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Parents aren’t giving me a say in the Australian census.
This is just a rant over a mundane situation. I just have no other non believers to share the frustration with so I’m posting it here.
I’ve been an atheist for almost 9 years now, I’m now 21 and still live with my parents. My mum knows of my beliefs and skepticisms and she doesn’t really have a problem with it. She’s just worried about the nihilism surrounding a lack of faith, especially considering my struggles with depression and anxiety.
But anyway, since the census is today, I asked my mum if I could put my person down as “nonreligious” on the form. She didn’t like the sound of that because I believe she’s afraid of diverging from the norm, especially within our community. So she began to say the religion box is covered for the entire household, rather than individual residents within the household. Which is incorrect. She also began to avoid the topic altogether when I’d push on it further.
I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I often struggle with the idea of not contributing towards anything important or meaningful (stems from depression, social anxiety and the isolation that comes from those things). So the idea that I could ground a part of myself in society through this form, as part of a group of like minded people, it makes me feel like I’m not losing myself.
If I don’t get my own say, it’ll just reinforce the idea that I have no control over my life. It’s really frustrating when you’re the only person in your environment who thinks a certain way.
#religion
source
This is just a rant over a mundane situation. I just have no other non believers to share the frustration with so I’m posting it here.
I’ve been an atheist for almost 9 years now, I’m now 21 and still live with my parents. My mum knows of my beliefs and skepticisms and she doesn’t really have a problem with it. She’s just worried about the nihilism surrounding a lack of faith, especially considering my struggles with depression and anxiety.
But anyway, since the census is today, I asked my mum if I could put my person down as “nonreligious” on the form. She didn’t like the sound of that because I believe she’s afraid of diverging from the norm, especially within our community. So she began to say the religion box is covered for the entire household, rather than individual residents within the household. Which is incorrect. She also began to avoid the topic altogether when I’d push on it further.
I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I often struggle with the idea of not contributing towards anything important or meaningful (stems from depression, social anxiety and the isolation that comes from those things). So the idea that I could ground a part of myself in society through this form, as part of a group of like minded people, it makes me feel like I’m not losing myself.
If I don’t get my own say, it’ll just reinforce the idea that I have no control over my life. It’s really frustrating when you’re the only person in your environment who thinks a certain way.
#religion
source
0 reactions
Wrote a story about a schizophrenic man who reads Bereishis 3, Brachot 40a, and Mainländer's Philosophy of Redemption as the same book. Would appreciate eyes from people who know the sources.
I call it "the universe is the decaying corpse of a god who willed his own nonexistence"
Read it here https://biblicallyaccuratealiens.substack.com/p/jewish-schizophrenic-horror . Feedback very much appreciated!!
#religion
I call it "the universe is the decaying corpse of a god who willed his own nonexistence"
Read it here https://biblicallyaccuratealiens.substack.com/p/jewish-schizophrenic-horror . Feedback very much appreciated!!
#religion
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The Book of Genesis as a "Just So" Story
I wrote an article on Substack about the Book of Genesis and the only way it makes sense to me: as an absurdist Shaggy Dog story.
It has more in common with Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories like How the Elephant Got its Trunk than even the morality laden fables of Aesop. In fact I find no moral message in the story of Adam and Eve.
It is rather a story of why women have pain in childbirth, why farming is hard, and why snakes are venomous.
#religion
I wrote an article on Substack about the Book of Genesis and the only way it makes sense to me: as an absurdist Shaggy Dog story.
It has more in common with Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories like How the Elephant Got its Trunk than even the morality laden fables of Aesop. In fact I find no moral message in the story of Adam and Eve.
It is rather a story of why women have pain in childbirth, why farming is hard, and why snakes are venomous.
#religion
0 reactions
Non-Jews not taking Judaism seriously as a religion
Has anybody noticed that Judaism is not taken exactly seriously by non-Jews, whether they are religious or not? I am not talking about the people who actively hate us and see Jews and Judaism as a malign influence on the world but people who simply seem to see our religion as something of a joke. Non-Orthodox Judaism is nearly always Reform Judaism and treated as basically social justice with flavoring. Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism is treated as a bunch of strict rules and regulations that people follow but there is ultimately no meaning for. Judaism isn't seen as teaching deep noble universal truths or having a goal like salvation or Enlightenment but just customs that people do because reasons.
#religion
Has anybody noticed that Judaism is not taken exactly seriously by non-Jews, whether they are religious or not? I am not talking about the people who actively hate us and see Jews and Judaism as a malign influence on the world but people who simply seem to see our religion as something of a joke. Non-Orthodox Judaism is nearly always Reform Judaism and treated as basically social justice with flavoring. Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism is treated as a bunch of strict rules and regulations that people follow but there is ultimately no meaning for. Judaism isn't seen as teaching deep noble universal truths or having a goal like salvation or Enlightenment but just customs that people do because reasons.
#religion
0 reactions
Afghanistan x Israel: Antisemitism and Islamophobia in the midst of real Human Rights atrocities
Something I’ve noticed which could be helpful to the topic “Anti-Zionism IS NOT Antisemitism”:
With the oppression by the government in Afghanistan of women being forced to wear burkas amongst other human rights abuses (this is the least I’m seeing from primary-secondary sources and I have a lot more to learn about this), I’m seeing lots of Westerners use this as an opportunity to be very Islamaphobic. THIS IS NOT me saying that these human rights abuses by the Afghani government is MAKING people Islamophobic (it could be making some the such)— but what it’s absolutely doing is bringing out Islamaphobia by the closeted and outspoken alike.
I believe this is the same thing that’s happening with antisemitism and Israel. The whole world is witnessing this genocide and we’re seeing antisemites (mostly white supremacists and neo-german nazis) coming out of the woodwork and covering their antisemitism in a veil of support for Palestine.
I think this parallel could be a supporting perspective for BOTH ways in which real events are being hijacked by xenophobes of all kinds. Finally, their xenophobia should not be taken as an opportunity to discount the cause FOR the oppressed (Palestinians and Afghani women). Thanks for reading and let me know what y’all think I’m open to learn and discuss, in-sha’Allah!
#religion
Something I’ve noticed which could be helpful to the topic “Anti-Zionism IS NOT Antisemitism”:
With the oppression by the government in Afghanistan of women being forced to wear burkas amongst other human rights abuses (this is the least I’m seeing from primary-secondary sources and I have a lot more to learn about this), I’m seeing lots of Westerners use this as an opportunity to be very Islamaphobic. THIS IS NOT me saying that these human rights abuses by the Afghani government is MAKING people Islamophobic (it could be making some the such)— but what it’s absolutely doing is bringing out Islamaphobia by the closeted and outspoken alike.
I believe this is the same thing that’s happening with antisemitism and Israel. The whole world is witnessing this genocide and we’re seeing antisemites (mostly white supremacists and neo-german nazis) coming out of the woodwork and covering their antisemitism in a veil of support for Palestine.
I think this parallel could be a supporting perspective for BOTH ways in which real events are being hijacked by xenophobes of all kinds. Finally, their xenophobia should not be taken as an opportunity to discount the cause FOR the oppressed (Palestinians and Afghani women). Thanks for reading and let me know what y’all think I’m open to learn and discuss, in-sha’Allah!
#religion
0 reactions
Christian nationalist Rep. Andy Ogles just lost his primary after saying “Muslims don’t belong in American society”
One of Congress’ most outspoken Christian nationalism proponents has lost his bid for re-election months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation called on him to resign https://ffrf.org/uncategorized/ffrf-calls-on-rep-ogles-to-resign-over-christian-nationalist-attack-on-muslims/ for declaring that Muslims do not belong in American society.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., was defeated on Thursday https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79grd2prnro by former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, a more traditional conservative Republican backed by the state’s party establishment, in the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. The two-term incumbent lost despite receiving President Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” hours before polls closed.
Ogles’ defeat follows his congressional tenure marked by repeated efforts to portray the United States as a fundamentally Christian nation and to cast Americans of other faiths as outsiders. In one particularly striking social media post, Ogles shared a video https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2035916929903313028 depicting himself, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as medieval crusader knights emblazoned with crosses and marching in front of the U.S. Capitol.
“This is a battle of good vs evil,” Ogles wrote. “We must reaffirm that our nation was built on Christian principles.”
The imagery encapsulated the Christian nationalist ideology that FFRF has spent decades opposing: the false notion that the United States belongs especially to Christians and that the government should privilege Christianity over other religions and nonreligion.
“The United States is not a Christian nation — and members of Congress are not Christian crusaders,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our Constitution created a secular government belonging equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics and every other American. Rep. Ogles repeatedly used his position to promote precisely the kind of religious division our Constitution was designed to prevent.”
That rhetoric took an especially disturbing turn earlier this year.
FFRF called on Ogles to resign in March https://ffrf.org/uncategorized/ffrf-calls-on-rep-ogles-to-resign-over-christian-nationalist-attack-on-muslims/ after he publicly declared https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2031002097135599717 that “Muslims don’t belong in American society” and that “pluralism is a lie.” In a letter to Ogles https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FFRF-Letter_U.S.-Rep.-Andy-Ogles-TN-Anti-Muslim-Statements.pdf , FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line condemned the statements as “profoundly bigoted, fundamentally un-American, and incompatible with the oath” of a U.S. representative.
“Members of Congress take an oath not to a religion, ideology, or political movement, but to the Constitution of the United States,” Line wrote https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FFRF-Letter_U.S.-Rep.-Andy-Ogles-TN-Anti-Muslim-Statements.pdf . “If you cannot accept the basic constitutional principle that Americans of all religions — including Muslims — and no religion belong fully and equally in this nation, then you cannot faithfully discharge the duties of your office.”
Ogles’ comments at that time were not isolated. He additionally announced plans during his during his time in office for legislation barring immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries, proclaimed that “diversity is our weakness” and called for the deportation of Muslims, including U.S. citizens. He also joined the congressional “Sharia Free America Caucus,” which was launched in December 2025 and promoted alarmist claims about Islamic law in the United States. FFRF has pointed out the obvious constitutional flaw in this fearmongering: The First Amendment already prevents the government from imposing any religion’s laws on Americans.
The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause bars the government from imposing Islamic doctrine just as surely as it prevents the government from imposing Christian doctrine. At the same time, its Free Exercise Clause protects Muslims, Christians and members of other faiths from government discrimination because of their religious beliefs. And Article VI of the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits religious tests for public office.
Ogles’ defeat is an encouraging development in the broader fight against Christian nationalism. His rhetoric represented an especially stark version of an ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American citizenship and governmental power. The rejection of that rhetoric by voters in his own party is a welcome reminder that Christian nationalism is neither inevitable nor synonymous with American values.
“Christian nationalism may be loud, but it does not speak for America,” adds Gaylor. “Our nation’s promise is far better than the divisive vision promoted by politicians like Andy Ogles. America belongs equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics — and everyone else. Any setback for the effort to turn our secular republic into a Christian nation is a victory for the constitutional principles that protect us all.”
FFRF will continue challenging Christian nationalism wherever it appears in government and defending the foundational principle that public officials swear an oath to the Constitution, not to Christianity. Ogles’ upcoming departure from Congress marks a welcome victory in that ongoing fight.
#religion
One of Congress’ most outspoken Christian nationalism proponents has lost his bid for re-election months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation called on him to resign https://ffrf.org/uncategorized/ffrf-calls-on-rep-ogles-to-resign-over-christian-nationalist-attack-on-muslims/ for declaring that Muslims do not belong in American society.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., was defeated on Thursday https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79grd2prnro by former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, a more traditional conservative Republican backed by the state’s party establishment, in the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. The two-term incumbent lost despite receiving President Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” hours before polls closed.
Ogles’ defeat follows his congressional tenure marked by repeated efforts to portray the United States as a fundamentally Christian nation and to cast Americans of other faiths as outsiders. In one particularly striking social media post, Ogles shared a video https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2035916929903313028 depicting himself, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as medieval crusader knights emblazoned with crosses and marching in front of the U.S. Capitol.
“This is a battle of good vs evil,” Ogles wrote. “We must reaffirm that our nation was built on Christian principles.”
The imagery encapsulated the Christian nationalist ideology that FFRF has spent decades opposing: the false notion that the United States belongs especially to Christians and that the government should privilege Christianity over other religions and nonreligion.
“The United States is not a Christian nation — and members of Congress are not Christian crusaders,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Our Constitution created a secular government belonging equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics and every other American. Rep. Ogles repeatedly used his position to promote precisely the kind of religious division our Constitution was designed to prevent.”
That rhetoric took an especially disturbing turn earlier this year.
FFRF called on Ogles to resign in March https://ffrf.org/uncategorized/ffrf-calls-on-rep-ogles-to-resign-over-christian-nationalist-attack-on-muslims/ after he publicly declared https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2031002097135599717 that “Muslims don’t belong in American society” and that “pluralism is a lie.” In a letter to Ogles https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FFRF-Letter_U.S.-Rep.-Andy-Ogles-TN-Anti-Muslim-Statements.pdf , FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line condemned the statements as “profoundly bigoted, fundamentally un-American, and incompatible with the oath” of a U.S. representative.
“Members of Congress take an oath not to a religion, ideology, or political movement, but to the Constitution of the United States,” Line wrote https://ffrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FFRF-Letter_U.S.-Rep.-Andy-Ogles-TN-Anti-Muslim-Statements.pdf . “If you cannot accept the basic constitutional principle that Americans of all religions — including Muslims — and no religion belong fully and equally in this nation, then you cannot faithfully discharge the duties of your office.”
Ogles’ comments at that time were not isolated. He additionally announced plans during his during his time in office for legislation barring immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries, proclaimed that “diversity is our weakness” and called for the deportation of Muslims, including U.S. citizens. He also joined the congressional “Sharia Free America Caucus,” which was launched in December 2025 and promoted alarmist claims about Islamic law in the United States. FFRF has pointed out the obvious constitutional flaw in this fearmongering: The First Amendment already prevents the government from imposing any religion’s laws on Americans.
The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause bars the government from imposing Islamic doctrine just as surely as it prevents the government from imposing Christian doctrine. At the same time, its Free Exercise Clause protects Muslims, Christians and members of other faiths from government discrimination because of their religious beliefs. And Article VI of the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits religious tests for public office.
Ogles’ defeat is an encouraging development in the broader fight against Christian nationalism. His rhetoric represented an especially stark version of an ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with American citizenship and governmental power. The rejection of that rhetoric by voters in his own party is a welcome reminder that Christian nationalism is neither inevitable nor synonymous with American values.
“Christian nationalism may be loud, but it does not speak for America,” adds Gaylor. “Our nation’s promise is far better than the divisive vision promoted by politicians like Andy Ogles. America belongs equally to Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics — and everyone else. Any setback for the effort to turn our secular republic into a Christian nation is a victory for the constitutional principles that protect us all.”
FFRF will continue challenging Christian nationalism wherever it appears in government and defending the foundational principle that public officials swear an oath to the Constitution, not to Christianity. Ogles’ upcoming departure from Congress marks a welcome victory in that ongoing fight.
#religion
0 reactions
Learning about Islam
Hello everyone,
I’m not a Muslim but I have been super drawn to Islam for a while.
For some back story about 3 years ago I graduated from uni and purposefully wanted to study religion specifically Mormonism and Islam. Thankfully my school was offering a class on Islam which gave my parents an excuse for me to buy a Quran. To make a long story short I loved the course and when I find myself alone I recite/listen to Quran and pray to god by prostrating begging god to help me in my struggle with bought,sin and confusion with what to follow. I forgot to mention that I’m born and raised catholic. I took some time to study Mormonism but was taken aback when they said that there doctrine states that men can become gods in the after life and that god separate from Jesus is a man of flesh and bone on another planet. To me that goes against all the god has said in bible that he is spirit (unseen) all mighty. So I went back to what I knew which is the Catholic Church. When I pray I like to think of an invisible God abut when it comes to the statues I’m a bit wary of them. So now I’m here learning more about Islam. With a couple of questions
1. I would love some help understanding what to do in the Islamic faith if you commit a sin?
2. Books on Islam recommendations?
3. As a women (that I am) can I visit a mosque and do I have to notify the imam
4. How do I pray?
Thank you so much and I hope all of you have a blessed day.
#religion
source
Hello everyone,
I’m not a Muslim but I have been super drawn to Islam for a while.
For some back story about 3 years ago I graduated from uni and purposefully wanted to study religion specifically Mormonism and Islam. Thankfully my school was offering a class on Islam which gave my parents an excuse for me to buy a Quran. To make a long story short I loved the course and when I find myself alone I recite/listen to Quran and pray to god by prostrating begging god to help me in my struggle with bought,sin and confusion with what to follow. I forgot to mention that I’m born and raised catholic. I took some time to study Mormonism but was taken aback when they said that there doctrine states that men can become gods in the after life and that god separate from Jesus is a man of flesh and bone on another planet. To me that goes against all the god has said in bible that he is spirit (unseen) all mighty. So I went back to what I knew which is the Catholic Church. When I pray I like to think of an invisible God abut when it comes to the statues I’m a bit wary of them. So now I’m here learning more about Islam. With a couple of questions
1. I would love some help understanding what to do in the Islamic faith if you commit a sin?
2. Books on Islam recommendations?
3. As a women (that I am) can I visit a mosque and do I have to notify the imam
4. How do I pray?
Thank you so much and I hope all of you have a blessed day.
#religion
source
0 reactions
Please stop saying "There's no such thing as part-Jewish" to Jews from mixed backgrounds
If you have 4 Jewish grandparents, here's a thought experiment for you:
Imagine a male relative that you love very much, like a father or grandfather.
Now imagine that someone told you that you're not related to him at all. In fact, you have no meaningful connection to him, and how he lived his life, his roots and his family story are not yours, you have no claim to him. The only thing that matters is who your mom was, and who her mom was.
That's what you're saying to people when you tell them that they can't be half-Jewish or quarter-Jewish. You're telling them that who their parents and grandparents were doesn't matter, when of course it does! It can be equally invalidating regardless of whether you are telling someone they are 100% Jewish or 0% Jewish.
Some people have both Jewish and non-Jewish ancestry. Some of us are halakhically Jewish, and some of us are not, but Judaism is both an ethnicity and a tribe, so it actually is possible to be half/quarter Jewish by ancestry. Being halakhically Jewish (or not) does not magically disappear our family history, and talking about it as if it does lacks empathy towards the experience of being mixed.
Only the maternal line (or conversion) may be relevant according to halakha, but halakhic discourse is insufficient to fully capture the experience of many people with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers or people with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Many of us who *are* halakhically Jewish don't *feel* 100% Jewish. Many of us recognize ourselves as very different than people from completely Jewish families. These questions of identity and belonging cannot be resolved with simple halakhic answers. The Jewish community should grant space to the complexity of this experience.
#religion
If you have 4 Jewish grandparents, here's a thought experiment for you:
Imagine a male relative that you love very much, like a father or grandfather.
Now imagine that someone told you that you're not related to him at all. In fact, you have no meaningful connection to him, and how he lived his life, his roots and his family story are not yours, you have no claim to him. The only thing that matters is who your mom was, and who her mom was.
That's what you're saying to people when you tell them that they can't be half-Jewish or quarter-Jewish. You're telling them that who their parents and grandparents were doesn't matter, when of course it does! It can be equally invalidating regardless of whether you are telling someone they are 100% Jewish or 0% Jewish.
Some people have both Jewish and non-Jewish ancestry. Some of us are halakhically Jewish, and some of us are not, but Judaism is both an ethnicity and a tribe, so it actually is possible to be half/quarter Jewish by ancestry. Being halakhically Jewish (or not) does not magically disappear our family history, and talking about it as if it does lacks empathy towards the experience of being mixed.
Only the maternal line (or conversion) may be relevant according to halakha, but halakhic discourse is insufficient to fully capture the experience of many people with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers or people with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Many of us who *are* halakhically Jewish don't *feel* 100% Jewish. Many of us recognize ourselves as very different than people from completely Jewish families. These questions of identity and belonging cannot be resolved with simple halakhic answers. The Jewish community should grant space to the complexity of this experience.
#religion
0 reactions
A very religious coworker of mine broke her arm.
Over the next year there were complications, surgeries and lots of pain. One day after telling me how bad it was she goes “God must be teaching me patience.” Your “God” breaks your arm and has it fail to heal to teach you a lesson? What a horrible, abusive asshole!
#religion
Over the next year there were complications, surgeries and lots of pain. One day after telling me how bad it was she goes “God must be teaching me patience.” Your “God” breaks your arm and has it fail to heal to teach you a lesson? What a horrible, abusive asshole!
#religion