This Anti-God-Vax Christian Book is SO MUCH

[@kaialexander6806]

Okay, so as someone with a psychology degree and has suffered brain damage, the concept of this book is _fascinating_ to me. In general, I adore looking at how different authors use psychology, neurology and pseudoscience for their books, but this one specifically is just so intriguing. I'm certainly not the type to just criticise the neurology in the book because that's bad faith criticism and it's also very boring. But what is interesting is to pick it apart because there's such fascinating implications from it. The first thing I could not stop thinking about was the development of Agathui itself. The book seems to imply it's domain specific; i.e. the area has an underlying function that is the same for every person. And _oh, that is so interesting_ because the most viable option (from a psychological perspective) is that it is _an evolutionary trait_ that will develop no matter what environment the individual lives in. That's generally the conclusion you come to if you believe something is domain specific because it explains why it is domain specific. And obviously that is very interesting because it implies Christianity and the Theory of Evolution occur alongside each other. At first, I wondered if the Agathui would develop the same way if you never encounter Christianity. It makes more sense to me if it was similar to the Diathesis-Stress Model wherein a environmental factor triggers the development, or perhaps if it was due to epigenetics. That's along the same lines, but it's specifically an environmental factor triggering a gene to "turn on" or "turn off". However, Brierly teaching Lukas' brother about Christianity implies that isn't the case. Hence, it would instead develop no matter what. You could interpret that as Christianity being such an important evolutionary trait, it develops no matter what, which again, fucking fascinating. Obviously, the most likely conclusion is that God put the Agathui there since it is a Christian book, but again, that opens a very interesting door. And that door relates to when the Agathui developed, as you touched on in the video. It appears that it's never specified. I assume this book is operating on a Christian timeline of Earth, _but_ I can't not bring up brain development over history. My first thought was: is the Agathui part of the neocortex or the allocortex? The allocortex relates to the primitive brain; this is the part of the brain our earliest ancestors had and they tend to have functions related to emotional response, memory formation, hormonal responses, fight or flight instinct, etc. Meanwhile, the neocortex is the newer part of the brain as the name implies; it makes up most of the brain and is made up of our frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. Structurally speaking, it makes more sense for it to be in the allocortex I would say, but function-wise, I'm not sure. As religion is an abstract concept, I would probably assume it would be in the neocortex. (This part is more bad-faith, joking criticism, but I just feel the need to specify when the neocortex developed versus Christian timeline. It may be surprising, but fossil evidence suggests that neocortices were first seen at least 200 million years ago which is before the dinosaurs were wiped out. However, they were very small. Our ancestors' brains began getting larger around 2.5 million years ago, and is likely due to a mutation related to the "bite muscle", but that's irrelevant to the discussion. The modern brain first came into existence in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Jesus was born about 2027 years ago; he died about 1993 years ago. And the original sin would have occurred around 6000 years ago.) Following the presumption that God put the Agathui there and that they symbolise the original sin, I would assume they've been there since then, but it's impossible to know. I'm not super familiar with Christianity, but I assume God created humans with both the allocortex and neocortex in place, but I would really love it if he only gave the allocortex and the neocortex developed later. Also, the gender roles thing is so intriguing from a psychological perspective. I will specify that as a trans person, I hate a lot of how gender is discussed in psychology and a lot of the implications I'm going to discuss, but I also find them very interesting. The further-world-building implies that the Agathui does not determine gender roles since they exist both in the ARC and the wider world. The world in the book also seems to presume that gender is not separate from sex which like ew, but goes have some interesting implications. The SAP seeming to be more effective for men has a few implications: either, women biologically have more devotion to God, perhaps due to evolution; the gender roles still in place in society is learnt behaviour and part of that is learnt devotion to God; or the learnt behaviour causes women to have more devotion to God; God made women stronger than men in terms of devotion; or we can combine Freudian theory (i.e. bullshit) with Christianity for some wild ideas. There's so much to dig into there and I think I could write a 12,000 word essay on it. Also the Freudian theory I'd combine is just expanding the Elektra Complex so it relates to the Virgin Mary and God rather than your mom and dad sdfgsddsfs Another thing is just the fact that the Agathui can be disabled, for lack of a better world, but only for the short-term. It seems to similar to how anaesthesia works, oddly enough; it blocks sensory receptors for a brief time, unless you have a mutated gene that makes local anaesthetic not work on you which from personal experience, not fun. Anyway, the fact that it seems to be that the Agathui can only be affected for a short time makes me wonder if you can damage it. When I was eight, I suffered a traumatic brain injury and you can still see the effects on a brain scan, but I made an almost recovery. That was partly due to different parts of my brain taking over the functions of the damaged areas, even for a brief time. And that makes me wonder, if you damaged your Agathui, could another brain area take over? Also, if you damage only one Agathus, how does that affect you? I assume that God would just heal you if you were a devoted enough Christian, but it's an interesting thought nevertheless. I might be wrong, but I think you mentioned that the brain scan used was some newly developed one we don't have today. However, I am also intrigued as to what technology it would be based on because our existing methods are all very different to each other. I'd assume it would either build on fMRI or MEG scans, so it would be using magnetic fields in some way since both methods use it and both are built around neuronal activity. Funnily enough, I think I know how the government wasted all those millions of dollars studying it and that would simply be using fMRI scans. I don't have an exact figure and the anecdotal figure is a few years out of date, but about four years ago, my academic advisor told us that it costs ~£16,000 to turn an fMRI scan on (not run a scan, just turn it on) which in dollars today would be around $22.4k. There's a reason fMRI studies tend to have very small sample sizes. Say they funded a fMRI study with 45 participants, it could easily run you up to a million dollars. Also with this knowledge, please rewatch Venom because that perspective completely changes a scene towards the end lmao

[@johannageisel5390]

I mean, if we assume that the Agathi developed in their brain when Adam and Eve ate the apple, then it makes sense that all their offspring (i.e. the entirety of humanity) have inherited this trait. If you assume there never was a paradise, then the Agathi would have developed at some point in Neanderthals, because that's the first people we know had ritualistic behaviour. So, what was the evolutionary advantage of Agathi to make them stick around? My father once hypothesized that religion is a good tool for social control and that societies with a religion were more stable than those that didn't have it. I mean, that's possible to a certain extent. Particularly when you didn't yet have several thousand years of philosophical tradition that built upon itself (before writing, ideas got lost more easily). In reality, of course, there are no Agathi, but maybe we do have something in how our brains are wired that makes humans susceptible to a belief in a higher power. There must be a reason why so many people worldwide still stick to those ideas even though we have much better ones nowadays. I now want to know if there are proto-religious ideas in other animals too! Do wolves believe in some higher power that's tormenting them with thunderstorms?

[@kaialexander6806]

@@johannageisel5390 afaik we don't have any specific brain areas devoted solely due to believing in a higher power. Personally, I think it's a combination of different brain functions and environmental triggers. People raised in strict religious households are more likely to continue holding those beliefs than someone only ever introduced to them when they are an adult with a fully developed brain and ability to think critically and reason. Also, I definitely think stuff like insane weather patterns (e.g. how tornadoes form) and natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis are a big part of why our primitive ancestors believed in a higher power. A higher power is a logical explanation for it if you have nothing else to go on. I'm typing this on my phone, but now I wish I was on my laptop so I could better look up studies to see if there's any research based around the effect of religion on brain development, or just looking at brain activity and religion. I wouldn't be confident in it as a hypothesis, but I wouldn't be surprised if those raised in a strict religious environment had less activity in the pre-frontal cortex as a whole.

[@johannageisel5390]

@@kaialexander6806 Yes, what I meant by "how our brains are wired" was that there could a combination of different brain functions. Or an emergent characteristic of how our brains work overall.

[@KatKit52]

I would literally read a book that discusses science-fiction tropes like this in terms of real live psychology.

[@illiterate.ink.]

Ok, is that all? Whens book 2 coming out

[@kel8437]

"I wanted to see baby fights on TV, I wanted to see America's third, nonbinary, poly president, I wanted national respect Satan's pronouns day" PLS I SCREAMED

[@shadsie5484]

"Rowdy Roddy's Playpen Madness! Followed at nine by Catherine the Great's Equestrian Care Show!" (Maybe some of us think merely dancing with a dog is boring...)

[@InsomniacFlaaffy]

This title of the video is...certainly a group of words that gave me 50 points of psychic damage

[@Crowcaller]

I can't exaggerate. I have to tell the truth. and the truth is. well, it's this.

[@stephentaylor356]

We all took 5d12 psychic damage from this...I got a level of exhaustion to boot.

[@Jechti307]

Don't fail the save. 😭

[@spacedoyster7686]

It got me to click on the video. I was not disappointed. Mission accomplished!

[@whitequartz5289]

Yeah. I clicked to see if that title could possibly make any sense in any context. It looked AI generated when I first saw it, but it has to mean something

[@nicholasrodinos4701]

Anna Kittrell: In my Sci-Fi Dystopia, queer people have rights, abortion is legal, therapy animals are ok and most importantly Christians aren't allowed to harrass and abuse people. Normal People: And those are bad things how?

[@merrittanimation7721]

Also balloons. Which is just a bonus.

[@summerchild_]

The mental image of the devil's secretary buying Microsoft to make PowerPoint to torture Christians is hilarious

[@merrittanimation7721]

She definitely isn't paid enough to make anything more complicated

[@Weirdanimalboy]

Definitely made it the night before the deadline

[@Ceruleansquid-lo3iv]

I read a Good Omens fanfic once where there was a “welcome to hell” PowerPoint filled with all the worst clipare and comic sans you could ever hope for, so I think that hell would have aweful PowerPoints, all created by graphic designers because this is their hell.

[@alice485-3]

"I'm not here to debate politics; I really only want to talk about killing god" Excellent quote tbh

[@thehermit8618]

That is the most Final Fantasy quote i have ever read

[@MrPooleish]

The widowed Mrs. Dr. God-killer only protesting the Torture Prison when her daughter was in line but not for the rest of Christendom makes total sense if you assume she's an American conservative. Plenty of "This is the law, but not for me" with that group. Also, Daughter God-Killer's name is Briar, another crown of thorns reference. So subtle.

[@Crowcaller]

I didn't mention it, but should have- yeah... Briar.... Thorns.... She also is briar rose, like the book specifically brings up the comparison to sleeping beauty

[@Crowcaller]

God killer's daughter is a sick name

[@anica2112]

God killer reminds me of the sword name from Wonder Woman 😂

[@TheProblem2025]

I love that with enough repetition Christian God sounds like it’s his full name Like: “Oh no please, call me Chris, Mr God is my father”

[@SallySueSaywhatagain]

I mean, you're not entirely wrong...

[@cur1ouscatf1sh]

Someone: Christian Grey Me, an intellectual: Christian God (50 Shades of God! Coming soon to a bookseller near you!)

[@merrittanimation7721]

@@cur1ouscatf1sh 14 Signs of the Cross but it's BDSM (I'm going to hell for writing that)

[@caidalee1994]

There’s a Trinity joke in there somewhere, I just know it

[@gennybaratta2460]

I mean I could actually see Jesus being like that

[@CanIswearinmyhandle]

I sincerecly cannot fathom how some american christians seem to think the government isnt on their side when from the outside the US is basically a theocracy

[@josephpotter5766]

Their entire identity is based on a victimhood complex. They literally cannot conceive of not being the plucky underdog.

[@mmellifluouss]

From the inside, it looks like that too 💀

[@justin2308]

It’s because the factor in play is the Book of Revelation, particularly the Mark of the Beast which became especially prominent during lockdown. The problem is the government (and the world in general) isn’t supposed to be on the right side. It’s supposed to, right near the end, become Babylon the Great- immorality mixed with truth, on the surface looking amazing but deep down is tarnished. The world as a whole is supposed to be contrary to the Higher Power YHWH- to the point that, upon killing the Two Witnesses, the people in the city (implied to be Jerusalem) celebrate. I will say this, though: If the Christian Church is worried, then many of the messianic Torah-observant movements are double-to-triple worried- and have even more reason to, if what you said is true. I mean, just look at 1 Maccabees and you can get a really good idea. For instance, if the US were to end up enforcing some kind of Sunday law, people who rest on the Sabbath (which takes place on Saturday) could be affected and might start to have a hard time.

[@joriankell1983]

Theocracy? There's degeneracy and apostasy everywhere, what are you talking about?

[@CanIswearinmyhandle]

@@joriankell1983 Theocracy is when the government is religious. I see american politicans all the time using the bible as support for the changes they want introduced. Here in Sweden, even the christian democracy party never mention the bible, because we're not a theocracy.

[@meganj.124]

TBH the concept of the agathi, if it wasn't Christian-only, would be super dope and scary for a sci-fi horror setting. The revelation that humans have always had a physical cluster in their brains which connects them to a real, transcendent "god" would explain why every human culture has some kind of divine belief... and the idea that if that part of the brain is destroyed, the connection to god is severed, is super fucking scary to me. The idea of some arcane being poking into our monkey brains and implanting shadows of itself, inspiring worship... Would be an awesome concept to work with in the hands of a good writer lol

[@EL-jq1sq]

To me it sounds like destroying it in a sci-fi story could be a good thing, because we don't know if this "god" is what it says it is or has truly good intentions. Like imagine, without the veneer of centuries of belief, the bare essentials of what this god could be. An ancient creature with a tie directly to your brain. It knows what you're thinking at all times, and who knows what powers it can hold over you. Do they allow you free will? Can we truly believe them when it says we do? Is its idea of free will truly free will? Cultures and religions say that this god is good, but what if our ancestors were wrong? What if this creature planted that idea in the first place? People who believe you are at all times correct and morally good make for much more pliant followers, no? I dunno, for me the real meat of a sci-fi horror is the concept of a creature that has convinced billions that it is this god, and that until we had the science to even detect its fingerprint we were always at its mercy. Very lovecraftian. Then again, I was raised without religion, and I'm way too aware of the trope of the mind control implant/worm, so the idea of being cut off from a higher power probably just doesn't hit me the same way.

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

That would actually be a fantastic concept to work with. Not a religious person, but on the other side the pro-agathi people could say that it's a part of us like ears, and would you cut off your ears just because someone tells you things that are wrong? We evolved the agathi for a reason. And it can be scary to cut out your agathi and be truly alone. This is the reason a lot of christians stay christian, the concept of being alone and not having something to rely on is scary. Really an awesome concept in the right hands.

[@johannageisel5390]

@@HotDogTimeMachine385 The Borg who were separated from the collective were pretty unhappy...

[@liliththesolarexalted2206]

I 100% agree. This is a very cool concept wasted in a lame book. The closest I've ever seen anyone get to these kinds of concepts are infohazards or Basilisk Hacks, like in the movie Pontypool, or the Exsurgent Virus from Eclipse Phase, where some people are made homicidally insane (or worse), while others develope psychic abilities and an immunity to other harmful strains of the virus. Yet they are also left feeling as if someone/something else is looking out from behind their eyes. They also end up with odd alien cravings or phantom limb syndrome for alien limbs they never had.

[@remysebald8893]

I like the idea of agathi being a modification to humanity, but even MORE I like the idea of a BODILY psychic connection to god being entirely original to humanity. Like, god is just a natural part of the body. That would really shake up the notion of the corporeal body being subordinate to the divine spirit. if God LITERALLY coded a corporeal piece of divinity to grow in every body, then every Christian saying the body is something to be fought against with the spirit and finally freed from at death is wrong!! God dammit why didn't James Cameron's avatar do the god connection better...

[@romulusnuma116]

I love how you speak about God in this video like he's a little sneaky goblin trying to get into your god hole so he can whisper directly to you and resting before leaving unnoticed

[@Crowcaller]

That is exactly how I feel god is portrayed in this book though!!!!! He's trying to get in there and SAP is just like, filling your godzone with wax he has to mind through first

[@romulusnuma116]

@@Crowcaller I imagine SAP as like a filter covering the entrance to the godzone he tries to get in after a long day of god stuff but can't force his way past and has to dejectedly go away

[@reesesbeanses]

He whisper in my god hole till I pray

[@dani.5087]

It's me, boy, I'm the shriveled corpse of god, speaking to you inside your brain

[@TobiasFangorIsntCis]

Lol

[@stevieatthemovies8186]

It's so strange how the author recognized reasons people are leaving the church and then just didn't say anything else about it. She's like: Christians are harassing people and acting as hate groups... But God is good no need to address Christian hate

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

The godless dystopia: "emotional support dogs are legal in hospitals" and "Oh no balloons" Uh... the person who wrote this has never left their house I swear.

[@TheNumnutRandomness]

If they really wanted to ramp up this "godless liberal, hell-scape" the least the author could've done was imply that the dogs were allowed in places even if it was detrimental to treatment or the patient's health. But then it went on to maintain that dogs were allowed as long as they stayed out of sterile areas and maintained their vaccinations which seemed... perfectly reasonable? Odd choices all around.

[@jack-wulf]

Obviously not, they're probably on house arrest for being too Christian!

[@KittenJune96]

Well, baloonofobia is no joke.

[@Ceruleansquid-lo3iv]

Dog is the opposite of God, obviously. Satan... is a dog. probably a chihuahua.

[@Weirdanimalboy]

@@KittenJune96Just let the balloons get fucking married

[@mariar.4893]

"I'm not here to debate politics, I really only want to talk about killing God" most powerful quote I've ever heard in my life

[@thehermit8618]

Literal FF character quote

[@nunyabiznes7446]

"He runs a charity that takes children into hot air balloons in a Christian way" incredibly sus statement

[@byrrnitdown]

This is a deeply quoteable video. “You can probably have a little bleach… as a tr- no, not as a treat”

[@haniakupczak2068]

bleach is mostly water..... and we're mostly water......... therefore. we are bleach

[@gwammeh]

Are we going to talk about the protagonist who doesn’t want her crown-of-thorns in her brain removed is named Briar? Man, I need to be less strict to myself for thinking my characters’ names are too on the nose

[@ByzantineDarkwraith]

Can we talk about how the place where all the surviving Christians (the last of their kind) were gathered together and eventually released back into a world that was once again safe for them was called the ARC? (Just like the place where all the animals were gathered together and temporarily became the last of their kind until being released back into a world that was now once again safe for them was called the ark in the story of Noah’s Ark)

[@sa.moss4410]

I cannot BELIEVE you never ONCE referred to the "God-spot" as the G-spot. After all that talk of god "penetrating the brain" i thought for SURE, ANY minute now, there's gonna be a g-spot joke but no, i have been disappointed. Ive got blasphemy blue balls now. Unbelievable. Anyway i love your videos and you always seem to upload when im having the worst fucking day, and then i see your new video and get so excited!!! Thanks for all you do!

[@Thenoobestgirl]

😂😂😂 Missed opportunity if I ever saw one!

[@Spooklycryptid]

BLASPHEMY BLUE BALLS SHUT UP 😭

[@EliasKayama245]

Oh yeah

[@kai_maceration]

g-spot? is that where all the gamers hang out?

[@sa.moss4410]

@@kai_maceration you know it! The gamers and the geeks!

[@Astrotorical]

New name for crow fans, Balloon Festival Attenders ALSO DISCLAIMER DO NOT EAT OR DRINK BLEACH I CANNOT MAKE THIS MORE OBVIOUS (Im looking at you Anna Kitrell)

[@tuesdaywithanh]

well maybe we can have a little bleach, as a treat /j

[@johannageisel5390]

I please want to go to a balloon festival and see the new technological developments! When will we have our eco-friendly balloon transport system?

[@lizabee484]

Balloon Fest Attendees lmao I love it XD

[@DMurphysLore]

I got to the bit about 'motherhood hormonally triggers belief in god' before I had to pause and take a few moments to stop screaming, and I think that is very impressive of me.

[@RedSpade37]

Proud of you haha

[@ButterflyScarlet]

You are so brave and i respect u

[@elle8786]

See this is why I'm an atheist, I don't want kids and have no motherly urges Of course, neither did my grandmother, and she was devout Jokes aside, I feel like a comparison between religion and abusive relationships can be drawn from the 'more women are connected to God' situation. Like 'Religion is the abusive partner and while they do target men, women are targeted more'

[@fletcherthenerd]

as an ex Mormon who still gets the kneejerk instinct to pray or sing hymns in my head, could I please get a god blocker? that sounds amazing 😂

[@alannar6189]

Bestie if you get it pls share

[@Siathuan]

Don't know if it'll help, but the Gregorians do covers - in the traditional Gregorian style - of pop songs. The VIth and the XIIIth albums in particular cover darker songs; Ave Satani from the movie The Omen, In The Shadows by The Rasmus, Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein's Engel, Bring Me To Life and My Immortal by Evanescence, and so on. I've caught myself humming Ave Satani in particular once or twice, but then I'm a sucker for Latin...

[@mse90]

Treating Christianity as some intrinsical, immutable part of some people, and then extrapolating how they would be treated in a society that wants to eradicate those unwanted elements... God, they are so close yet so far from getting it. 😔

[@micacole5115]

That "he wished he wasn't responsible for killing the god she loved" is absolutely such a Gideon the Ninth line and now I wish there was a version of The Locked Tomb series with 100% more hot balloons in it.

[@commandrogyne]

I love this so much please never edit the typo hot balloons is incredible and very locked tomb to me

[@daedalus6796]

Reading this comment while literally having received the second book minutes earlier feels surreal to me

[@cartoondogler2688]

"is it dog marriage? is it... dog love?" took me out. its seared into my mind. the inflection, the pause. its beautiful.

[@AVspectre]

That image stood out as well. I’m assuming that they were meant to be slow dancing… so often marriage equality was argued against (“slippery slope style”) with “What’s next - marrying dogs?” However - I did delight in imagining all of these supposedly ‘lurid’ and ‘sinful’ images being interspersed with faint strains of ‘The Chicken Dance’ while a woman competes in a dog dancing competition. Dog dancing is a real thing. Right now. Never seen it? It’s worth a Google. Enjoy your serotonin. 😊

[@hektorsehmsdorf1336]

@@AVspectre omg thank you I did enjoy my serotonin very much

[@lunaticproductions0]

20:55 of course she has blue hair and the dying body of god in her brain

[@Crowcaller]

OF COURSE 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@fourcatsandagarden]

"blue hair pronouns" may be a newer thing, but conservatives have been screeching about blue and pink dyed hair specifically for a long, long time. When I was in college (in Indiana) someone said something about blue hair to me in an attempt to belittle something I was saying, even though my hair wasn't dyed any color at the time. This was probably 2013/2014. People like that tend to find one thing they think is funny or a good come back and hold onto it for decades (see the "attack helicopter" gender becoming "my pronouns are patriot" for another example).

[@josephpotter5766]

I adore this, it's so funny, considering that blue and pink hair was super popular in the 30's to 50's.

[@guardianofcreativity4860]

@@josephpotter5766 I was just about to say the same thing!

[@AmbassadorKat]

Oh man I totally forgot about “I identify as an attack helicopter”

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

My brain is so broken by the attack helicopters jokes I can't comprehend those words in a normal context. I watch a piece on the war in Ukraine, someone mentions attack helicopters being shot down, my brain immediately goes "were they trans?". Damn, the they/them army is at it again

[@GooberPipebomb]

Can't forget the absolutely genius joke "my pronouns are nor/mal"

[@eldrichnemo9312]

As someone in a state with a personhood ~thisclose~ to being revoked this book existing makes me mad as hell. Not only because the kind of person who writes and reads this unironically most likely wants to unperson me, but because the premise itself is excellent in a setting where God is proven to be horrible and selfish and people CHOOSE to kill God - as a metaphor for the ways religion can be used to abuse people - in their own minds and living better lives without an all-powerful entity (like you know, the corruption of major organized churches) hanging over their heads.

[@johannageisel5390]

I'm really sorry you have to go through this horrible shit. I really hope you can find allies and fight through this. * hugs *

[@CyFiWasTaken]

I legit want to learn more about the godless heathen sci-fi hot air balloons

[@Crowcaller]

My flatmate positions the "new advances in hot air balloon technology" must be steering, as the janitor balloon man somehow pilots a balloon to a specific air strip and typically they just. You know, flat on the wind? So maybe it has engines. Still not related to bio medical science

[@wendyheatherwood]

​@Crow Caller I was thinking it could be a cleaner, safer or more efficient burner, but again that's an unrelated field, so... *shrug*

[@tuesdaywithanh]

the idea of godless heathen air balloons reminds me of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, where they have living, bioengineered hydrogen balloons, made with a bunch of different animal dna. it's not really the same, but they are balloons a biologist could reasonably work on :)

[@Arosukir6]

I said so in another comment but...I'm like 90% sure the author meant blimps/dirigibles rather than hot air balloons. The tech advancement was probably a way to keep them from exploding so easily. Since this is an alternate near-future, you've gotta have dirigibles! She just didn't know their proper name or how they're actually powered. I get the feeling the author is very sheltered about the world and literature as a whole. Would also explain why they keep saying "cyberspace" instead of "the internet" or "the web."

[@skylarjohnson7779]

The idea of God being able to get in your mind and make you a Christian if you don't stay up to date on your jabs sounds like a horror story plot and i'm kind of intrigued.

[@matthewprouhet9598]

I think the person who wrote this (book) needs to read the bible some more. They did have one idea you mention is right in some sense God being able to get into your mind. Thing is: God basically hears your thoughts all the time. The God of the Bible is very different than what most people think about him. One thing for sure is that you can't outplay God because he sees the future and it frightens and leaves me in awe at times. (Pardon my rant.) In the Gospels, it clearly tells of Jesus being able to read minds. But the rest is pure falsehood. What you present as a horror story ploy is playing to my curiosity.

[@Waspinmymind]

@@matthewprouhet9598I got told ‘god is listening to your thoughts’ too dude. And it fucked me up as a disabled kid with no control on how my mind handles stress. I hate to tell you but you’re not the exception to hatful harmful beliefs. You’re probably more alike to this author than you think.

[@ribbonquest]

Now I want the Christian version of Inside Out where the little people represent different aspects of faith.

[@itscjrodgers]

That would be so cute though???

[@ribbonquest]

@@itscjrodgers Absolutely! And could be quite effective Christian media, which is why it will never happen.

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

That's unironically a really nice idea!!

[@RonnieNichols]

And then in the background you have tiny angels and tiny demons squabbling and trying to convince the little faith people one way or the other

[@enoumoh2039]

@@RonnieNichols sounds like angels friends...it's a cartoon. I don't remember if they were religious in that show though.

[@robertheadd5930]

The idea of religion being infections with exposure feels weirdly similar to corruption in the Warhammer universe. Pretty sure she could spit some pretty fire fan-fic if you threw a little grimdark in the mix

[@dodojesus4529]

All we need is tentacles and superr8pe

[@thisgoddamusernamestoodamnlong]

it actually almost makes more sense if you imagine Briar as being experimented on by the inquisition, and all the "normal" stuff is a projection of her shattered psyche. even her name sounds more normal.

[@ribbonquest]

Author really wants to write hot air balloon adventures but this is the gig they got. I believe in you, author! You can make your dreams soar!

[@irishalchemy]

When I was about 8 I went to a church holiday camp thing in rural Ireland, where some dude baptized us in a freezing river. I always assumed that they had asked or told my parents, but my mum only found out about it when I mentioned how frightening it was a few years ago. So that was weird.

[@JuniperJadePR]

That really is horrifying since somebody coulda drowned or got hypothermia & the fact that they weren't getting parental consent just makes it waaaay worse.

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

That's just a thing people do and nobody bats an eye because christianity is so normalized. But imagine if some kid told their christian parent a satanist guy baptised them without asking them or something, it would be a a scandal about religion and consent. But nope, christians do whatever they want. Pushing people's heads underwater is so weird

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that baptisms don’t count if you don’t get the parents’ consent to do it.

[@JuniperJadePR]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 I thought that too tbh. It apparently varies by religious sect.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

@Greg Jayonnaise Baptism is a spiritual ritual. There's no legal protection from binding yourself to a God because God is outside human laws. So if you believe that child baptism is legit (which is crazy on many levels) then parental consent doesn't matter In my country you can't be erased from Catholic archives even tho you are officially no longer a part of the Church. It's ridiculous and shouldn't be legal but the official doctrine says "once Catholic, always Catholic". I can't be just an atheist - I'm a Catholic atheist. It doesn't matter I was baptised as a literal baby and had no saying in it. Not all religions believe in spiritual consent

[@thornebrier]

How is Lucas both a nuero scientist and a hot air ballon engineer? Does the author think that if you know one science you know them all?

[@HayleighPaige]

Hahaha the reveal of the actual physical copy was a surprise, I was not expecting to see that picture actually printed out 😂

[@Crowcaller]

a book like this probably? doesn't have an ebook? and certainly isn't out there pirated. So I had no other choice but physical copy (I very much did buy it second hand off ebay, don't worry, but was asounded admittedly a second hand copy existed at all)

[@zbcrazy]

“The Christian God’s special little spot” The G Spot, if you will

[@music_YT2023]

God is a SAP-vampire? This book has so many interesting and outrageous ideas, it's disappointing that it didn't really use or play with them beyond the flimsy world building.

[@Crowcaller]

I wonder what He being doing with all that SAP he's drinking, huh

[@anghel4]

My parent take the rainbow as a promise he won't murder us with water again but all other method of world ending event are still on the table.

[@Crowcaller]

Gotta say. Not very assuring, that only water is off the table

[@hahahahahahahahaa6580]

This is an amazing, eye-opening interpretation. Thank you for sharing, I will be using it for writing purposes.

[@huntforbigfloptober1333]

When you started talking about how Christians are persecuted in this book, my mind jokingly thought, “It’s probably going to be because of an EBIL gay agenda.” …And that was sort of on point. I’m getting flashbacks of having to sit through Jack van Impe’s show with my doomsday Christian ex boyfriend.

[@johannageisel5390]

I wonder if that Christian gay-hatred is residual trauma from Roman times.

[@may72612]

A Labrador lab dog should clearly be titled "Labradog"

[@SparkleMuffin22]

Not every Christian is anti-vax thankfully. I was raised to know God provides, and if he provides ingredients from the earth and knowledge to doctors to make vaccines and cure horrible diseases, then God let that happen, and we should be grateful vaccines work and use them :)

[@Crowcaller]

The book honestly isn't actually that... anti-vax? it strides a slightly confusing line, but I was thankful it wasn't stictly going 'all vaccines are poison' or anything. It seems to be fine with science (having so much faux-science as a focus), but then also a bit anti-science in that the notion of a vaccine that kills god is.... kinda implying.... something?? I don't know what it implies.

[@person.probably]

I remember hearing a story in church. A man was trapped in a flood and climbed a tree to get above the water. He prayed to God to save him and shortly after his neighbour came past in a boat and offered to rescue him. But the man was waiting for God to save him and told the neighbour he didn't want his help. The waters rose, the man climbed higher up the tree, and started praying again. More boats came, each with the same result. Eventually, the waters rose too high and the man drowned. When he got to heaven he asked why his prayers weren't answered, and god replied that he sent him 3 boats.

[@marocat4749]

I mean ther even plenty of christian scientists and its more about, tht religion does not override any criticl thinking, living, in a society. Like its great if religion helps and nhances people lifes, but people being defined by only one thing, including religion, is honestly alway a bit problematic. Dunno mot atheits dont hate the church if they hadnr trauma due toxic or cultic upbringings, but usually, they just dont care. I imagine its so with most christians too. I mean just chill living their lives whatever that be. Also every group has a loud minority, like the tuf about some scammy practice by some, covered up abus and plain downright controlling culty an legal protection and tax , It not christian believes. Its fine, Genuinly, thats how it should be. I supect thats why she did say the start thing i guess.

[@juliaboon9741]

Oh boy do I have a bible verse for you: Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them. There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician. (Sirach 38:1‭, ‬4‭, ‬13‭, ‬15 NRSV-CI) Note: yes I understand this book isn't cannon in p Protestant denominations but it is in my denomination and I thought I'd share...for funzies

[@stephentaylor356]

I mean...those doctors got that knowledge on their own, through hard work and study. God didn't really do anything there and taking credit away from the actual people who actually do things is kinda messed up. If god is the one doing all the healing and he deserves all the praise then why go to a doctor at all??? Seems a lot like god does nothing and human beings work hard to learn, grow, and improve our own lot in life.

[@midnightrush-mc5eo]

Learning about this book makes me think it could be an actually interesting exploration of religion and faith if the "god-zones" didn't just react to only Christianity, and reacted to all types of faith in general, and could be used to talk about the role of religion and supernatural beliefs in society. Instead we got a book about the evils of lab dogs and hot air balloon festivals.

[@emmanarotzky6565]

I think guilt is good but shame is bad. Guilt is just mirror neurons telling you “hey, that thing you just did was bad, don’t do that anymore”. Or “hey, this thing you’re doing isn’t what you want to do, and if you don’t do what you actually want to do you’re going to feel bad”.

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Yeah. Feeling bad for doing something bad is healthy if it teaches you to not do it again. But some people act as if feeling bad forever is doing anything good. At worst it's literally rotting your brain with the negativity.

[@adamlane6453]

I heard it explained once that guilt is feeling bad, shame is thinking you are bad.

[@caitlynv1167]

Funny that a prayer from Briar's grandmother can make her immune to SAP, but for some reason God didn't decide to just make... everyone immune? 🤷‍♂

[@Wired_User]

Something something “free will” despite the fact that in this universe Christianity is literally built into our brains… 🙄

[@nicholasrodinos4701]

With Christians like this, it's never about thinking through their wordlbuilding, it's screaming about how their worldview is always right and proving how much of a good Christian they are, rather than being a good Christian.

[@Rusted-fairy-wings]

I was literally just scrolling through my feed thinking, "Wow, I really want to watch another book deep dive" and then this popped up. Shout out to Crow for providing endless entertainment about books I'm amazed are real.

[@Crowcaller]

really good news because this is a book and I do dive too deep

[@moose1277]

i saw a title and my jaw literally dropped. time to play some stardew and learn about this madness!

[@Crowcaller]

it's just not an exaggeration at all

[@leftoflove]

I can't believe this came out of a pre COVID world

[@AnkhAnanku]

Everything about that cover: the background, the foreground, the title’s lettering, and the models. White on white on white on white.

[@johannageisel5390]

They are horribly white and boring looking, aren't they?

[@ShortForMertchel]

I can't imagine why someone would care abt the trigger warnings if they don't need them? They never spoil your vids for me bc I don't have any triggers I need warned of, so I just don't read the warnings.

[@TheGallantDrake]

I suspect it's the kind of person who is looking for a fight, though there are a few people out there who seem to genuinely believe that they're fighting some kind of war against cultural weakness or something like that.

[@ShortForMertchel]

@Taihus I feel like if they just want a fight, they should stick to something stupid. Like how to eat an oreo or boil spaghetti. Rather than something that actively makes the world more hostile to people that already have trauma.

[@TheGallantDrake]

@Mike K ah, but you see, poking someone in their real world trauma is so much more effective at provoking a response! I’m being a little flippant, but I’m pretty sure there are people out there who’ve put so little thought into what they do that this is more or less the thought process.

[@ShortForMertchel]

@Taihus I think you're partly right there. I think that's it for some people, and that for others, they just genuinely want to do harm. I've got a fairly new coworker who doesn't start fights, but he does deliberately make people uncomfortable and then tells them outright he's doing it to laugh at them. It's a gas station so ppl ask for 35 on a pump and he tells them they'll have to pay 36 dollars, or he'll ask for ID for a candy bar, or he'll say "this ID is expired" when it isn't, etc. Then, after a few beats of a deadpan stare to make sure they're squirming, he'll say he was joking. Some people just want to cause others discomfort or harm bc it makes them feel better.

[@zoeb3573]

Some people just see anything they don't like as an "agenda" going specifically against them. Show trigger warnings? You're just being woke (even though if it took zero extra effort for the editor and didn't negatively affect the person watching at all). Two men kissing on a TV show? You're pushing the gay agenda down our throats!! (even if the show isn't even ABOUT homosexuality and there just happens to be two gay men there that don't negatively affect the structure of the story in any way). Just the mere existence of the thing that bothers them is bad.

[@strayiggytv]

34:00 this to me is actually pretty horrifying and kind of telling in a strange way. Like to conservative Christian their idea of a terrible world without Christianity is saving the environment and letting people live how they want. Like how wild is that? It almost me feel like this book is some kind of stab at saite that doesn't read as satire because we've all met so many Christians online who act like not dictating everyone else's existence physically pains them

[@dragonhoffele]

Have you ever been flash banged by words? Cause that’s how it felt reading that thumbnail, my brain stuttered and couldn’t comprehend what I had just read. It’s so incredibly funny how so completely unhinged and ridiculous some religion based books can be. It’s such a surreal experience encountering books like these, like are you sure a real human person actually wrote this and not some alien trying to learn how humanity functions?

[@aerongrimm3162]

I want to make so many t-shirts out of the wildly unhinged things this book made you say. "National "Respect Satan's Pronouns" Day", "Geoffrey the head dog guru of the free world", "God can't penetrate me, I have SAP"

[@SaberNezumi]

The premise alone has so much potential for a cosmic horror story, it's almost upsetting is not a real thing. Amazing vid btw~~

[@byrrnitdown]

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the ways that Christian morality impact some strongly held cultural views of morality (coming from the USA, it’s hard to escape). It’s sometimes very surprising when I learn that yet another seemingly innocuous idea that I had taken for granted is coming from a Christian cultural perspective. This video did that with the (paraphrasing) ‘there exists some objective right and wrong’ concept that you mention is so built into the book. I spent a lot of time when I was younger trying to determine what my personal “objective right and wrong” were, and it’s taken a lot of work to get away from the mindset that sees having those types of rules as an unquestioned good. I don’t think I’d ever put together the Christian value system underlying that, though!

[@ByzantineDarkwraith]

I mean, it’s not an inherently Christian way of thinking. One can easily be a subscribe to moral realism and/or think that a certain heinous act is objectively wrong without being Christian. In fact, the way that some Christians say it (the ones who say “there is no morality without God, things are bad because god says they are/doesn’t like them”), they don’t really believe in objective right and wrong at all, because in that view morality only exists relative to god’s opinions, and if god changed his mind on something being bad, it suddenly wouldn’t be bad anymore, which doesn’t seem all that objective to me.

[@spots6450]

I wonder if the author confused hot air balloons and blimps, since we all know it’s a sci-fi staple that alternate universes really love blimps.

[@johannageisel5390]

In Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, blimps are a common mode of transportation. No planes.

[@nothere5378]

@@johannageisel5390 I've seen a few people claim that blimps only went out of style because of the Hindenburg and they'd still be the default in a universe where that didn't happen. I have a hard time believing nobody would ever attempt to invent a plane though

[@johannageisel5390]

@@nothere5378 Yes, I also think that claim is implausible. The _Hindenburg_ burned in 1937, but at that time, airplanes were already a thing.

[@chickenelafsworld7105]

A part of me loves the hot air balloon discussion… like, why is it there??? As someone who’s grown up around hot air balloons and ballon festivals, it’s fun to see them focused on, even in the most bizarre way. Also, I don’t know about anywhere us, but our Balloon Fiesta tends to have at least important people there just since it’s an international event and one of the big cultural events in our area. Edit: they put so much effort into talking about hot air balloon facts, but they didn’t know that the balloons just go with the wind???

[@TheRPGNerd]

... emotional support animals are already allowed in most places. like, not therapy offices for obvious reasons, but hospitals? yeah, so long as theyre clean, trained and dont carry diseases, they can come with. the most they ask for is certification. thats just a thing that is very much around and has been for years.

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

Wait, they aren’t allowed in therapy offices? You would think that’s where they’d be accepted the most, unless I’m missing something.

[@TheRPGNerd]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 they weren't allowed at mine, presumably because there wouldn't typically be a need for them or the office themselves had one.

[@coyoteinthepool]

​@TheRPGNerd I have occasionally heard of them being at Therapy offices but you are right, not common! You are probably right in thinking that the number of clients being lower would make it harder to justify it. (Unless the therapist owns the dogs, and is in private practice, in which case it's just them bringing their dog to work.)

[@faeriewren]

"Kin God" is such a powerful phrase, I love it very much.

[@ethel7255]

The premise "Christianity is banned because it's discriminatory against gay people" is... odd. Is the author implying homophobia's such a core part of Christianity that the faith itself wouldn't exist without it? What an L to give yourself.

[@vtothedoubleg]

"I think I would miss chicken nuggets but I think killing God is pretty good for America overall" is such a wild line when not given context

[@ariannay766]

I dance with my dog sometimes. She's a standard poodle so she's big enough to dance with Devil's powerpoint didn't really specify if bestiality was a sin or just dancing with dogs so maybe im sinning for dancing with my dog😔

[@commandrogyne]

Jew here: the way we conceptualize and talk about g-d is vastly different than how christians do it, to the point where myself and a number of other jewish people honestly believe that we worship wholly different gods. I cant speak for muslims, but I know they also have significant differences from christians (this among a numner of other things is why 'abrahamic religions' is kinda a nonsense term). So i guess weirdly enough, i agree with this insane book about something?

[@hedgers2005]

From a Christian perspective (at least in the Protestant denominations I've interacted with), the Jewish God is the same as theirs since Jesus was born into the Jewish faith as the fulfillment of prophecy. Muslims however tend to be thought of as misled at best and demon-worshippers at worst (depends how hardc*re the sect is; I've had a preacher claim that Catholics weren't Christians and needed saving and that Muslims worshipped a local demon who impersonated the True God TM) Mormons are also not considered Christians due to some of the more esoteric parts of their specific creed. That's been my experience anyway. I've heard a lot of tolerance preached and a lot of "We must save them from their devil worship!"

[@ZannyAisling]

abrahamic is useful more as like, a historical/anthropological label for the religions' taxonomical relationships. the comparability of our/their theologies is...... *contentious*. i've seen christians and muslims (sometimes jews) claim we all worship the same foundational god in different ways while also seeing people (including myself) claiming we veryyy much do not. as someone who ascribes more to an unknowable esoteric unbiblical-but-still-jewish "thing-god" than anything with direct will and intent (viewing torah more as a ledger of our historical beliefs and worldviews than as a direct determiner of theology, and prayer as a form of cultural ritual rather than theistic communication) its especially just. not really a theological worldview that works for me lmao. not in the xenophobic way that some DO cling to wrt not worshiping the same gods despite sharing portions of our literature (cough christian conservatives demonizing muslims), its just pointedly false for a lot of people to claim their distinct worldviews are The Same Actually. Feels a bit presumptive and patronizing from the receiving end. (When its being exercised in good faith, i mean. I have way harsher criticisms for when that language of familiarity is used to promote supercessionism.)

[@oa4895]

The fake-out ending after, "The writing in this book is...bad," had me cackling. Ah, this video was right on time. Literally minutes before you posted, I was thinking, "I could really go for a Crow Caller video today."

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

It’s so fascinating how the book presents God almost like an infection or a presence that feeds off of mankind’s devotion and purposely encourages a dogmatic following to placate him, and whose absence creates a utopia where everyone is equal and you can bring your dog anywhere you want… and tries to play off his existence as an in-universe positive. Also, one thing I adore about your videos is how you… meet the story at its level, I suppose? You don’t just complain about how bad a book is, but try and create an argument based on what the book gives you as a thesis, no matter how poorly it’s done.

[@herja8264]

"The american government determined that there was no need for christianity-" promise? 🥺

[@cidevant002]

Your thumbnail are just pure art. They never fail to make me come see what is the next madness we are about to witness.

[@avalazazzera]

i really appreciate you highlighting books we’ve never heard of before. i’ve watched way too many bad book channels that just keep reviewing the same books between them and i love hearing about whatever batshit nonsense you dredge up for us. also love the books that get weird with christian theology so this is right up my alley

[@hobobohemian]

I one time had a dream about a hot air balloon, but it wasn’t powered by heat and was rather powered by a giant spider like creature inside it

[@Crowcaller]

No, that's actual legit how 99% of all hot air balloons are powered. The heat is a decoy. It's all about the creature

[@ann-gt4hh]

Tag your gender, I’m old man who loves clouds.

[@johannageisel5390]

I don't think my gender was represented there. I might be one of the pilots.

[@daedalus6796]

I'm, uh... this penny I found in my pocket. Its shiny.

[@Pallastronomy]

I'm Satan's PowerPoint presentation personally

[@merrittanimation7721]

I'm a balloon

[@zoeb3573]

I'm the secretary that made Satan's evil power point presentation

[@Breadothy]

So excited to watch this while I clean my room

[@Crowcaller]

This is what I'm here for

[@rue8638]

Woah was going to comment the same thing

[@damienm.9677]

@@Crowcallerpracticing scales while watching this :)

[@covenscribe]

What if the Agathai are different shapes based on your religion, might be bonkers enough for the setting lol

[@magnetizedmaltese1779]

wish this person just wrote the sickening cool body horror scifi dystopia underlying beneath the propaganda elements of this bc i'm actually shocked by how cool some of these ideas are

[@lexaraereads]

“And that’s actually what I have tattooed on my lower back.” made me SPIT OUT my Diet Coke 😂😂😂

[@sebastianrubin7476]

Finding God's corpse and using it to make weapons to fight God is kind of the plot of Neon Genesis Evangelion, actually. And the confused mess of daddy issues, mommy issues, sexual confusion, pseudo-incest, fratricide, and depression, all _feels_ very biblically accurate.

[@sebastianrubin7476]

Also, the whole thing sounds a lot like One Flew The Cuckoo's Nest. A manipulative doctor takes advantage of a schizophrenic young woman, refusing the treatment he was supposed to test on her in favour of playing along with her delusions. The bitchy but well-meaning colleague arranges for the girl to be transferred to a different facility, where her immunity to the anti-psychotics instead leads to suffering, hallucinations, and general misery.

[@happystoryfamily4830]

21:17 This poor kid is in grief over his mom and her respones is "Man....i wish i could just say a bible passage to this kid!!! If only i could."

[@Crowcaller]

Her notion is pretty wild, yeah.... She doesn't want to cheer up the kid or do any child therapy she wants to just say a Bible verse which would instantly solve every problem, apparently. Like I was a kid in grief therapy (with a professional, not some random 17 year old on house arrest), one sentence about god wouldn't have done wack, but talking about death and doing fun distraction activities did

[@happystoryfamily4830]

@@Crowcaller and now the worse part, that 17 yr old is now a "professional" in a world where everyone is just christans! She is just gonna go "oh but Have you heard of this bible verse?" Too all of her clients 😭 Huh i didnt know we have therapy specialized for grief! Thats really cool.

[@hobobohemian]

I feel like the author just really wanted to write their sci-fi ballooning technology into a book, even though if it doesn’t fit

[@Haemopixels]

"Is it dog marriage? Is it dog...love?" Is just so in my brain now, thank you😂😂😂

[@brushdogart]

It's really weird that this book seems to be describing the Christian god as a parasitic infection. Even the most angry of atheists would be as rude as this Christian book is.

[@byrrnitdown]

Oh I’m so excited… I was having a hell of a time deciding what to listen to today, what perfect timing for a new book review!

[@Crowcaller]

This one will occupy you, I promise. because OH BOY is it somethin

[@byrrnitdown]

I’m only just finishing the worldbuilding section and… the questions abound!

[@Owlettehoo]

Also, about the brain surgery bit, it's *the dad* performing the surgery on *his own son*??? That doesn't really happen. Family is not allowed to perform surgeries on family unless there's no other qualified person do to it within the timeline necessary, ie it's an emergency. My aunt is an OR nurse and when my grandpa had to get a knee replacement, the most she could do was walk with him and the nurse assigned to him to outside of... The scrub in station? Iunno, I'm not a medical person, I don't really know how that part works, but the point is, she wasn't allowed in the operating theater because she was family.

[@bashbashfulsson4540]

Plot twist: this takes place in the multiverse of His Dark Materials, in a world where Christianity worships Dust rather than the Authority. Sap is a weak and limited version of the Cutting.

[@johannageisel5390]

I, too, was very much reminded of His Dark Materials!

[@nyxicide]

Caster is the name of my dnd warlock who's known for making bad deals with devils, so hearing his name over and over in this was incredibly cursed and funny

[@johannageisel5390]

And I thought it was Castor, like the brother of Pollux.

[@devinsamuel3612]

Crow: "You can probably have a little bit of bleach-" Me, on reflex: "As a treat?" Crow: "NO, not as a treat-" Me: WHEEZE

[@marinabarcellos9859]

As a person who grew up in a very Christian environment, I can assure you that kids don't really grasp religion. When I was a kid I just saw religion as allegedly real magic/high fantasy and that's why I liked it. I only acquired enough knowledge to make up my own mind at around 13 (I decided to embrace non-institutionalized spirituality btw).

[@chaeburger]

I am shocked! SHOCKED! That this book has a barcode of it. I thought that this author and printing press would 100% be on the 'barcodes are the mark of the beast' train.

[@gigitastic90]

All I can picture is that scene in The Devil Wears Prada " Are you wearing.." The Commandment bookcover necklace? Yeah I am."

[@PhoenyxV]

Gonna need some extra good luck on this one because one of the player characters in my D&D group is named Briar. No blue hair, but they do have pronouns. And also they're an elf. So I'm really just picturing an elf with a big sword every time "Briar" is mentioned.

[@viciousbagel]

new multi-hour crow video on an obscure fundie book my weekend has been made infinitely better

[@mistywindow16]

Hoho, this'll be good background noise for organizing my room and then rewatching once again while making a bowtie for my long furby so that I can absorb it m o r w

[@Crowcaller]

honestly I feel like I need to reread my own review like 5 times to understand it, and I wrote it

[@SallySueSaywhatagain]

​@@Crowcaller there is no understanding it, really. Only letting it wash through you like the God vaccine.

[@fireflies_and_wolves4473]

20:50 it was definitely a dig. ive seen that online since at least 2016, but it was usually in the context of "blue haired feminists" and less making fun of pronouns until later.

[@Crowcaller]

Yeah, I somehow forgot the 2013 and after wave of SJW bashing entirely, and the blue haired feminist stereotype

[@blah7983]

The premise sounds so metal to me. Like this seems like the type of idea a religiously traumatized ex-Christian would writes

[@GYAXA]

WAKE UP BESTIE, NEW CROW CALLER VIDEO DROPPED

[@Crowcaller]

OH BOY IS IT A DOOZY

[@GYAXA]

@@Crowcaller you love to see it, anti-vaxxers are the flaming garbage fire we can’t look away from

[@mentlegens]

why does the term "god hole" just freak me out so much

[@ariannay766]

some poor scientist freaking out about losing her job: I guess i have to fake god's death by making the brain not glow then

[@marthadumptruck5102]

10:50 btw the Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament are NOT the same group of texts. Christians omitted, intentionally mistranslated, etc. sincerely a Jewish person.

[@blarg2429]

"There's an omnipresent, sentient cosmic force that we need constant medication to keep from invading our minds and overwriting our social norms" would be a hell of a horror premise.

[@Incredibleluffy2]

The efficiency and ruthlessness with which you claimed my viewership is astounding frightening, will subscribe.

[@Crowcaller]

Thank you..... I try....

[@TheGallantDrake]

The funny thing about the appendix is that recent research suggests that it’s actually really important in helping maintain a healthy gut microbiome, and that removing it has poorly understood long term side effects. The thing about science is that it changes as we learn.