this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (4 children)

As if its any worse than the alternatives

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You say that as if you HAVE to believe in magic.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's a lot more fun to believe in magic when you know it's not real than to actually believe in magic.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

True. But it’s still silly.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So? Ffs have some fun with life before a climate emergency or secret police get to you.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There’s lots of people out there who don’t think playing pretend with magic is enjoyable man. Some people think it’s silly shit. If you like that stuff you’ll just have to accept that part of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Look dude, there's people out there who believe in magic and you're just going to have to live with that. Don't get your panties in a twist when you see them online and give into the urge to tell them it's silly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lol I didn’t get my panties in a twist, you do you, but I’m not going to pretend I don’t think adults practicing witchcraft isn’t silly. And it’s obviously not an unpopular opinion. Y’all are being way too defensive about this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you were defending Christians believing Jesus is the Son of God people would probably be flipping their shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah I’d never do that. Also this is the internet, people are gonna flip their shit no matter what I say.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All were trying to tell you is don't go out of your way (which you did) to belittle somebody's faith. It's kinda cringe.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Religions are absolutely not above criticism, what a ridiculous thing to say. If your faith requires you to oppress people for things like, say, being born homosexual, then I’m absolutely going to belittle it. And if your faith says that you believe you can cast magic spells, then I’m going to think that’s fucking silly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The word faith applies in both contexts that I used it for so I don’t understand your point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

No it doesn't and I know you don't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

No shit?? 😒😑

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

FYI around the time you sent this I rubbed my eye, but forgot that I had cut jalapeños earlier...I do not like you

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Fear my arcane spells.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You don't have to believe it literally to justify participating, plenty of people who understand rationally that prayer won't instantly get them what they want still pray

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yeah well that shit silly too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Mindfulness is its own reward and prayer, even to a rock, can help. It’s about surrendering and accepting that there is something in the universe that you have no power over.

It’s not about believing the rock is alive or capable or changing things for you, but by simply reframing your desires as a universal one rather than an internal/personal one you can find yourself motivated in a different way and opportunities may present themselves differently.

I’m also talking about the traditional concept of prayer, not whatever the fuck the Christians are doing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

A lot of Christian’s see how they pray very similarly to what you just described my man.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

If you actually practice Christianity, and really the majority of popular religions, in the way they are intended, they all sort of circle back to a lot of these same concepts. It’s when you start attaching material specifics to these intentionally abstract concepts and governing others based on those specifics that things get messy. A true follower of their religion is often not vocal about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

And? There's more important shit to worry about than people being silly

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I’m not worried about it. I just think it’s silly just like people who think the earth is flat are silly. Ultimately I don’t care and I’m not going to tell anybody not to practice witchcraft.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's definitely worse than not believing in magic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Man im too old to give a fuck what people believe anymore.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

You aren't bothered by "vaccines cause autism" stuff?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

They're too old to give a fuck about what people who don't have power over others believe anymore.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

It doesn't seem like that was the case

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wtf gives you that impression

Believe what you want doesn't mean be a fuckin moron

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago

Man im too old to give a fuck what people believe anymore.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Is it though...? As stupid as the Abrahamic God is, at least you have a "God of the Gaps" thing going on where all God really has to be is someone with their own agency to grant you what you ask for and to determine where to place you in an untestable "afterlife". Of course there's an obvious cocktail of inherent contradictions when you choose "omniscient", "omnipotent", and "omnibenevolent" at the same time, but then you can appeal to the idea we wouldn't possibly understand the whims of such a god outside of time and space. Again, stupid as fuck, but you can weasel your way out of anything.

But witchcraft? Okay, you're transferring the agency to yourself, a human that exists here, and you're saying you can perform magic, but now you have no evidence you're capable of jack shit and you have no excuse to pawn it off onto. You'll never be able to do magic your entire life because it categorically isn't real, so is the excuse that witches are real but you personally really suck as one? Is the idea that you do what "God" does and take credit for anything that vaguely "works" by sheer coincidence and ignore everything else? Do you only cast "spells" that function as placebos like easing someone's pain or making them feel happy – similar to many prayers?

And of course with God you don't have any way to test where this magic is coming from; it was there before time and is all-powerful, and there's any number of ways with that setup to weasel your way out. But what's the scientifically measurable phenomenon behind witchcraft? There is none, and unlike God where there also is none, this should be easily testable if it exists since it allegedly interacts with the physical world.

So now you've gone from untestable woo like the afterlife and testable but weaselable woo like prayers to woo that you should absolutely be able to test empirically because you're in control of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

At least witches aren't angling for a theocracy.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure. Doesn't make them not stupid as hell; it just makes their beliefs less corrosive to society. I can imagine they'd be extremely toxic if they had widespread public support, but probably still not nearly as much as "I commune with an all-powerful sky daddy whose word is ultimate law that divides people between everlasting bliss and everlasting suffering and I can choose to believe whatever that word is" like Abrahamic religions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Sure. I think anything that encourages people to believe things that they want to instead of because they're true opens the way for them to apply that blind faith in other things that matter more, like politics. I do think organized religion is a bit worse because it also teaches subservience to undeserved authority.

Anyway, in the end, I'm waaay more worried about the one that is organized and has power than the people that aren't bothering anybody and my opinions will reflect that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure but I’m not really interested in playing whataboutism games when we are talking about two different types of make believe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Then don't try to paint one as somehow more respectable? Or better yet just don't respond to a comment if you don't want to follow a side conversation? What a weird reply

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I definitely think witchcraft is more respectable than Christianity, I wasn’t trying to paint it otherwise and I don’t see how you could take what I said as that. But whatever if you’re mad at me just cast a curse on me or whatever and I won’t hold it against you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry I thought you were the other person re painting prayer as more respectable. Still no idea what the point of your whataboutism bullshit was though. You also seem to think I believe in witchcraft, which I don't. I just don't give a shit about witchcraft because they aren't hurting anyone, and the least dangerous Christian is still lending momentum to the Christian nationalists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I never said I gave a shit about witchcraft beyond thinking it’s a silly thing to believe in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

This isn't even a conversation. You just say random tangentially related bullshit every post. What a waste of time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Prayers and spells are exactly the same behavior, a ritual for asking greater powers to intercede on your behalf. For people who genuinely believe in it there's always some "works in mysterious ways" shit to justify when the thing they asked for never happens so they can keep believing it anyway, and as long as they ask in a vague enough way and on a vague enough timeline something will eventually happen that fits the bill close enough for them to call it a success. For people who don't believe it literally but still participate it's basically just ritualized affirmation, a self pep talk to make them feel more confident or prepared or calm using religious/occult symbolism to psychologically reinforce the effect.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The only viable religion is worshiping the sun, since that actually exists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I have said the exact same thing