How about children tortured with visions of burning forever in a lake of fire just for not worshipping and believing in their parents' imaginary friend?
Or even just a bad thought... You spend your entire life constantly repenting and still afraid you missed something by accident that will damn you. And if you are lucky enough to realize all of this is crazy and abusive, you will still spend the rest of your life in therapy trying to reconcile the god that you hate with the God you no longer believe in lol
I was just thinking that as well. Christianity in all its glory is based on suffering and fear, and drilling that poison into young, vulnerable psyches is child abuse.
The indoctrination failed. I kept asking questions they had no answers for. The best they could come up with was “It’s a mystery.” Sorry. Not nearly enough.
Even as a young boy of 8 years, like you, I knew what bullshit smelled like. I often wondered, “Does the stuff the priest says in Latin make more sense than this crap about burning eternally for eating meat on Friday?”
You too? I tried organized religion, out of intellectual curiosity when I was about the same age, not Catholic, but same result. I always found the Catholic churches scary.
Projection is one of the main tools of rethuglican statecraft. Besides, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan is the god of this world... seems like maybe they shouldn't honk him off.
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." NIV
🤔 So it is not the unbelievers' fault that they/we don't believe in jebus, it is gawd's fault. And yet we are going to be punished for eternity for what gawd did unto us. What a sadistic shit.
Good point. I'd have no worries if one of my niblings were attending After School Satan (although TST could have come up with a name that has a better acronym), but these fundie Bible-idolising Creepstians have an extensive record of CSA+coverup.
Saying the quiet part out loud. He puts forth the idea that for the government to protect children, it 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 promote Christianity before anything else. Has he read the Constitution?
Why is Mr Steen so afraid of children drawing things, or playing dress-up? Why does he want to deny religious expression, claiming it is not? Because it is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 religion. It is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 symbolism. It is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 control.
I got a news bulletin for Mr. Steen: the US Constitution is "god NOWHERE." It is SECULAR, without any bias or privilege to ANY religion, in order to treat all beliefs and the absence of belief EQUALLY.
It's a safe bet that he either doesn't know that or doesn't wish to recognize it.
Because the xtian fascists in charge have made it so. The Satanists have proven this point multiple times over the years. We do not have a secular government and there is not one iota of effort being put forth to change that.
Don’t like something in the U.S. Constitution and the Corrupt Supreme 6 have made you an infallible King? Ignore that shit!
I've heard of "Iowa stubborn," mostly courtesy of Professor Harold Hill and The Music Man. Sadly, we have other qualities coming out of the Hawkeye State: arbitrariness and stupidity. After previously being allowed to participate in activities at the State Capital, The Satanic Temple has been effectively shut out of any further such action. Apparently, the governor and others of the current state administration have a mad-on about Baphomet, or they simply have (speciously) deduced that it is somehow harmful to children. Five will get you 50 that NONE of those objecting to TST's displays have any accurate knowledge of what the organization is about or its attitudes, particularly regarding kids. All they can think is: "Satan ... BAD!!!" and (in)appropriately freak out.
For people who are supposed to be adults, they act a lot like children.
[shrug] Yahweh won't do anything. You know it and I know it. Then, too, something that doesn't exist has a pretty difficult time taking any kind of action! 😉
The assholes believe it And fear the evil sombitch. They must deny others their rights to protect their own asses. Their gods are totalitarian dictators. That is why they are authoritarian aassholes. They must obey or burn.
Are you aware that Iowa, home to the richest black dirt known to agriculture, imports 90% of their food? It’s incredible that our so called Department of Agriculture has managed to fuck that state up beyond recognition.
“Corn for Cars” should be printed on their state flag.
Has no one ridiculed them for being so terrified of ... a poetry reading? 🤣
Seriously, "Paradise Lost" has got long boring bits so it isn't all that riveting, but these pathetic wimps are acting like a selection from English Lit 101 will terminally scar their uncultured asses.
The kids working the drive thru at McDonalds are getting younger and younger. I'd swear that some of them are junior high age. They really don't need that stress.
“the bill’s backers maintained that it would provide greater job opportunities”
Woo hoo! We got’s us a lifetime job opportunity toiling in the fields for shitty pay. The hits just keep on coming from the Republicons. They shall rule forever with these benefits for our children.
You know that and I know that. Sadly, the Iowa governor and her administration cannot bring themselves to actually READ those Seven Tenets, because it would reveal the lies they have promoted about TST.
I'll say it again: they're acting like children or worse: spoiled BRATS.
The 7 Key Founders were wise when they made sure not to give religion...especially Christianity...a place at the table of governance. They saw what happened in the colonies a century earler (not to mention what transpired in the Old World) and wanted no part of any system where religion (and again, especially Christianity) reigned.
Yet, despite the good intentions of our forefathers, the fucking billionaires have managed to sidestep every democratic protection in our Constitution to wage financial war on everyone but themselves.
I'm sorry, but given the bent of history, that guy's zealous words about protecting children make me very uncomfortable about any situation in which he can interact with children, especially if he has access to one on one interaction. I think someone really should have a peek at his Internet history.
No need to apologize. Betting a number of us had the same thought. The louder xtians are about "protecting children," the more someone needs to keep an eye on them. Seems not a day goes by that we are seeing yet another link to a religious fanatic who had their hands in the cookie jar.
Why are there ANY religious displays in the state capitol? Based on their relative body counts in the Old Testament, I never understood how Satan got labeled the bad guy. The OT God is the most horrible character in all of fiction. Evangelicals do not believe in anyone's freedom of religion other than their own.
Original comment: Probably. I'm not sure what BH's comment was referring to regarding literacy levels but I'll give BH the benefit of the doubt. It's been a crazy day. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. I just saw BH's comment about being French. Now, I understand.
No. I don't think that I would do well as a comic. Most of my humor is "Dad" jokes. Here's an example. "My family wants me to give up puns on Thanksgiving but I just can't go cold turkey". See?
God is the asshole with smitings, genocides, mass murders, mass abortions, mass rapes. plagues pestilence and famine. God's kid brought eternal life with eternal punishment to top the old man and the spook None of them are any good.
Harmful to minors? The GOP would rather see children die of starvation through the crippling of SNAP.
Gods, how I hate these hypocritical monsters.
How about children tortured with visions of burning forever in a lake of fire just for not worshipping and believing in their parents' imaginary friend?
And remember....when God sends them there, it's because he loves them....
When you died the Old Testament, that was it. It was Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild that sent men, women and children into a neverending fiery torment.
Jesus? Keep him.
Or for missing church on Sunday and not confessing before you die in a hideous accident.
You. Will. Burn. 🔥
Oh holy shit. I've missed church on Sundays app 62*52 Sundays. And I'm still alive and fine.
Or even just a bad thought... You spend your entire life constantly repenting and still afraid you missed something by accident that will damn you. And if you are lucky enough to realize all of this is crazy and abusive, you will still spend the rest of your life in therapy trying to reconcile the god that you hate with the God you no longer believe in lol
The vision of those shit-brown tasseled shoes with that poorly tailored suit is torture enough. Who the fuck dresses these self-righteous clowns?
I was just thinking that as well. Christianity in all its glory is based on suffering and fear, and drilling that poison into young, vulnerable psyches is child abuse.
So children witnessing brutal images of a man being hanged is perfectly fine? It all makes my blood boil.
Me too. And I was a Catholic (thankfully, I lost the belief at 8).
You mean you escaped with your wits intact and were not molested by a priest.
I believe that you and I are victorious vs the Catholic Church in that matter, NOGODZ20.
The indoctrination failed. I kept asking questions they had no answers for. The best they could come up with was “It’s a mystery.” Sorry. Not nearly enough.
Even as a young boy of 8 years, like you, I knew what bullshit smelled like. I often wondered, “Does the stuff the priest says in Latin make more sense than this crap about burning eternally for eating meat on Friday?”
Friday was fish and chips day! To this day... I still love fish and chips.
And why would anyone get punished for eternity even if you sinned every day for your entire life? That runs counter to any form of justice.
Non, mais ça fait chic.
You too? I tried organized religion, out of intellectual curiosity when I was about the same age, not Catholic, but same result. I always found the Catholic churches scary.
Welcome to the club. You are in good company.
I always thought that jew hanging on the cross was the most obscene thing I ever exposed to as a child.
and the gore from his pierced side!
Smart kid! If not for adults telling them otherwise, I’d bet a lot of kids would (correctly) consider the Bible a violent-yet-boring fairytale.
GOP would rather let the priests have the kids first.
"Hypochristians," I like to call them.
Bingo.
Brilliant
They want to force women who can't afford the kid, to birth them and relinquish them to the most abusive among them, for exploitation.
Every time xtians pull crap like this, they simply expose the weakness of their faith. It's an own goal.
Yeah, they are pretty terrified, aren't they?
imgur.com/gallery/k5Fcucw
Rethuglikkkans love to accuse others of "cancel culture" while simultaneously engaging in that cancel culture.
They don't deal well with competition.
And critical thought, and voting rights and bodily autonomy and...
Projection is one of the main tools of rethuglican statecraft. Besides, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan is the god of this world... seems like maybe they shouldn't honk him off.
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." NIV
🤔 So it is not the unbelievers' fault that they/we don't believe in jebus, it is gawd's fault. And yet we are going to be punished for eternity for what gawd did unto us. What a sadistic shit.
Religion depends on creating an in group and a despised out group.
So does a lot of our politics. It's a tried and true tactic.
Goebbels. “Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty of.”
Harmful to minors: the GQP christer cult which rapes children, not the Satanic Temple.
Good point. I'd have no worries if one of my niblings were attending After School Satan (although TST could have come up with a name that has a better acronym), but these fundie Bible-idolising Creepstians have an extensive record of CSA+coverup.
𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦, 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒 “ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛.” 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒? “𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡.”
Saying the quiet part out loud. He puts forth the idea that for the government to protect children, it 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 promote Christianity before anything else. Has he read the Constitution?
Why is Mr Steen so afraid of children drawing things, or playing dress-up? Why does he want to deny religious expression, claiming it is not? Because it is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 religion. It is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 symbolism. It is not 𝘩𝘪𝘴 control.
I got a news bulletin for Mr. Steen: the US Constitution is "god NOWHERE." It is SECULAR, without any bias or privilege to ANY religion, in order to treat all beliefs and the absence of belief EQUALLY.
It's a safe bet that he either doesn't know that or doesn't wish to recognize it.
Because the xtian fascists in charge have made it so. The Satanists have proven this point multiple times over the years. We do not have a secular government and there is not one iota of effort being put forth to change that.
Don’t like something in the U.S. Constitution and the Corrupt Supreme 6 have made you an infallible King? Ignore that shit!
They tend to mumble though that part of obeying the Constitution in their oath of office.
Because hatred and persecution is good for living things. /s
I've heard of "Iowa stubborn," mostly courtesy of Professor Harold Hill and The Music Man. Sadly, we have other qualities coming out of the Hawkeye State: arbitrariness and stupidity. After previously being allowed to participate in activities at the State Capital, The Satanic Temple has been effectively shut out of any further such action. Apparently, the governor and others of the current state administration have a mad-on about Baphomet, or they simply have (speciously) deduced that it is somehow harmful to children. Five will get you 50 that NONE of those objecting to TST's displays have any accurate knowledge of what the organization is about or its attitudes, particularly regarding kids. All they can think is: "Satan ... BAD!!!" and (in)appropriately freak out.
For people who are supposed to be adults, they act a lot like children.
God will smite them heavily and burn them in hell for blasphemy if they permit this. FUCK YOU, good! My blasphemy for this hour.
[shrug] Yahweh won't do anything. You know it and I know it. Then, too, something that doesn't exist has a pretty difficult time taking any kind of action! 😉
The assholes believe it And fear the evil sombitch. They must deny others their rights to protect their own asses. Their gods are totalitarian dictators. That is why they are authoritarian aassholes. They must obey or burn.
Are you aware that Iowa, home to the richest black dirt known to agriculture, imports 90% of their food? It’s incredible that our so called Department of Agriculture has managed to fuck that state up beyond recognition.
“Corn for Cars” should be printed on their state flag.
Madness. 🤷♂️
This is the reason I escaped ioway and swore that I would never go back.
Satan is all they need to hear to freak the fuck out
Has no one ridiculed them for being so terrified of ... a poetry reading? 🤣
Seriously, "Paradise Lost" has got long boring bits so it isn't all that riveting, but these pathetic wimps are acting like a selection from English Lit 101 will terminally scar their uncultured asses.
gop, thy name is hypocrisy
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/26/politics/iowa-child-labor-law-kim-reynolds
But if they don't protect the children from thinking for themselves, they won't be obedient worker drones.
The kids working the drive thru at McDonalds are getting younger and younger. I'd swear that some of them are junior high age. They really don't need that stress.
Imagine if their parents were paid real wages, maybe they'd have enough funds to keep their kids focused on school and kids things
No, Larry, you are getting older and older and older. ;)
Say our elder.
🖕 🤬
You're bragging about being a Time Lord. What do you expect ? A Schweppes ?
Lime Perrier, you pagan.
“the bill’s backers maintained that it would provide greater job opportunities”
Woo hoo! We got’s us a lifetime job opportunity toiling in the fields for shitty pay. The hits just keep on coming from the Republicons. They shall rule forever with these benefits for our children.
I would need to look it up, but I am 99% sure Louisiana recently passed a very similar law regarding child labor.
I had forgotten about that. Isn't she nice.
"The same agreement included another section that prohibited any Capitol displays that might be seen as “obscene.”"
"gratuitous violence or gore are not permitted at the Capitol Complex"
So no crucifixes then. Right?
Seriously! If anything, a certain religion which glorifies torture is the one that is inappropriate for children (or indeed, anybody else).
the Seven Tenents of The Satanic Temple are more aligned with the teachings of Christ than the majority of today's Christians are🍸
You know that and I know that. Sadly, the Iowa governor and her administration cannot bring themselves to actually READ those Seven Tenets, because it would reveal the lies they have promoted about TST.
I'll say it again: they're acting like children or worse: spoiled BRATS.
They fear their god of "unconditional love" will burn them for eternity if theydo.
You are too kind, Troublesh00ter. They are lying, heartless, greedy muthafuckin’ cretins with no redeeming features.
Aaaah, you know me. I DO tend to understate, and I'm not even British! 😁
I’m here for you, bruh.
The 7 Key Founders were wise when they made sure not to give religion...especially Christianity...a place at the table of governance. They saw what happened in the colonies a century earler (not to mention what transpired in the Old World) and wanted no part of any system where religion (and again, especially Christianity) reigned.
Yet, despite the good intentions of our forefathers, the fucking billionaires have managed to sidestep every democratic protection in our Constitution to wage financial war on everyone but themselves.
Xtian groomers strike again. Betting no drag queens or LGBTQs were involved in this attempt to silence TST.
I'm sorry, but given the bent of history, that guy's zealous words about protecting children make me very uncomfortable about any situation in which he can interact with children, especially if he has access to one on one interaction. I think someone really should have a peek at his Internet history.
No need to apologize. Betting a number of us had the same thought. The louder xtians are about "protecting children," the more someone needs to keep an eye on them. Seems not a day goes by that we are seeing yet another link to a religious fanatic who had their hands in the cookie jar.
Accusations tend to be confessions with guys like Steen. It may not be universally true, but those "coincidences" happen more often than I like.
Iowa is pissing on the Constitution! Send mops!
Time for the big guns. FFRF, ACLU, Americans United, etc. need to join TST on this one.
We're going to need a bigger slop bucket.
Iowa is an embarrassment in so many ways; but using children as a cudgel against freedom of thought is perhaps its worst look. Pathetic.
Good college basketball teams and decent football teams.
Do not make up for their deep desire to return to the thinking of the 14th century.
Why are there ANY religious displays in the state capitol? Based on their relative body counts in the Old Testament, I never understood how Satan got labeled the bad guy. The OT God is the most horrible character in all of fiction. Evangelicals do not believe in anyone's freedom of religion other than their own.
Satan is the original rebel against tyranny. What could be more American?
Hypocrisy is better spelled C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n-i-t-y.
I think you meant to spell it H-u-m-a-n N-a-t-u-r-e. However, there is a lot of hypocrisy among believers.
You really should do something about your literacy levels. One would think English is not your first language.
There are many days like that with me. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
Have you forgotten BH&DMm is French?
Zorgichou, to be able to forgot something, one needs two things. A functional brain and being able to use it.
Original comment: Probably. I'm not sure what BH's comment was referring to regarding literacy levels but I'll give BH the benefit of the doubt. It's been a crazy day. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. I just saw BH's comment about being French. Now, I understand.
Thank you for the laugh. Have you give a though of doing stand-up ? You should really let your natural talent to ridicule yourself shine.
PS : I am French. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving. How an academic couldn't know that ?
No. I don't think that I would do well as a comic. Most of my humor is "Dad" jokes. Here's an example. "My family wants me to give up puns on Thanksgiving but I just can't go cold turkey". See?
You totally missed the point, but in a way it's the point. And I mean obviously qu't'as pas la lumière à tous les étages.
I thought you were an American. Thanks for enlightening me.
I speak regularly in French slang but I am American, mais bien sur. Please continue, it's always fun to se you ridicule yourself.
God is the asshole with smitings, genocides, mass murders, mass abortions, mass rapes. plagues pestilence and famine. God's kid brought eternal life with eternal punishment to top the old man and the spook None of them are any good.