That's a good point, but I'd counter than religious fundamentalism isn't a million miles away from nationalism anyway. They're both a fundamentally "them and us" type of ideology.depends exactly where you're talking about. there are meaningful non-nationalist movements as you say in these places. the easy example for me to talk about is the taliban from 2005 to 2021. the areas they controlled weren't part of any nation. the government lost any control over larger and larger areas of the country. what it was replaced by was not a nation. it was a different form, a different category of thing. i think although the general points are correct, people overstate the reach of phenomena like nation states, globalization, capitalism. these things are not absolutely everywhere. they're almost everywhere, but there are still corners of the planet where people live under different power structures and logics.
I don't think I'm especially well qualified to proselytise, but Jesus does seem to have special status in many religions and also turns up a lot in non-believers' near-death experiences.what’s the craic with Jesus, Biscetti
Indulge a White-Pill pitch, go for it, take the floor, convert conversion status - imminent
Americans crave spectacle, in all matters, and exorcisms like this are today experiencing a season of growth. We Americans are drawn to those things that feel somehow both novel and ancient, old dreams and nightmares made new. Polling is fairly consistent, heathens be damned: roughly half of this country believes in the existence of demons and the ability of such spirits to possess humans. The gloomy pandemic years saw a new demand for enterprising religious figures with a remedy. And why not? Who would deny that this cursed land is in need of a deep cleanse with a power washer? This, our country of suburban satanic panics, active-shooter drills, and jump-scare franchises, of mob riots, hollowed-out downtowns, and tech paranoias. The vibes are foul. And lo, a cavalry of screen-ready revivalists has arrived to wage the End Times war against the satanic infantry. Theirs is spiritual warfare with the algorithm in mind, exorcisms that come with online subscription plans and TikTok and Facebook schematics, whose videos carry click-worthy titles like: “She Was TORMENTED By DEMONIC WITCHCRAFT SPIRITS!,” “Can Demons READ OUR THOUGHTS?,” and “DEMONS leaving people on a ZOOM call. Check it out!” These media ministers livestream and cross-post, they produce movies, write how-to books, go on national tours. When this team of ghost-busting, devil-thrashing creators comes together for events, which they do a few times a year, they even have a supergroup brand name: the Demon Slayers. Last year, Locke released Come Out in Jesus Name, his first feature-length film devoted to this subject, and is now at work on a sequel. Backstage in Tennessee, one exorcist says to another, “We need to saturate the market.” America the haunted, God shed His limelight on thee.
If this leads to a new era of industrial-dance club hits featuring televangelist samples, then frankly I'm all for it.![]()
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Happened across this thread yesterday
An interesting phenomenon that I was unaware of, and comments in the thread suggest there's a 'statistically significant' revival of christian belief among Gen Z.
According to this Reuters report, young men in particular are turning to Catholicism.
"... almost 500 years after King Henry VIII's split with Rome to create the Church of England, Catholicism is now more popular than Anglicanism in the 18-34 age group of churchgoers, with 41% identifying as Catholic, up from 22% in 2018, and compared with the 20% who say they are Anglican, down from 30%."