in common with Ayn Rand Objectivists than the humanistic worldview more commonly seen in atheists.

I definitely approve of their activity regarding violations of church-state separation. I believe their approach is much more effective than trying to prosecute violations. It's much simpler too. You can argue until you're blue in the face that displaying this or that Christian symbol in this or that public space is a violation and get nowhere. Display your own symbol right besides theirs though and it leaves them in a tough spot. It's a lot harder to defend why you should be able to do something while others should not be able to do exactly the same thing.

I think the Satanist approach also has the added value of frustrating and pissing off the holier-than-thou Christians too which is something I always take delight in.

It's because modern American "Satanists" don't believe in Satan. It's cos-play.

They could just as well be Mickey Mousists, except the Satan thing pisses off the Christians more. And I'm sure they're happy that their statue was broken, because it gets them more attention and gives them an opportunity to prosecute someone who was "oppressing" them. Political theater.

Their real beliefs are just what modern liberal Americans believe. 

This is in contrast to old-style European Satanists, who actually believed they were risking something, and weren't just grandstanding.

Among his other talents, Bel is an expert on people who call themselves Satanists.

(December 11, 2024 at 2:35 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Nothing but good news. The best thing about witches (and similar types) is that they don’t threaten, shame, or try to convert you. Never had a witch knock on my door of a Sunday morning and ask, ‘Do you have a minute to talk about The Horned One?’

The irony being that it's a question I might be inclined to discuss with a stranger on a Sunday morning...

(December 17, 2024 at 7:29 pm)Belacqua Wrote:

(December 17, 2024 at 3:00 pm)AFTT47 Wrote: The Satanists are a curious group. Most of those I've encountered have more in common with Ayn Rand Objectivists than the humanistic worldview more commonly seen in atheists.

I definitely approve of their activity regarding violations of church-state separation. I believe their approach is much more effective than trying to prosecute violations. It's much simpler too. You can argue until you're blue in the face that displaying this or that Christian symbol in this or that public space is a violation and get nowhere. Display your own symbol right besides theirs though and it leaves them in a tough spot. It's a lot harder to defend why you should be able to do something while others should not be able to do exactly the same thing.

I think the Satanist approach also has the added value of frustrating and pissing off the holier-than-thou Christians too which is something I always take delight in.

It's because modern American "Satanists" don't believe in Satan. It's cos-play.

They could just as well be Mickey Mousists, except the Satan thing pisses off the Christians more. And I'm sure they're happy that their statue was broken, because it gets them more attention and gives them an opportunity to prosecute someone who was "oppressing" them. Political theater.

Their real beliefs are just what modern liberal Americans believe. 

This is in contrast to old-style European Satanists, who actually believed they were risking something, and weren't just grandstanding.

They could be Mickey-Mousists, too.

Have you seen the number of conservative christians in the States having melt-downs about practically anything to do with Disney...