Stupid things religious people say

[Fake Messiah]

Happy Anita Bryant Humiliation Day (it is the 48th anniversary)

[Fake Messiah]

The rise of Britain's middle class witches: How career women are turning to spells, 'angel cards' and even Chat GPT 'magic' for a happier life

Lyndsey Shelley, 41, from Waterlooville in Hampshire, counts herself among the growing population of women practising witchcraft in the UK, and says she only discovered her 'powers' after suffering a near burn out over work.

'You work all the time just to drive a nice car and go on a couple of nice holidays a year, I wanted more.' she says.

After she came across a Facebook advert for a 'Quantum Holographic Echo Healing' class, Lindsey, intrigued, suggested to her husband that she might attend.

Soon she was reading Tarot cards and energy, casting protection spells and 'seeing people's auras'.

After discovering her powers, she says she spotted a 'gap in the market' for helping others who were stuck in life, to better themselves and their businesses via witchcraft.

Lindsey now runs her own business working as a psychic and an alignment mentor and helps people with 'energetic calibration' - and she says witchcraft is fundamental to her own happiness.

How much does an 'alignment' session with this very modern witch cost? Lindsey charges £111 for a personalised 'human design' reading, which, she says, can help show 'where your energy is distorted'.

The pro witch says she often works with high achievers in corporate jobs, advising them on how they can 'let their magic flow in a different way'.

Lyndsey receives 'messages' from the universe, mostly through music and animals. She recalls one instance where she saw not one but three dead badgers in the road, something that she is convinced was a sign for her not to give up.

TikTok witch Liberty Walker, 22, was raised in Bristol by a witch and says she now uses her portfolio of trusty spells every day...

'Angel cards are my favourite modern day witch tool. I ask the cards if I should go out sometimes, and when they say no, I get into bed and don’t think twice,' Liberty, who was raised in Bristol but now lives in London.

An emerging pop artist, the young witch grew up in a house where celebrating the full moon and performing daily spells was 'constant'.

In one clip, she told viewers how her mother would encourage her to hold on to hair lost in the shower and then burn it.

'Having loads of hair go down a drain - that's like your energy and it can really mess up things that go in on your life because you don't know what part of you is going to end up. It could go to a really low vibration,' she said.

Teeth are no different, Liberty added, explaining that her mother had never allowed anyone - including the family cat - to have their teeth disposed of.

She even believes she has ties to other worlds. In another video, she offered her 'favourite little ritual' for helping viewers to contact their dead loved ones on Halloween.

Tutor Anna Rogers, 31, from Norfolk, has 10,000 followers on TikTok, where she shares various aspects of her life as a 'slow living' witch...

Previously a primary school teacher, Anna Rogers says she first found herself drawn to witchcraft following a bout of chronic illness.

After what she describes as her spiritual 'awakening', Anna retrained as a reiki master and crystal healer, a passion that she now has on the side while working in a full-time job as a tutor.

Spirituality came to her young, she says, recalling how she was 'sensitive to energy' as a child, 'able to see colours (auras) around people' and feeling 'aware of presences that weren't there'.

A pull to nature was one of the biggest signs of her inner witch. She says she still often harnesses its power when crafting spells, something she thinks is 'great' for her mental health.

'Witchcraft is essentially just harnessing your own energetic power and drawing on the energy and power of the living world around you. Being a witch feels like home. When something feels so right, you can’t doubt it.'

'Think about birthday candles - you blow them out and make a wish. This is a really simplified version of spell craft.'

'I think people would be surprised to know how much witchcraft they do in their daily lives without realising that’s where it’s originating from.

'It’s proven in quantum physics that everything is energy, and therefore, if everything is energy, surely our words and intentions have great power? That’s my belief anyway.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/real-...magic.html

[The Grand Nudger]

Six in ten self identifying christians in the us are, more accurately, syncretic pagans. That may actually be the largest group of beliefs in the us, but traditional survey methods and social stigma prevent this state of affairs from being obvious or easily quantifiable - that and survey takers are far more liberal about what counts for christian than..well..christianity... is.

[Fake Messiah]

Yeah, I saw an article about witches in the US.

Meet Maryland’s modern witches: From kitchen magic to moon rituals

Witches are everywhere in our state — one might even be your neighbor.

Maryland is full of witches.

The Pew Research Center in 2014 estimated that there were 1 million people who identified as pagan or Wiccan in the U.S. And social media is putting the coven in the spotlight. “WitchTok,” the witchy community on TikTok, has 9.2 million posts, and USA Today noted that the #witchtok hashtag had garnered nearly 20 billion views.

We found several Maryland witches willing to come out of the “broom closet” to demystify what they believe.

David Salisbury

Type of practice: Anderson Feri tradition, Hellenic polytheism.

Focus: Relationships with gods, spirits of the land, ancestors. Traditional Hellenic worship.

When you realized witchcraft worked: “I did a banishment spell on a bully, a really awful, ruthless bully.

“A few days after doing that, I found out that his father had an immediate job relocation and they moved to another state, basically overnight.

“And that’s when I really realized, ‘Oh, this is very real.’ And I should maybe be careful.”

Philosophy: “The concept of a healthy relationship with power. Many mainstream religions will say the power of religion is either up top, in the priesthood, the higher echelons of a church, or within a very remote and jealous god. Whereas with witchcraft, the power is within you, it’s within the land, with the spirits and ancestors that you’re working with.”

Jessica Davis, “Dahlia Moon”

Focus: Moon magic, crystals, tarot, protection, journaling. “Hekate is my goddess. I talk to her every day.”

Origin story: “My mom was a Wiccan in the ’90s. ‘Practical Magic’ and ‘Charmed’ were popular when I was in high school. I pulled tarot cards, oracle cards, loved going to psychics, but I wouldn’t have considered myself a witch. My mom was the witch.

“Then COVID happened. The algorithm found me. TikTok kind of brought me into it.

“I did my first Yule ritual, and I was so overwhelmed with joy and excitement and passion. I cried, and I was, like, ‘This is it. I am a witch. I am a powerful witch, and I enjoy doing this.’”

Philosophy: “We are all energetic creatures. When you add elements, lunar cycles, crystals and herbs, or colors, things that have different correspondences, and you put that all together, along with your word, which is a very powerful tool as well. And deities. All of it works together.

Etc.
https://www.thebanner.com/culture/witche...XTKQYPXIM/

[The Grand Nudger]

Yep. We got wicca and druidism from the uk back in the 50's and 60's. Folkish neopaganism and multicultural kemetism came up behind that in the 70's, then the hellenic stuff in the 90's. It was an evolving conversation about sexuality, patriarchy, and ethnic identity that leaned more and more heavily into ecology (and pseudo-science) over time. Basically, pacifists, feminists, and queers in first and third gen, ethnic identitarians - both white and black- in second gen. Alot of the dumbest shit that belongs in this thread is actually some garbled comment on that very real trend in religious counterculture now 70 years on. It's resolving into contemporary pantheism.

[Fake Messiah]

Replica image of Jesus mysteriously produces ‘miracle’ myrrh — seemingly healing people worldwide

The $20 image, reportedly rescued from a Toronto bargain bin, is now on display at the Hawaiian capital’s Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Church — and it’s oozing myrrh, resin from a tree that grows in Africa and the Middle East.

Think of myrrh as biblical bubblegum — a fragrant tree resin that the Wise Men gave baby Jesus and that Christ followers today say supposedly can cure chronic pain, blindness and cancer.

As a result, it’s now drawing crowds — and believers — from around the globe.

“During the last week of September, I began to notice an unbelievably strong smell of myrrh, at home, in my car, even at work. I couldn’t explain it,” the priest wrote in a letter to his parish.

A closer look revealed a bead of myrrh emerging right on the left knee of the baby Jesus in the icon.

The sticky spectacle didn’t stay secret for long — Father Nectarios snapped photos and showed them to fellow priests.

By the next Sunday service, the congregation was diving in, scooping up the miraculous myrrh like it was holy candy.

In 2008, the Russian Orthodox Church gave the cheap-but-miraculous Iveron icon the ultimate stamp of approval, green-lighting Father Nectarios to hit the road with it.

Since then, he’s paraded the sticky wonder to over 100 churches across the U.S., Europe, and beyond, drawing millions of believers along for the ride.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/20/lifestyle/...worldwide/


My take on this is that the picture of Jesus is actually a box. A box where the priest can conceal a myrrh container that will eventually seep through a tiny hole in the picture.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Replica image of Jesus mysteriously produces ‘miracle’ myrrh — seemingly healing people worldwide

The $20 image, reportedly rescued from a Toronto bargain bin, is now on display at the Hawaiian capital’s Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Church — and it’s oozing myrrh, resin from a tree that grows in Africa and the Middle East.

Think of myrrh as biblical bubblegum — a fragrant tree resin that the Wise Men gave baby Jesus and that Christ followers today say supposedly can cure chronic pain, blindness and cancer.

As a result, it’s now drawing crowds — and believers — from around the globe.

“During the last week of September, I began to notice an unbelievably strong smell of myrrh, at home, in my car, even at work. I couldn’t explain it,” the priest wrote in a letter to his parish.

A closer look revealed a bead of myrrh emerging right on the left knee of the baby Jesus in the icon.

The sticky spectacle didn’t stay secret for long — Father Nectarios snapped photos and showed them to fellow priests.

By the next Sunday service, the congregation was diving in, scooping up the miraculous myrrh like it was holy candy.

In 2008, the Russian Orthodox Church gave the cheap-but-miraculous Iveron icon the ultimate stamp of approval, green-lighting Father Nectarios to hit the road with it.

Since then, he’s paraded the sticky wonder to over 100 churches across the U.S., Europe, and beyond, drawing millions of believers along for the ride.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/20/lifestyle/...worldwide/


My take on this is that the picture of Jesus is actually a box. A box where the priest can conceal a myrrh container that will eventually seep through a tiny hole in the picture.

^This could be a huge seller on Etsy.

Boru

[Fake Messiah]

[Fake Messiah]

"You are giving too little to the church. You should feel ashamed of yourself."

Detroit Bishop Marvin Winans under fire for scolding church member over $1,200 donation

Perfecting Church’s Bishop Marvin Winans was caught on camera sneering at a woman’s charity to her face as she delivered the large donation to the church during the congregation’s “Day of Giving” on Oct. 19.

“I, Roberta McCoy, give in faith, and stand in unity with the vision of Perfecting Church with sowing this seed of $1,000, plus $235 in receiving the blessings to come to all that participate,” McCoy read to the full congregation.

Winans created the event and asked congregants to donate $1,000 and raise $1,000 toward the completion of the church’s new cathedral.

Winans interrupted and scolded McCoy, saying she didn’t follow his directions and was short of the $2,000.

“Now that is only $1,200,” Winans said. “Y’all not listening to what I’m saying.

“If you have a thousand plus a thousand,” he began to say as McCoy argued she was going to “work on getting” the other $800.

“That ain’t what I asked you to do,” Winans said.

The interaction between McCoy and her pastor was captured on a livestream and has since gone viral, garnering millions of views on social media.

Winans defended his infamous moment and revealed he was calling the congregants up by amount.

“I was calling because the whole church was giving, and it was our day of giving, and the whole church was coming, and we didn’t want people standing, the mothers and all that, so I was calling them by increments,” Winans told the outlet.

McCoy held herself responsible for the mix-up.

“He absolutely did not rebuke me. Now there’s a difference. There was a correction because let me clearly state that Pastor gave instruction on the lines to get into,” she said.

The worshipper revealed she has been the target of online threats since the video went viral, and wanted to clear the pastor’s name.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/22/us-news/de...d-of-2000/

[zebo-the-fat]

The church has billions in cash, property and art, they still want more!