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  1. FireDragon76

    Interview with Fr. Richard Rohr

    Horn is an apologist who values clarity and simple answers, so of course he might have issues with Rohr, who teaches mysticism and contemplation, which often deals in multivalent, layered symbolism, holistic and associative thinking (vs. linear and analytical), and holds paradox and mystery as...
  2. FireDragon76

    Trump Burns 500 Tons of Food Meant for the Hungry

    Neoliberalism's fever dream ends in this... not in endless efficiency, but wanton destruction at the hands of a demagogue of all that is humane and good.
  3. FireDragon76

    America Doesnt Want More Children

    Japan's post-war optimism and success was crushed by trade deals and monetary policies the US compelled the Japanese to accept in the George H. W. Bush era. When combined with Neoliberalism, it flattened Japan's economic vitality (so much for the US hegemony being strictly about mutually...
  4. FireDragon76

    America Doesnt Want More Children

    What does that have to do with anything? The vanguard of western civilization, the United Stase, is teetering on collapse under its own contradictions. If and when it falls, the gravity of the world order will shift, and that's going to have consequences for all western countries. Let's...
  5. FireDragon76

    Backrooms Spirituality

    As often is the case, you don't want to see what's happening in the kitchen, you might lose your appetite. It just shows how Kane Pixels has enough depth for spotting how this kind of horror is evident in our ordinary lives and we often don't notice it because we lack the context and...
  6. FireDragon76

    America Doesnt Want More Children

    You're generalizing from present conditions, dominated by a neo-liberal and post-colonialist world order, onto humanity in general. People in indigenous societies, for instance, tended to prioritise relational responsibility, not just with present generations, but with future generations and...
  7. FireDragon76

    America Doesnt Want More Children

    Yes, that's the elephant in the room. J.D. Vance and Elon Musk can try to play the barkers of their techno-dystopian fertility cult, but unless the material and social conditions actually promote optimism about the future, people aren't actually going to want to have children. Even Jesus spoke...
  8. FireDragon76

    Backrooms Spirituality

    I think it's clever stuff. I grew up with horror involving dark alleys and creepy, dark, abandoned houses. Horror in a brightly lit space of endless corridors is a completely different vibe, and illuminates the difference in generations. They aren't as afraid of ghosts anymore, as shadows of...
  9. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    I work with the Sunrise movement, a climate activist group involved at the grassroots, as an older, middle-aged ally and supporter, and alot of those younger people are sincere in their motivations. There also aren't necessarily as many involved as you might get the impression, judging by news...
  10. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    Certainly this is the case, and nothing new. At my local Congregationalist church, it took weeks for the church to figure out a member had died, despite having raised concerns twice about her absence (and then months to prepare a "celebration of life" service). That's how cold people had...
  11. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    Community participation is lower in general among younger people, but it's not a new trend, even though it's been worsening. It's been going on for decades. Young people use cellphones to participate in virtual communities, or to organize protests or discuss ideas, if they are civicly engaged...
  12. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    A few respond with nihilism, but others respond with irony. In fact that's a mood of our time among some in the culture. Deconstruction has, for some, caused them to become more aware of how their minds have been colonized by forces outside of themselves, in looping and pointless patterns...
  13. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    With younger generations, the individual is starting to be deconstructed as well. Sometimes this results in nihilism, depression, and existential dread (climate change is a big factor here), but other times young people are turning to various unconventional or self-styled spiritualities...
  14. FireDragon76

    Pastor Tim Timberlake challenges Western Church’s obsession with comfort: ‘Pain has purpose’

    Pain can have a purpose, but it's important to note western Christianity has often, and historically, taken this to an unhealthy extreme, and its had damaging consequences at times psychologically, socially, and spiritually. Unlike Eastern Orthodoxy, or some forms of modern Anglicanism, the...
  15. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    I agree. I think it fits with broader disintegration of institutions in US culture, not necessarily conservative vs. liberal politics. Also, Mainline decline seems to fit changing social patterns, towards more individualism and less belonging in general. Bowling Alone noted general decline in...
  16. FireDragon76

    New belief among teenagers. What do you think?

    Chatgpt has this to say about non-reproducing kin, and how they might be evolutionarily valuable from a Neo-Darwinian perspective (which isn't necessarily my own, but which seems to be what you are arguing from): From my neo-patristic perspective, your argument is deeply problematic and...
  17. FireDragon76

    What Jesus Said About Adam and Eve

    Even in the 1st century, there were ambiguities about how to interpret Genesis, and the Genesis account has never been as important in Judaism as it has been in Christianity, especially Latin Christianity and Protestantism. For instance, it was common in ancient times to believe in rational...
  18. FireDragon76

    New belief among teenagers. What do you think?

    Humans aren't any different than other biological organisms in regard to the role of non-reproducing oranisms in the species. Non-reproducing humans can still contribute to survival of other members of their kin groups and bands.
  19. FireDragon76

    New belief among teenagers. What do you think?

    That's an oversimplification of the biological reality. In lots of biological systems, non-reproducing organisms contribute to life's flourishing, even to the flourishing of close kin. I would argue modern science doesn't support a crude essentialist, static notion of nature. And the...
  20. FireDragon76

    Number of Americans who don't identify as Christian but claim 'personal committment to Jesus' nears record high: survey

    In a society of spectacle, you can't expect much more.
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