19AR24-26

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AR 24:26 - Big Tech selectively silences religious conservatives

In this issue:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH - Big Tech whistle-blower reveals yet more bias against religious conservatives

OCCULTISM - issues of authority and credibility

WORLDVIEW - the religious and political worldview mix in Europe

Apologia Report 24:26 (1,434)

June 27, 2019

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Tech Insider Blows Whistle on How Pinterest Listed Top Pro-Life Site as Porn, 'Bible Verses' Censored" -- Big Tech continues to prove itself Bad Tech and the video segments from Project Veritas continue to impress. Following his disturbing exposures of rampant voter fraud, political power abuses and Planned Parenthood deceit, ... oh, and recent evidence <www.bit.ly/2ZPY6oR> of Google's secret efforts to torpedo Trump's presidency, James O'Keefe reports:

1) Pinterest has changed its search-term generator making uses of "Christian" fail to auto-complete, and causing others not to trend, or provide notifications and recommendations

2) Pinterest has blacklisted a pro-life group by classifying it as pornography, rendering links to it inoperable

3) Pinterest keeps a "Sensitive Terms List" which includes "Bible verses," "Christian," and "Easter"

4) The conservative Jewish video personality Ben Shapiro has been censored in a Pinterest "zero tolerance moment"

Find this and more at <www.bit.ly/2Km0vUE>

When we first launched our full-text database <www.bit.ly/2IVXB62> of Apologia Report's past issues, links to our site appeared in general Google search results. Not any more. We've always found it suspicious. You don't suppose Pinterest is the only Big Tech company to covertly limit access to information, do you?

Where terms like "social justice" and "socialism" are *owned* by their largest supporters, everybody becomes more anti-social and unjust. Consider how the above relates to the following material as well.

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OCCULTISM

"The Internet Changed Astrology, then Came the Memes" by Justice Namaste, a "social media coordinator" at WIRED magazine -- "Netizens now have an entire framework through which to examine the world - from using charts to analyze rumors that Prince William cheated on Kate to tying the release of the Mueller report to a full moon in Libra. ...

"As with any other discipline, mastering astrology takes years of learning and practice. But as information has proliferated online, the actual expertise someone is expected to have when identifying themself as an astrologer or positioning themself as an authority on the subject has gotten somewhat murky. ... [S]ome astrologers feel it doesn't accurately represent the discipline they've devoted their lives to practicing. ...

"There are organizations that provide certifications to practicing astrologers, like the International Society of Astrological Research (ISAR) and the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), but going through the necessary processes to get certified by these organizations costs thousands of dollars and requires courses that are often not widely accessible. While organizations like ISAR and the NCGR can lend legitimacy to nontraditional belief systems or practices, they often fail to consider the origins of practices like astrology in marginalized communities, and the centuries-long history of this type of knowledge being passed down using informal methods.

"Consider tarot and witchcraft, which have also been burgeoning online recently and have also historically been practiced by marginalized communities. How would one be deemed an 'expert' in either of those practices, if expertise relies on a certification from larger organizations?" WIRED, May 8 '19 <www.bit.ly/2KodLZ3>

The astrological dispute above centers on the means of credibility. What if authority is so uncertain that it's up for grabs? Consider the following example in which the occult vehicle - (though not astrology) - *might as well be* fill-in-the-blank, from tarot to witchcraft. Fill in the blank. (Faeries anyone?) When authority can be claimed with little concern for opposition, its application becomes incredibly broad. Hence, the diffusion of the occult among all peoples over all time. (We have often sensed that the world of the occult is at least twice as pervasive as the kingdom of the cults.)

In "The Forbidden Nature of Witchcraft: The Shadow, Power, and Poetry" by Storm Faerywolf we find a general introduction to the deceit common to occult authority. Faerywolf begins: "Witchcraft is a path that embraces the power of the dark, the unseen, the mysterious. In the shadow of our inner nature lurks the secret of our own mastery, but if left unchecked can easily strike us down with all the destructive power of our own demons. While some would prefer to cower in fear and to never challenge the beast that hides unseen, the Witch strives to know that beast, to learn the patterns and its very nature, so that its power can be harnessed and channeled to a greater end. ...

"Those who are versed in the language of magic know that the rational mind can only take us so far…and then we must be prepared to make a leap into the unknown…into the irrational.

"But even here there are rules to be followed, or else we may just lose ourselves in the abyss. Fortunately, we have been given some very useful maps along the way. ...

"Because our focus is on magical transformation, and since their connection to Witchcraft has been long established in occult and folk tradition, we must focus our attention on those stories and pieces of lore that describe an active relationship between humanity and those eerie, mystical beings often called faeries. These beings are none other than those described in the infamous witch trials often referred to as 'the familiar spirit:' an otherworldly being that was in possession of great magical power and would share that power and magical knowledge with a human Witch or Warlock."

As Faerywolf ("a professional author, teacher, warlock, priest, and initiate of the Faery tradition of witchcraft [who] holds the Black Wand of a Master and is the founder of the BlueRose lineage of Faery [and] is one of the founding teachers of the Black Rose school of witchcraft, and [who] travels internationally teaching the magical arts") nears his conclusion he gives us a brand preference review of the faery tradition (again, as *he* sees it) which ends with the goal of "being shown a process of engaging our own primal fears and causing them to transform into our own power, directed toward our eventual freedom. ...

"When in this state of being (a state of personal alignment, as well as attunement to transpersonal forces) we are in a magical nexus; words, thoughts, and actions while in this state take on a deeper significance, sending ripples of power throughout the web of interconnections that comprise what we understand as reality. This is the foundation of the powers of Witchcraft. In a sense, we become living, breathing poetry." Llewellyn Journal, Nov 19 '18 <www.bit.ly/2wZIy5P>

(It seems that a crucial disclaimer was omitted at the end of this piece: "Subject to change without notice" - as it must be with all occult authority.)

And what is the nature of occult authority *but* deceit? Often easily seen by inference alone, it counterfeits the all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere present One who sacrificed Himself for us. Frequently constituting little more than a game of bluff, an occult encounter may have more in common with the discovery of tissue remnants after having first hidden in a pocket before beginning the laundry. They're seen as many particles after opening the clothes dryer door - all over, but not over all too catastrophic.

For more about the Llewellyn Journal and examples from it in past issues of Apologia Report, visit <www.bit.ly/2x1blGS>

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WORLDVIEW

"The Entanglement of Religion and Politics in Europe: How and why religious and political worldviews merge in times of uncertainty" by Heiko Beyer and Annette Schnabel (both with Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany) -- the abstract describes it as a discussion of "the relationship between religious and political worldviews and argues that both types of phenomena share three features: they offer (a) robust structures of meaning (nomizations), (b) clear moral guidelines (Manichaeism), and (c) a prophecy of the future (eschatologies). Using data from the European Values Study ... we found that Catholic and Orthodox respondents reveal higher amounts of conservatism than the average respondent whereas Protestants are slightly more liberal and socialist. Orthodox individuals had the highest affinity for fascist worldviews. Multilevel logit regression [sic] models further show that especially fascist and conservative worldviews are based on nomizations, Manichaeism, and eschatological beliefs. The same accounts for all religious worldviews with the lowest effects found for Protestants and the highest for European Muslims. Analyses also show that the three basic elements of worldviews are more relevant for individuals living in countries with greater economic deprivation and inequality." Religion Journal, 15:4 - 2019 <www.bit.ly/2XcX8pl>

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