You're a bloody puppet! You're a wee little puppet man!

Spike ,'Smile Time'


Spike's Bitches 22: You've got Angel breath  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risque (and frisque), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


Fay - Feb 09, 2005 11:06:37 pm PST #314 of 10001
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.

And Beverly says what I was thinking. Except I'd been going to quote someone else, who'd said (I paraphrase, since I failed to cut'n'paste and am stoopid) that Christianity all gets tarred with the same brush of Mad Fundamentalist Extreme Right stuff, whereas most Christians are getting on with their lives and not being all extremist, yo.

The more I listen to your discussioon about religion in America, the more I realise that the US has a lot more in common with Egypt in terms of religion than it has with the UK. Which - blimey.

(And, yes, Mohamed was v. much all about women having equal rights with men, definitely having a soul, having responsibility for their own actions and choices and money and getting to initiate a divorce if they wanted to. Which Saudi Arabia? Not so big on, these days.)

All of which comes back to my faith/society divide wrt religion. afaic, attending church is a 'society' thing, not a faith thing. Yes, you can then use your time in the church to focus upon God, just as you can in your living room or on a mountain top. But equally, you can just take your presence in the church as you doing your bit, and passively take in the words of your pastor whilst thinking about what groceries you need to buy and wondering whether Mrs Smith over there is giving you disapproving glances because she thinks your top is too slutty. In a church/mosque/temple what you're being presented with is the appearance of engagement with faith, but it's down to the individual whether they're doing so actively or passively. Moreover you've got someone trying to mediate between you and God, and you've got groupthink and your need to be accepted by the rest of the crowd all going on, and I think that can actively get in the way of one's relationship with God and with one's personal engagement with faith and with one's conscience. I think faith is a profoundly personal thing, and organised religion an inherently social thing.

On a related note - it's not uncommon here to see men with dirty smudges on their foreheads. The first time I saw this, I asked the guy if he'd got a bruise. No, he said, he'd been praying. Now, afaic, if you had a dirty forehead for any other reason, you'd damned well wipe it clean. (And indeed cleaning oneself prior to prayer is something people are v. big on in Islam.) So afaic? Wearing a big old dirty smudge on one's forehead is egotism, nothing more. 'Look at me, I'm so devout my forehead's dirty, and I'm far too humble and high-minded to go cleaning away the dirt that got there through my abasement of self' type of thing. I have no patience with it. It's a signal to other people, not to God.


vw bug - Feb 09, 2005 11:15:26 pm PST #315 of 10001
Mostly lurking...

FAY!


Hil R. - Feb 10, 2005 2:53:43 am PST #316 of 10001
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

Moreover you've got someone trying to mediate between you and God

Mostly as an aside, this isn't the way most of the synagogue service works in traditional Judiaism. For most of the service (there are a few parts that are done differently), the person leading the service says the first two lines and last two lines of the prayer out loud, to sort of keep everyone vaguely on track, but mostly, each person prays on his or her own, just in the same room as a lot of other people doing the same thing. (This is something I don't like about some of the more modern congregations. They get a choir and a cantor to do more and more of the prayers, and it ends up with a kind of "be quiet and listen" vibe.)


Topic!Cindy - Feb 10, 2005 3:48:35 am PST #317 of 10001
What is even happening?

It isn't how it is in Christian denominations that don't have officials in the office of priest, either. Much of Protestantism is very big on the priesthood of all believers.


Cashmere - Feb 10, 2005 3:50:56 am PST #318 of 10001
Now tagless for your comfort.

Camilla and Charles are getting married.


Anne W. - Feb 10, 2005 3:51:42 am PST #319 of 10001
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.

the person leading the service says the first two lines and last two lines of the prayer out loud, to sort of keep everyone vaguely on track, but mostly, each person prays on his or her own, just in the same room as a lot of other people doing the same thing.

That sounds really, really cool. I think I'd like that.


Topic!Cindy - Feb 10, 2005 3:52:33 am PST #320 of 10001
What is even happening?

I Camilla, take thee, Charles Arthur George Whatever, to be my lawfully wedded tampon.


Cashmere - Feb 10, 2005 3:53:27 am PST #321 of 10001
Now tagless for your comfort.

Cindy, I had totally blocked that out of my mind.

Time to find the brain bleach.

I hope the man and his sanitary product will be very happy.


Topic!Cindy - Feb 10, 2005 3:58:16 am PST #322 of 10001
What is even happening?

He wanted to be the sanitary product. That's the thing. I don't really care about the adulterous period span of their relationship. But if someone makes you want to be a tampon, um...Well, actually, I don't care about them at all. And hey, maybe Camilla will have some luck keeping Harry out of Nazi garb.


erikaj - Feb 10, 2005 4:01:22 am PST #323 of 10001
I'm a fucking amazing catch!--Fiona Gallagher, Shameless(US)

Yuck. I love learning stuff, honestly, but there are still many things I'd rather Not Know.