sleeperkid
27438
682
27
Feb 21, 2026 4:45 PM
sleeperkid
27438
682
27
DeepThought42
Religion is the worst thing that happened to spirituality
Religion is control not spirituality
zombiejedediah
Wearing a mark on their foreheads does seem like some biblical shit. Near the very end of most versions.
PuppyBella
Yep, one day a coworker tried to wipe that off my forehead! He was a really kind person who knew nothing about Catholicism.
Joecoin2
Yeah, in the 60's while I was in the catholic gulag, we were forced to church during school. So I would skip out, go to the restroom, smoke a cigarette and use the ashes from the cigarette on my forehead.
CrumpetsWithHoneyAreCrumpetsWithBeeVomit
Mark Wahlberg blinded a man.
mygodhasabiggerdick
I like to say "You got some black shit on your forehead" to these people. Then have them try to explain it like its not some cult bullshit
hellospacemonkey
Matthew 6:5 "when you pray, do not be like the HYPOCRITES, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you"
HedonismBot3000
Irish Catholics are some of the the most racist people I know.
JesusofMethlehem
UnoriginalPieceOfRepeatingShit
x-ianity is a disease
ThailandExpress
FiftyShadesOfCauliflower
Ah, the annual culling of the vampires
MadamPuddifoot
The hilarious irony is that one of the Bible teachings is not to show your faith, not to pray in public for applause, to do it in your own home... Then one of their biggest holy days is directly in opposition to that. I figured that it when I was like 6.my very catholic family didn't like that too much, and that's another reason why I don't talk to them anymore!
TeamKill18
I have never seen it that pronounced. Usually just a small little smudge not like you drew on yourself with paint
Sqeezytzatziki
It was always a tool to rule the masses. Education changed that. Now you know why they abolished the dept of education in the USA. Making us Great Again. 😂
RichardPotato
Oh look, a Marky Mark mark and a Marco mark
Columbus43219
It's not that bad. But the folks posting stuff like this need to read the part about showing off your phylacteries.
firni
I don’t remember seeing this shit on news channels until last year. Performative magat Christianity, i guess.
SunFart
WTF is it?
itshairtime1234360
Cult shit
wraith203
Atheists and religious believers are actually closer than they think.
There's about 10,000 religions in the world.
A believer thinks 9,999 of those religions are obviously ridiculous and wrong.
An atheist only believes 1 more is wrong on top of that.
TheLastSpaceman
Fun fact: it doesn't matter how tall you are, Marky Mark will be below your chin.
RetrogradeLlama
Cult.
LilSloppy
Do they really do the ashes like that now? I’ve never seen such social media-worthy ashes coming out of mass. Is the priest using a brow brush to put these on?
Sonicschilidogs
For Rubio maybe, but Marky Mark there is an authentic smudge job.
TupacAintDead
Fuck Wahlberg and his shitty fucking burgers. Fuck little Rubio cunt too.
meganical
I hated getting this done, such an inconvenient day of the week and it never looked like a cross because priests are in a hurry and don’t care so it’d just be a big smudge stuck on my forehead all day. People looked at me like I was nuts and I’d be like, “Yeah, Idk why we do this either once a year.”
sufferinsuccotash
Yep just a black smudge. And if you forgot it was there and scratched your forehead suddenly it was all over
Draygen
Christians will do anything they can to prove that they're Christian except follow the teachings of their Christ.
Rogerwilco1974
Get the fuck off Xhitter, @sleeperkid Your use of it is an endorsement of it and Musk, and isn't a good look for you
sleeperkid
Wait till you find out how your shoes and phone were made. #BlockMe
Rogerwilco1974
Also, I'm fairly confident my shoes weren't made by a democracy destroying racist 1%er pedi, but I might read up on their company policies.
Rogerwilco1974
Oh, so worse stuff gets done, so it's ok for you to do less shitty stuff? Ok, well that's how the world works. Good job being a part of it
sleeperkid
#BlockMe
Antininny
Go fuck yourself.
Rogerwilco1974
Yeah don't discuss like a rational adult. Not even your position is indefensible. Keep posting your funny Obama giving Obama a medal image and keep getting those imaginary internet points.
butteredlemonpoundcake
Potentially unpolpular opinion: all religions have pretty strong hallmarks of cults.
kerms
I would honestly say the cult like nature of the Abrahamic religions is pretty unique to them. They were inherently created to control people by co-opting the native spiritual mythos of the region and twisting them.
DownUpUpDown
Wow no one has ever thought that especially on Imgur.
sadurdaynight
Every religion starts as a group trying to do their own thing. Then it takes on cult aspects to lure more recruits. It creates an internal hierarchy and becomes akin to a multi level marketing scheme where those on top gain more power as those on bottom recruit more. The cult also creates its own internal rules and punishments. This attracts folks seeking power, esp sociopaths that can act pious, bc they can reward and punish to gain power over others
itshairtime1234360
Thats because they are cults
AndyTheAbsurd
Ambrose Bierce was right: the definition of cult is "small, unpopular religion" and the definition of religion is "large, popular cult".
zonedymo24
Even with the best of intentions it attracts people who are prone to hurd/cult mentality/behavior.
Sypurist
The only difference between a cult and a religion is that religions are approved by the government. That's it. That's why something can be a religion in one country and a cult in another.
FaeVikingPrincess
The difference between a cult and a religion is how well accepted it is in society.
CrimeThinker
I can't remember who said it but the idea goes something like this: "There's one person at the center of it who knows it's all bullshit. If that person is still alive, it's a cult. If they're dead, it's a religion." I think the context was about Scientology.
Euclid11010
The only difference between a cult and a religion is the marketing.
ilvxnk
Religion....mental illness spread by word of mouth.
RedTwoX
In my opinion, the only thing that separates a religion from a cult is membership. You get above a certain percentage of the population in your cult, and it ranks up to a religion. I'm not sure exactly when that happens... maybe 20%, maybe 50%?
theSoulciologist
There was a (now outdated) model that gave a < 100,000 membership model of cult, versus religions which would be considered religions once they breach 100,000 members. Then scientology broke 100k and formal bodies are reticent to recognize them as legitimate religions
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
And time. Did it start last week? Cult. 1,000 years ago? Religion.
IceWeaselX
It's smaller than that. Jews make up only about 0.2% of the global population. Judaism is considered a major religion. It's entrenched, though. At one point it had a much larger "market share" of believers. It never lost major religion status after it dropped in numbers.
76000BatteryLlamas
and tax evasion
RedTwoX
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought the religious tax exemption is just U.S. I think churches in Europe pay taxes. Doing a very quick search, it's not a simple yes/no, but religions are not always tax exempt.
theSoulciologist
Far from unpopular! "Cult" is understood as a spectrum, with some groups/behaviors exhibiting more or less of certain traits. One model for measuring cultiness is the BITE model. The BITE model considers how much control the group/leadership has control over Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion of individuals. Dr Steve Hassan pioneered it for the curious
TheGgreen100
Literally all religions are cults, definitionally. Some religions will try to confuse you by saying they are large and popular, their logic being that they're not cults because a lot of people have been duped into believing their specific brand of bullshit instead of only a few people. Kind of like how Creationists try to muddy the waters of Evolutionary theory by pointing at "macro vs micro evolution" as if those things are fundamentally different. They're not. All religions are cults.
mormacil
How is Taoism a cult?
5amNonsense
The strict definition of a cult isn't really agreed on but there's a pretty significant difference between how a typical cult operates and how something like the Catholic church does. Both do a lot of harm, but in different ways and through different methods. Conflating the two isn't actually going to help anyone
InspectorA5
Idunnoooo.. Satanism kinda puts forth a lot of effort to specifically avoid that stigma.
butteredlemonpoundcake
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they mainly market themselves as a belief system? And The Church of Satan is different than Satanism. A large spotlight being pointed on how the major religions in the US are tax exempt for no logical reason. I don't believe followers of The Church of Satan gaf about truely following some made up entity. They're make a point of the ridiculous nature of it all.
IceWeaselX
You're getting it backwards. Church of Satan is the Satanist religion. The Satanic Temple is the civil rights activist group.
bippityboppitybuttsex
Is that the violent white supremacist, Mark Wahlberg?
theSoulciologist
Just don't call him too short for rollercoasters
IlIIII
He best an Asian guy in the 80-90s and he resulting in a lost eye. He and his brothers were part of a “gang” often targeting minorities.
Buuuut It’s okay because he “apologized and reformed”. S/
He is. POS. I hate seeing his face.
Herefortheboos
Did he ever actually apologize? I thought he just "reformed"?
IlIIII
Half ass public apology iiirc
resolved
oh no whats he done...
MagnumRadhard
Guy almost blinded a dude while beating a dude during a mugging if my memory serves...
NedGentz
Yes he is uber Catholic
schrodingerscatfood
Don’t ever let people forget that
v
atoyot
Not that it excuses anything, but Wahlberg wasn't in college either, he was 14-16 when the hate crime events happened.
TheButcherOfBlaviken
Who is the guest?
schrodingerscatfood
Luke Macfarlane
MeowWoof
"Good Vibrations" was a crime against humanity
resolved
Lol that one i knew lolol
NR97420
It was awhile ago but it's pretty incredible that someone like that was allowed to become a star.
lildude52ca
what did he do?
IgnisInvictus
I'm not sure I want to know. What's with the celebrities I like going off the deep end?
Woogyface
it's just the ones without any screentime. crying for attention pretty much
WhatTheFrench
He’s always been racist. He was involved in hate crimes as a teenager in the 80s, before he was famous. Multiple attacks on black and Asian people, with racist epithets being screamed. He was raised off the deep end, sounds like.
Joecoin2
Perhaps look to your soul?
IgnisInvictus
Oh yes, my soul is contaminating previously decent celebrities. They might make a pill for that, I'll check with the doctor.
Joecoin2
Let me know what she says please.
sjester42
Don't like celebrities? They're people doing a job -typically acting or singing, that's it. If I find out (insert random society member i.e. garbage man or engineer) was secretly a closet racist and homophobe, that's not going to affect my opinion on his work, just how much I care about the man as a person.. which means zero change cuz I don't give a f*** who he is. Placing people on pedestals is an almost guaranteed recipe for hurt. Admiring people for their actions is absolutely encouraged.
bippityboppitybuttsex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Wahlberg?wprov=sfla1
Scroll to 'Legal Issues'
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
86, 88, 92, apologized and was forgiven. To call him that I'd need something more recent. We've all been idiots at 16, albeit not all racist idiots
samwyze
Ignore the username, folks, unless you want a good chuckle.
bippityboppitybuttsex
https://www.police1.com/legal/articles/ex-prosecutor-dont-pardon-mark-wahlberg-for-racist-attacks-r7nAm2M4D3bsV0NA/
Imademyselfsquirtle
Dumb you don't forgive a rapists for raping you ever. This has the same energy as well Trump raped kids back in the 80s hes hood now so he is forgiven and need something new. Don't be this type of person.
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
Why do you change the crime that was committed? Because it sounds worse and thereby helps you in making your point (if we ignore the dishonesty), right? Why do you say "you don't forgive" when the victim in this case, in fact, HAS forgiven? Why do you bring up Trump when this isn't about him?
That's all very dishonest of you. When you need to do that to make your point, your point isn't strong.
bippityboppitybuttsex
He was 21 in 1992...
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
Still not a smart age. Look, im not saying he isn't a terrible person, im just not saying he is based on things he did, and at least partially apologized for, more than 30 years ago
DarkZalgo
1992 was also 34 years ago. If 21 years is enough to deem someone an asshole, why isn't 34 enough to redeem them?
JamJarre
Who hasn't violently beaten someone because they're Asian? Why are we being so hard on him?
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
You wanna slay a dragon, but I'm not one. Don't convince yourself otherwise.
hyptosis
So no one can change or grow, got it.
Gerokeymaster
Don't try and argue morality with a troll whose literal username is "Darth Vader did nothing wrong", it's a waste of your time.
DamnedIfYouDo
Honestly, back in the early 90's anyone and everyone from Southie (south Boston) was beating up others just for fun. I've known a few, they're all pieces of shit.
NR97420
I think trying to kill a guy because he's Asian goes a wee bit beyond stupid things we did as teenagers...
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
Don't get the impression I'm defending that. But if we can't accept that someone could be a changed person 30, 40 years later, I think we're doing it wrong
hereforthememes420
When my mom finally decided to divorce my abusive dad, she asked our Catholic priest for advice. His advice? "Marriage is a holy matrimony, you must stay with your husband." That was the last day we went to church as a family. Every religion is a fraud. Every. Single. One. To this day, any time I'm in a church for a wedding or funeral, I still feel a suppressed rage in my heart that a priest told my mom to stay with an abusive alcoholic gambling addict who was tearing our family apart.
lostlittletimeonthis
There's a good though extensive book called A general history of God, that does a sort of timeline of most know deities as they were worshiped and their societies, in it you can see that aside some exceptions all religions were used for violence
MeeseOnABeam
since the dawn of civilization it's been used to control populations and communities
birdychow
Make your own religion, follow your own rules. Just for the love of God don't be a bad person.
IAlwaysUpvoteLowBudgetCreativeWork
"Every religion is a fraud" You can't fault all religions as a whole. The problem is the people who run them... Too often, it brings the worst of humanity.
dontrike
You kinda can though, only like two are decent, at best, and the rest are just huge grifts that push patriarchal rule and diminish any rights anyone that's not a white man or their religion.
choppedliveraldente
It's a false and toxic replacement for community
djevelen
My family was essentially kicked out of their church after i was born from the way my mom tells it. My parents werent married by the time i was born, and wouldnt get married for nearly 2 years following my birth, so it got messy, and eventually my whole family decided it wasnt worth the effort so with the exception of my Dads Mother, no one in my family has set foot in a church for any church service since like... 1983
Sticklebrickk
Tip your priest but not your waiter is a helluva thing
GeneralPrower
Went to my cousin's wedding a few years ago. Catholic wedding. During the ceremony, the priest sounds like he's mentally jacking himself off while talking about "all the beautiful children you'll have together". I'm just sitting there thinking "pump the goddamn brakes, padre"
Emjayen
That's unfortunately standard; it enables conservative men to get away with their characteristic wife-beating and child rape, by design.
ihavethelowground
Religion sole purpose is about control
Sdogofdoom
My grandfather died recently, and as we were looking through his belongings we found his correspondence with his priest. The day before he was served his divorce papers he was begging the priest to baptize my grandmother (who had refused a dozen times). Even until the last moments of his marriage he was trying to force her into his religion against her will, and for years before he died the only people who spoke to him were his fellow churchgoers.
AshesVonDust
My mom was very into the Anglican Church until her.. pastor? reverend? told her that her baby, who had just died of SIDS, was going to Hell because she hadn't been baptized yet. Yeah. She left church that day and 7 years later, I was born free of religion (hence why I don't know what the head religious guy is called)
GuysJustWannaFish
Went to a funeral for my father-in-law last year. Sat in the front row with wife and family. Priest starts ranting about how FIL was going to hell cause he's a sinner and all the rest of us are going to he'll as well as he stared right at the family. Dude was lucky he didn't end up in a casket himself
Myballzzich
This didn’t happen stop lying.
GuysJustWannaFish
Dude... yes it did. Midwest Christians are nuts. he was shouting at us that we would burn in hell at the dudes funeral.
Myballzzich
I’m sorry. I believe you. Again sorry
TheNonSequiturFairy
Organized religion, yes. Don’t dismiss faith in general. Some of the worst shit in human history was done in the name of religion, but it was from organized groups that used it as an excuse.
Mountons
Every single one.
docsage
I was raised Catholic and after a similar situation my mom was told she could bring me to church (and continue to donate money) but wasn't allowed to receive communion any more.
scarlettsletters920
You know he knew about it if your mother and father went to confession.. Like what a piece 9f shit
76000BatteryLlamas
That's literally what confession was for - so those in power knew what people were doing in private
Joecoin2
That and to allow you to be forgiven, so you could repeat.
4etherling
I thought I read that wrong but you got my +1. You're 100% correct. If you know the nature of a thing, you can leverage it. It was yesteryear's "mass" surveillance (pun intended). I'm sure in many ways that was the extrapolated idea that was used to control most of society historically too.
DarkZalgo
I mean not every single one, there are some, although very, very, very few in number, that are legitimately good. Mostly the completely nontheistic ones. Probably because, you know, there's no omnipotent being saying you have to worship them or suffer for eternity.
LurkingSarcasm
Ah yes the ol' "Some priests are good, you know, the ones that dont actually believe in the entire system they use and teach."
DarkZalgo
I didn't say that at all, my dude. Especially considering I specifically said nontheistic religions, which usually don't even have priests or anything analogous to one.
LurkingSarcasm
You didn't say nontheistic religions, you said nontheistic priests, which is completely different and why your point was not made. Thats on you. But my real point was that you were missing the point. It takes lack of religion for a priest to be a good one, and I wanted you to reflect on that. Good day, 'my dude.'
DarkZalgo
Where in my comment did I say anything about nontheistic priests? Be specific.
AshesVonDust
I think you might want to reread what was actually posted.
InitHello
My brother in Antichrist, you're the one who brought up priests, DarkZalgo was replying to a comment about *religions* and didn't bring priests into it. You did that.