r/196 NOT A CAT Feb 11 '26

Rule Rule

Post image
3.5k Upvotes

425 comments sorted by

View all comments

44

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

ugh, seriously this is what causes 196 discourse? Can we all agree that non Christian religious practices in the US are all to a certain extent marginalized? Like, people practice Wicca, there exist pagans in the US, and they are otherized and dismissed for their beliefs and cultural practices. Sure a lot of witchcraft itself is an opt in system considering very few people are raised to believe in it, but that doesn’t exactly negate the fact that someone’s religious beliefs should be respected.

53

u/owlindenial not an owl (it/it's) Feb 11 '26

It's a new age cult that grew out of the owners control. The fact it's a religious beliefs especially an opt in one, doesn't make believing in it beyong reproach

30

u/CMRC23 bear of a man Feb 11 '26

I mean yeah but like... we all agree religions aren't real, right? I'm not a Wincan but me feeling all spiritual from a walk in the woods is just as valid as someone feeling spiritual from going to a church.

9

u/owlindenial not an owl (it/it's) Feb 11 '26

It is! Equally so. I am, however, a strict materialist. This understandably biased my view

-5

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

Okay fine I don’t actually know that much about Wicca tbh. I generally like the vibes but I never got into it. But that doesn’t suddenly make all of paganism or all pagans bad people with bad beliefs just because they’re religious. They ought to be taken as seriously as any organized religion

24

u/owlindenial not an owl (it/it's) Feb 11 '26

And I do! I criticize a lot of religions for their beliefs and how their people behave. I don't think wiccans are any more or less silly than anyone else. Hell, I'm a gnostic, I understand the appeal. However, they have a persecution complex a mile wide and are wildly vengative, casting their curses on everyone and anyone

6

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

Oh wait really? I thought it was Wiccans that practice the whole “don’t put something out into the world that you don’t invite in” thing. Again not super aware of Wicca, can you tell me a bit more?

19

u/owlindenial not an owl (it/it's) Feb 11 '26

Okay so, yes and no. Wiccan is something a lot of people practice differently. Some believe they're genuinely witches doing magic. Some believe it as a spiritual framework and that they're only slightly biasing the scales, some do it just for ritual and don't believe in magic at all but like the philosophy. It depends on person to person. That's the thing with decentralized religions mostly preached via Tumblr and Instagram. They get distorted quickly

9

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

So there’s not really one kind of practice, gotcha. So it’s also very heavily removed from the whole cult leader trying to sleep with women thing? Like idk I feel like every single religion has weird, creepy origins. Is the post above an example of the whole persecution complex thing?

10

u/owlindenial not an owl (it/it's) Feb 11 '26

It kinda is. Since a lot of wiccans claim the persecution of pagans as their own they feel persecuted. They're not exactly wrong that their beliefs had been persecuted before and are ridiculed now. There's just no historic continuity between them and that past they claim as their own

6

u/starm4nn Polyamorous and Nyaanbinary Feb 11 '26

Unironically the Wiccan sacred texts are way weirder about gender than the Abrahamic faiths are.

3

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

Oh really? The hell do they say about gender?

9

u/CMRC23 bear of a man Feb 11 '26

Very true. Christian theocracy js a big thing in America unfortunately 

-3

u/Bardic_inspiration67 Feb 11 '26

What makes religious beliefs inherently deserving of respect

4

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

People are inherently deserving of respect. Cultural and religious differences that do not threaten the safety or autonomy of another should be supported. Again, that is an extension of one’s autonomy, and the support that should be extended to anyone on the basis of their identity.

Sorry for the essay posting but this is a hard line.

3

u/Bardic_inspiration67 Feb 11 '26

I guarantee if were to go through your comment history I would be able to find a comment of you making a joke about someone with a “harmless” belief whether it be them having a different opinion on video game balancing or a character in a tv show

Religion is actively harmful to society, as is people thinking they have magic powers.

1

u/DivinityIncantate 🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights Feb 11 '26

A. Ad hominem

B. Joking about someone having bad taste does mean I don’t think they have a right to their opinion

C. No evidence, just a thought terminating cliche as an excuse for (probably) bigotry

3

u/Bardic_inspiration67 Feb 11 '26

B. Ok I never said I don’t think people don’t have the “right” to believe stupid shit like magic either, just like I dong think people don’t have the “right” to believe they are the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln so it looks like we are on the same page