Steve @rantingsteve@interfaith.masto.host
- pronouns
- he/him
Admin
Admin of this humble instance.
M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary NYC, Congregationalist Christian (United Church of Christ) and Nichiren Buddhist (Soka Gakkai). Queer, ex-Catholic, and heterodox af.
南無妙法蓮華経
Joined Jan 2020
Pinned post
When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all, saying, "Peace be with you! Bear my peace within yourselves! Beware that no one lead you astray saying 'Look over here!' Or 'Look over there!' For the Child of Humanity is within you! Follow it! Those who seek it will find it. Go then and proclaim the good news of the realm. Do not lay down any rules beyond what I determined for you, nor give a law like the lawgiver,. lest you be confined by it." When he had said this, he departed.
Pinned post
I'm Steve. I'm something of a spiritual nomad. I belong to an interdenominational church (UCC, Disciples, UMC, and PC). I'm also a member of the Soka Gakkai International. I've also been influenced by Paganism and Hinduism, so I'm all over the place. "Double-belonging" doesn't quite capture it for me.
I enjoy non-canonical scripture, as well as reading scripture from all sorts of different traditions.
I'm glad to be here.
Steve
boosted
🐾
Curiosity poll regarding social media approach.
Please boost because we're really curious about the experience-approach for as many users as possible.
We have excluded two options here and will explain why:
Twitter exclusively: probably not gonna see this poll if you don't use Fediverse at all
Spiderman: We assume everyone would add Spiderman to their options because of how polls work.
Steve
boosted
I'd mentioned this yesterday but wanted to do it as a poll. If you stopped using DuckDuckGo, which search engine and/or metasearch engine would you switch to?
Anyways, taking a Social Media Sabbath. Not sure for how long.
heavy-ish
I often think about κένωσις.
I'm starting to think that the real value of lamentation is not a venting or even a processing but an emotional underflow error that eventually brings us to "There is nothing more I can do. I give up and resign myself to the reality of the present moment."
Then, and only then, can we finally move on and find the joy in life again.
🌻 
Steve
boosted
No one can tell me the reason conservatives want to ban THC wasn't that it increases neuroplasticity to the extent it does. They're scared shitless of that - not only the few who tried it and saw their entire worldview, which is constructed upon fear, threatened by it, but also in terms of hegemony, because an unimaginative worker is a good worker. They got to see it in the 60s and 70s, that almost-breakthrough of human consciousness, which they only managed to avert by co-opting it and infusing it with hedonism. Don't be fooled, that was the breaking point, that was when the wave rolled back.
complicated, mother's day, death
Going to church on Mother's Day has been a difficult thing for me since my mother died.
It's also complicated by the fact that church has felt less and less like a spiritual home for me lately.
It's hard for me to find community where I actually feel like I belong.
Steve
boosted
re: misgendering
You may not approve of someone's marriage.
But you don't "accidentally" keep referring to them as single, for years after their ceremony, do you?
No, because that would be sociopathic.
You make a fuckin point to learn their new name and status, because that's what humans do for other humans.
You learn it, and you refuse to let yourself forget, because you don't want to be known publicly as a flaming asshole.
Same if they get divorced.
And if you don't give trans people the same respect you'd give some shotgun wedding, wow. Says a lot.
Steve
boosted
fediblock recommendation (violence/gore ment.)
A user by the name of wildgoose@honkwerx.tech decided to respond to my thread about content warnings with a video of a guy's head literally exploding, as if by a gunshot or something.
Those who are curious can check out their post history, I'm not going to link that. I'm just going to recommend blocking.
Happiness and Blessings this Beltane!
Steve
boosted
I'm Steve. I'm something of a spiritual nomad. I belong to an interdenominational church (UCC, Disciples, UMC, and PC). I'm also a member of the Soka Gakkai International. I've also been influenced by Paganism and Hinduism, so I'm all over the place. "Double-belonging" doesn't quite capture it for me.
I enjoy non-canonical scripture, as well as reading scripture from all sorts of different traditions.
I'm glad to be here.
Being back in Plymouth is doing me much good. I've been walking about 4 miles a day and feeling generally better about life. It also helps being with people who are amazingly supportive.
I've been reading (audiobook) Margot Adler's "Drawing Down the Moon." Another one of those I wish I had read sooner.
Happy Easter!
Was going to go to church today, but my church is doing a joint service with the seminary, online registration is required for in person or virtual. I registered for virtual and never got an email with the zoom link, the service starts in an hour and I don't have the spoons to try to figure out what's going on.
Might virtually attend the church I used to attend in NYC. Might just nap.
mh~/+
In spite of anxiety being particularly bad this morning, I've made it to church in person today.
Food (not-veg), Lent
Not an April Fool's joke: I've been abstaining from meat this Lent, including on Sundays. In the spirit of the holiday, I think I'm going to allow myself meat today, partly as a "joke" and partly as a reminder not to be too dogmatic about anything.
Steve
boosted
Food, obscure nerd cultural references
This day being Friday, April 1, which would be the more appropriate meal choice?
One of my fellow seminary alums posted to Facebook a picture of a placard that read "Ministers of Wordle and Sacrament"
