tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post9111165296324437353..comments2023-09-10T07:45:26.755-04:00Comments on The Neighbors Will Hear: No Other Gods Before MeTEDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07765245186357910074noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post-66916016262986818632008-05-07T15:24:00.000-04:002008-05-07T15:24:00.000-04:00TED, much good stuff and nice erotic garbage read,...TED, much good stuff and nice erotic garbage read, thanks. Lucky that we don't live in the age of "theocracy", when it was really just another time of bad government, period.<BR/><BR/>I have come to regard idolatry as a universal human condition that has brought forth countless pesky errors and sometimes sorry historic aftermaths (still counting too!). As blogged, idolatry begins as some detachment from divinity yet disguised initially as faith and religious worships (whether they be muscles, cocky rock outcrops, or fecund sources of non-gay interests...etc). Yet in idolatry, inevitably it remains about a deep-set rebellion and unwillingness to be at peace with the divine; it is really a secret misprojection in competiting with and overthrowing divinity (oh, the allusion the "morning star". Poor planet Venus). So that is, idolatry and faith differ in that the former is rooted in a guilt-riden separation from or the desire to castrate the Good, with the illusion of replacing them with itself. Marxism, seemingly aspired to liberate humanity from religious oppression, in fact became the intellectual basis that spawned several of the most murderous and inhumane idolatry in modern regimes world wide.<BR/><BR/>On an (un)related thought, what goes through the mind of a religious dom when standing over his kneeling sub, eagerly servicing and "worshiping" him? My theory is that when the "giving" and "receiving" occur to both parties at will, it is in effect a mock idolatry both enjoyable and trenscending for lust-beset men.JZYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08667529872516871958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post-86494212828120412022008-05-07T12:34:00.000-04:002008-05-07T12:34:00.000-04:00Oh, anon. I love your comment. I see at least tw...Oh, anon. I love your comment. I see at least two misconceptions however. First, apologizing for a rant is always misguided: nothing is more entertaining than a good rant. Second, when you refer to a word as a word (as in "the word 'religion'"), those quotation marks are 1) not scare quotes and 2) absolutely appropriate.<BR/><BR/>I don't think we disagree all that much (I could be wrong). I just think you have a problem with the word "religion." And I share your feelings, but I think you're equating "religion" with large, organized religion. I, for example, am a (not especially devout) Unitarian Universalist, and you would be hard pressed to convince any reasonable person that UUism is a "social control tool used to exert power over the masses," etc. On the other hand, if I tell a lot of Christians that I'm a UU, they'll tell me that it isn't a true religion, largely because we're very reluctant to tell anyone what to believe. I always take "that's not a religion" or "that's not a church" as a great compliment. But obviously I'm using the term "religion" more broadly than you are. But I think my use of the term is also appropriate.<BR/><BR/>I certainly don't think that gym-going Western gay men are going to organize a Crusade any time soon, and I think I was clear that I don't disapprove of gym goers, but some of them really do take their fervor to religious levels.<BR/><BR/>But if your point is that large, organized religion is evil, I agree with you. I'm sure Christianity was just swell when it was Christ and twelve other guys wandering around or maybe some larger (but still small) number of followers a century or two later. A small number of christians would like to get back to that, and I'm pretty sure that if they did, they wouldn't encourage the hurtful interplay of religion and government that we have now.TEDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07765245186357910074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post-67674474441606717422008-05-07T12:09:00.000-04:002008-05-07T12:09:00.000-04:00Sorry Ted... I really love your blog but the word ...Sorry Ted... I really love your blog but the word *religion* makes me want to rant like a madman (but see... no scare quotes, I know you hate them!)<BR/><BR/>Religion is a social control tool used to exert power over the masses, telling us how we should behave, spend our time/money, when and with whom we should have sex, etc. It's like a dictatorship really - a very small numbers of obscenely wealthy men (and only men) dictate how the masses should live. And I hope no one starts the subject of Eastern religions being closer to the people - just thinking of the caste system in India (with the religious caste coming on top) makes me want to puke. <BR/><BR/>I was walking through http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/-English-<BR/>the other day with my parents like tourists do (I must have a masochistic streak, really) and there was a service going on, with the priest saying something along "the dead will rise from their graves" (now that's a scary quote...) - come on, what reasonable adult can listen to such drivel? It's like believing in Santa Claus really. <BR/><BR/>So equating religion with harmless rituals (e.g. going to the gym, or thinking a little prayer will make our lives better) is doing real religions a big favor, by putting the word religion in a good light. All religions are evil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post-63700633320490561432008-05-06T23:55:00.000-04:002008-05-06T23:55:00.000-04:00I take your point, Tork, but I don't think there's...I take your point, Tork, but I don't think there's anything new about the notion that communion is homoerotic. (Which, I think, is a lot better than the alternative: that communion is cannibalistic.) Some people would say that I see sex in everything (true), but I don't think I'm alone. Surely, I'm not the only one who smiles and suppresses a chuckle when he hears the line from "Mysterious Ways":<BR/>To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal<BR/>If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel<BR/>On your knees, boy<BR/><BR/>I think that part of the reason so many guys want to be on their knees when they give a blowjob may be that the posture is so similar to a posture of religious submission. I would like to say that my preference not to have the fellator in that position is because I don't want to play at being god, but, truthfully, I just find it a lot more comfortable to lay down for that half hour.TEDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07765245186357910074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2080750207800492571.post-73678455375304436762008-05-06T23:33:00.000-04:002008-05-06T23:33:00.000-04:00The thought that came to my mind when you talked a...The thought that came to my mind when you talked about the faceless God that we can never see is that it's like horror movies. The scariest movies are always the ones like Alien where you never get a good look at the monster, so you imagine it being more fearful than it is (or in God's case--more powerful). Bars are like churches too...and like gyms in the way that they satisfy a need we all have to socialize. So does that mean that gay.com and the other chat rooms are like churches too? Does put a whole new light on the "this is my body; take this my body and eat it" idea. Swallowing as an act of communion?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com