The Ecclesiastical Resistance Strikes Back

[Abbot Mythos]

I've never taken any interest in Satanism, and never taken it seriously, as it's always struck me as being an unimaginative religion. But, I do have to give credit where credit is due. These guys are a force in the Resistance. 

"Satanists in Florida offer to fill school counselor roles after DeSantis law"

As per this article:

"Florida Satanists are volunteering to fill school counselor roles after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law allowing religious chaplains into public schools amid staffing shortages.

"Nothing in the text of the bill serves to exclude us, and no credible interpretation of the First Amendment could. Should a school district now choose to have chaplains, they should expect Satanists to participate as well," Lucien Greaves, cofounder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, said in a statement to The Hill on Monday.

Back when DeSantis signed the bill in April, he described Satanism as "not a religion" and said its members would not be allowed to participate in the program.
  
But Greaves said the governor "openly lied to the public" regarding the situation.

"Either entirely ignorant of the most basic fundamentals of constitutional law, or too incompetent to care, DeSantis fails to recognize that it is not the place of the government to confer unique rights to one religious identity while denying them to another," he said."

Here's the link to this article:      The Satanic Resistance Strikes Back

[Menger, Avatar of New Chaos]

Do you think us Eristocrats can volunteer as well?   

[Abbot Mythos]

Do you think us Eristocrats can volunteer as well?   

Malaclypse the Younger, K.S.C., proclaimed, "We Discordians must all stick apart."

So, we as individuals can certainly volunteer. But, being the decentralized religion that we are, and the condition we are in, I don't expect to see any 'boots on the ground,' as would be the case with organized resistance cells.     

Hail Eris!

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Do you think us Eristocrats can volunteer as well?   

Malaclypse the Younger, K.S.C., proclaimed, "We Discordians must all stick apart."

So, we as individuals can certainly volunteer. But, being the decentralized religion that we are, and the condition we are in, I don't expect to see any 'boots on the ground,' as would be the case with organized resistance cells.     

Hail Eris!

Fuck that, go and do it anyway. The FSM people pass the religious sniff test and they have half the history and documentation we do.

[Abbot Mythos]

Fuck that, go and do it anyway. The FSM people pass the religious sniff test and they have half the history and documentation we do.

Well ... as near as I can tell, the Church of the FMS was last successfully, politically active in Florida in 2013, as per the following link:    Florida Capitol's Holiday Display Now Includes A Spaghetti Monster

And, in spite of their inferior pedigree, they were also politically active in Alaska last year, as per the following link:    Church of the FSM - CATEGORY ARCHIVES: EVANGELISM

So, do you know of any Discordian cabals in Florida who are politically active in the Resistance, and might appreciate some support? Personally, I'm unaware of any Discordian cabals at all in my own state.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I do not, and I am too far away to be much use, but I would hate for a Florida or Florida-adjacent n00b to see this thread and think "oh well I guess I shouldn't because..."

[Abbot Mythos]

I do not, and I am too far away to be much use, but I would hate for a Florida or Florida-adjacent n00b to see this thread and think "oh well I guess I shouldn't because..."

It is not my intent to be sarcastic, or mean-spirited. But, I believe that what we may want Discordianism to be, verse what Discordianism really is as practiced on this forum are two very different things.

Are we meaningful?

Are we having fun yet?

I think not, in answer to both rhetorical questions. So, I ask you, what do you think we need to do to make Discordianism meaningful and fun again, as I believe the founders of our irreverent religion intended it to be? You've been in this longer than I have, and I do value your opinions.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I have been Doing The Work, but I have not been doing it here or reporting it back because being employed full time is more of a time sink than I was really prepared for. Don't get me wrong, I love the job, it's just hours of the day I can't spend running around.

Near every page of Holy Nonsense has been posted around my town and many of the surrounding. I distributed a ridiculous number of pope cards at Boston Pride. I'm trying to get my shit together to do a children's unit on Discordianism at the local UU church. And it does bring me joy to see my seeds sprouting. Does it build community? Not in the sense that I'm getting people to join my cult, but it is making the neighborhood someplace that people expect art and self expression to be in. Unsterilizing the world is holy to me.

A better question might be how does this space become somewhere we can stick apart meaningfully. There were good old days where a lot more discussion and creation was taking place here. Enshitification hasn't hit us the same way that it hit places that Need To Appease The Shareholders, but I think we are all a little more stretched thin and have less time and energy to bring what we're doing back to the class. Or maybe we're getting old and new folks need to make spaces that we won't understand and can't participate in. I don't know. I do know I'm not dead yet and I'm gonna keep sticking things on lamp posts.

[Abbot Mythos]

A better question might be how does this space become somewhere we can stick apart meaningfully. There were good old days where a lot more discussion and creation was taking place here. Enshitification hasn't hit us the same way that it hit places that Need To Appease The Shareholders, but I think we are all a little more stretched thin and have less time and energy to bring what we're doing back to the class. Or maybe we're getting old and new folks need to make spaces that we won't understand and can't participate in. I don't know. I do know I'm not dead yet and I'm gonna keep sticking things on lamp posts.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply, and do keep Doing The Work.

Now, I have some serious thinking to do.

[Abbot Mythos]

The Satanic Temple is now at work in Ohio.

"The Satanic Temple to offer religious education program at Edgewood Elementary School in Ohio"

As per this article:

"An elementary school in Ohio will allow its students to participate in a religious education program offered by The Satanic Temple, a "non-theistic" organization that promotes secularism and is recognized as a tax-exempt church by the IRS.

The Hellions Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) program was created by The Satanic Temple in response to the growing number of similarly implemented Christian Release Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) programs, according to the organization's news release.

RTRI programs originated in 1952 and allow students to learn about religious beliefs for a short period in the middle of the school day. Edgewood Elementary School in Marysville, Ohio will be the first public school to implement the HAIL program, and it will contrast with the LifeWise program which removes students for 55 minutes each week to receive Bible-based character education."

Here's the link to this article:      The Latest in Public Elementary School Religious Education

I suspect the HAIL program does not provide the type of learning the LifeWise Academy people have in mind for elementary school students.

[Abbot Mythos]

The Artemisian Faerie Faith Tradition of Witchcraft is on the job in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Godless Libs Of Tulsa, OK, City Council To No Longer Force Jesus On People Just Trying To Attend Their Meetings

This invocation given by Amy Hardy-McAdams, a Third-Degree High Priestess, at a Tulsa City Council meeting managed to change some Christian minds:

"As a Priestess of the Goddess, I invoke the Gorgonaea, champions of equality and sacred rage. I call to Medusa, monstrous hero of the oppressed and abused. I open the Eye of Medusa, the stare that petrifies injustice.

I call upon the serpent that rises from this land to face the Stars, the movement of wisdom unbound.

May these leaders find within themselves the Embodied Divine, the sacred essence of the spark of the Universe and the breath of the Awen."

I would have loved to see the looks on the city council members' faces while they were forced to listen to that invocation.