It would be the best Crime Fighting power ever lol. The amount of Confusion that would cause as Criminals are suddenly being tangled up by their own 15ft long beards that they didn’t have mere seconds ago.
Man I wish I could have theses powers. My beard grows unusually fast and I mostly have a week beard after 24 hours. I would make my life so much easier if I could just revert it on the spot.
I knew a guy in the Marine Corps who kept getting in trouble for not being properly clean-shaven, and he eventually had to GET A DOCTOR to verify that his facial hair was simply so dark, coarse, and grew so quickly that the only way he could possibly meet the Corps’ grooming standard would be to shave 2-3 times a day, which could be very bad for his skin. So he got a “beard chit,” which allowed him to simply let it grow out to a full beard, so long as he kept it “well-groomed.”
Not really. See there is a way to do nearly everything in the military services it just requires someone know how to ask for the proper questions of the proper people. The beard chit is simply one of those things. It exists for several contingencies.
Either A) There was never stubble – Joyce had just smeared chocolate all over Joe’s face that morning and then rubbed it off
B) Joyce has gone from Christianity to Atheism to Satanism cause that is some witch craft.
I all seriousness, I knew a girl in college who went through basically entirely Joyce’s arc – raised as a fundie Christian, lost her faith due to finally living in the real world for a while at school.
My dear departed mother was convinced my Pagan religion was “just a phase” and I would return to being her good little Southern Baptist boy after people from her church tried to convince me that the world was ending soon and we had to use up all the resources or Gawd would be angry we didn’t finish what He had prepared for us to consume. Yeah a couple of years of that and I started looking for a church that believed we had to conserve the environment so the planet was still livable when He came back.
If she can master such a ability, to be able to do it at range, it would be the greatest crime fighting power ever. Just imagine Male and female criminals alike becoming insanely confused as their new 15ft beards they didnt have mere seconds ago tangles them up allowing for easy capture lol.
A “charismatic church”? Does that mean a church that can be described as charismatic, or is that like, a Charismatic Church®️ sort of deal? I mean, is it a basic adjective or proper noun?
Judging by what’s happening in the third panel i think she means one of those churches that does exorcisms and getting possessed by the holy spirit n stuff. Like pentecostals.
All I can think when I read about these things, even the tamer stuff, is “People really live this way?”, and I know that’s a judgmental thing to think.
Different types of cults. like, Amish vs Mormon vs this stuff
I was gonna out Jehovas witness in there too but i actually have no idea what their services are like or how they’d compare to the others. I assume they’re very boring.
It’s gotta be pretty high, to suck in so many people. And to convince them they need to build a new one every few fucking years, making sure to pop one on every street corner they can.
Benny Hinn is a faith healer televangelist. Does “beseeching” pronouncements and puts his hand on someone’s head and makes them fall over. He actually uses suggestion and self-defense techniques to make them lose their balance. I saw a video of a devout Christian who was a self-defense instructor debunking him.
It’s a proper noun for a particular form of Christianity. “Getting the Holy Spirit” and “speaking in tongues” feature prominently in Charismatic Christian churches.
The root here, BTW, is the Middle English “karisme” meaning “spiritual gift” or “divine power.”
It is 100% one of the best super powers ever if mastered lol. Just think of all the possibilities that would come with being able to force hair growth on people, stopping villains with their own newly grown beards as they get tangled up in it lol.
even if you could disassociate, you’d still need physical strength. i know amber mentioned being in track and field during school, team sports doesn’t seem like the type of thing she’d sign up for unless she also disassociated into her amazigirl persona while doing it or doesn’t have the mental space to be anxious if she’s busy/exhausted running laps or so
and, carol’s surprisingly calm for this kinda behavior unless joyce acted ‘weirder’ at home/has somehow ‘forced’ some of her church peers/friends to be more ‘kempt’ around/spruce up or so
Could be she’s happy to see Joyce with a boy (I don’t think Joyce has ever dated) especially considering that her best friend is a Lesbian, so she’s probably worried that Joyce has been “”””corrupted”””” by Becky.
well, she did briefly date ethan before he came out
tho i suppose with joyce having multiple brothers, putting her hand over his mouth isn’t rly that inappropriate/something that could’ve happened in a lighthearted play-fight
She just has different superpowers. Instead of superstrength and the physics engine for flight, she got beard control and teleport-to-Dorothy. I’m assuming from the wildly inconsistent results that the characters are generating powers by rolling on the tables for the old Marvel FASERIP system.
So, I’ve been slightly curious about religion in like a “see what they’re doing at that table” sorta way, but there’s not a lot of diversity for that here (xtian/”witch” and that’s it). This is probably a stupid/insensitive question, but how’s a body supposed to ease into/try out these sorta things without disrupting or upsetting people?
my parents are tehcniclaly buddhist/they’re pretty chill, wen ever went to any temples if there is any in teh south tho other than doing the ‘offering incense/lighting sticks with a meal at the table for departed spirits’ we don’t do anything esp ‘religious/spiritual’
For any organized/led religion you can probably find livestreams/recordings of services — a lot of places started those up during the pandemic if they didn’t already have them. Of course, most places will also welcome visitors if you just ask — recruitment is fundamentally a part of any religion’s strategy — but you do have to find them first, and there’s always the issue of them being TOO “welcoming”.
For any more personal religions without official services it would definitely be a lot harder, but I’m sure someone has videos of 101 explaining the core of what they do.
Goddamn it, of course there’s probably videos. I keep forgetting YouTube has more than video game history, music videos, and Zelda conspiracy theories. It might be smarter to check that way, because people being too welcoming can be really stressful and usually drives me away from new things.
Talk to people you know. You’re probably acquainted with people who practice this religion or that, but haven’t become Pod People, and would be glad to discuss the topic with you calmly and let you be yourself. Such people do exist — they just don’t call attention to themselves, so we’re less aware of them.
If you’re interested in doing this in meatspace, I’d say walk into any place of worship and ask if you can talk to someone, or maybe just sit around. Most religious communities emphasize openness, peace, connection. They will typically be pretty happy and chill with outsiders, even agnostics or atheists, respectfully engaging and wanting to learn about them. Places of worship have rules, so it’s good to ask someone what those are but they won’t freak out if you mess up, they’ll just tell you, they know you don’t know how things are done until you’re told. i’m generalizing a lot, but i’m reacting to your worry about upsetting people, and i don’t think it’s as likely as you seem to think?
Now obviously some religious groups are bigoted or culty, so perhaps do a small bit of research online before you walk in.
I’ll have to dig around and see if there are even any non-Christian places of worship around here. That’s like, the one religion I’m kinda good on learning about, cuz it’s fuckin’ creepy to observe.
A quick Google search (filtered to exclude anything with “christ” in the name) brings up “Freedom From Religion groups” (sounds like a subreddit), the local Jehovah’s Witnesses (shitty filter I guess), and something called “Baha’i Faith” (sounds vaguely familiar, might look it up).
Don’t know a whole lot about the Baha’i but what i know i like.
They’re a recent (19th century) religion that basically goes, “those monotheisms had some good ideas but they were founded in a very different world and are no longer adapted. Why not keep the fundamental values of spiritual connection, peace and tolerance but update all the rest?”
They advocate for world peace, are in favour of scientific knowledge and just generally seem chill and reasonable. But like i said, i don’t know much
I looked into it a little bit (skimmed Wikipedia), and it seems mostly harmless? I saw something about a “voluntary 19%” tithe-like thing, which is an immediate red flag and they could apparently use a little work on their queer-inclusive policies (you can marry if you’re trans, but it’s worded to sound like only if you’ve gotten surgeries). I think this might be one my sibling was telling me about months ago.
Freedom From Religion Foundation is an advocacy group, advocating for the separation of church and state. They are not opposed to people being religious, but are opposed to laws and attitudes that discriminate or stigmatize the irreligious.
Other than Christianity and Islam, the major world religions are Buddhism and Hinduism. There’s most likely ISKCON (Hare Krishna) around, they’re a sect of Hinduism, and they love sharing info about their religion (for proselytizing). I went to a buffet once, and it turned out to be a Hare Krishna temple and I, uh, was not as bashful as I could have been fact checking the guy during his proselytizing.
Keep in mind that Hinduism is a lot more varied than the sects of Christianity or sects of Islam, so Hare Krishnas aren’t going to really give you a good understanding of all of Hinduism.
It’s probably difficult to find, but the best information about a religion will come from an apostate. Someone who has been out of religion long enough the hard feelings aren’t so fresh, they’ll have compassion and sympathy for people in that religion, but has a deep understanding and won’t obfuscate the silly or nasty parts. I expect I am biased, but that’s my reasoning.
Privileged, maybe, in the sense that not everyone has the ability to do it. But I consider it a good thing to try to better understand other people’s values, worldviews, systems of ethics, and beliefs.
Yeah, I’m trying to stop being so anxious/self-conscious about learning new things. I build up these ideas in my head that no matter what I try to learn, someone’s going to forcibly shove me “back in my lane”, so to speak, and then with that baseline assumption of rejection, I’ve been kinda stifling my own growth. The worst anyone can do about it is be terse with me over the internet, and there’s literally billions of other people anyway so one rude person isn’t an entire group’s mouthpiece.
If you don’t want to talk to people, there are a zillion religious books you could read. Or if you want to find more ‘lived experience’ type deals, you could find blogs by people in those religions.
I’m gonna admit something slightly embarrassing, but I’ve never knowingly read (or even seen) a blog and been aware I was doing it. Books though, they live at the librarby. I know books’ home address, I can find ’em easy.
That’s fine! But yes, there’s lots of religious memoirs and things like that too.
I dunno if you have a university login or anything but many of them also have religious encyclopedias or databases you could look at. So would many libraries.
It’d have to be a library, for sure. I haven’t got enough money for a university, but libraries are (currently) free, which is exactly within my budget.
Do fundies really talk this stilted, or is this just Carol being Carol? She asked something like “what is the meaning of the symbols on your clothing” the first time she saw Joyce in her D&MM stuff during freshman family weekend.
“What are you doing?” is a good start. She knows what grunting sounds like, unless she’s somehow never heard anyone exerting effort in her entire life.
“What’s the symbolism behind the clothes you’re wearing?” So not quite as robotic but still weird as hell. She’s got a bizarre mind that runs on indecipherable logic.
….. did Carol….. did Carol just fucking….. see Joyce making noises and placing her hands on Joe and then just correlate it to a church thing…. even though, contextually, it’s obviously not…..
….. oh god does Carol actually think Joyce is legit trying to “Pray the Stubble Away”?….
So in the book of Acts, there’s a story of the Spirit of God coming down on people and causing them to speak in languages not their own, to the surprise of the Greeks, Romans, etc, who were like “Whoa, that Israelite is speaking my language about some god.” Fast forward 1900 years, and some Southern Christian churches believe that gibberish spoken in a religious fervor, “speaking in tongues”, is the language of the Spirit of God speaking through a person’s mouth. Like any goofy post-reformation idea, there’s debate about the particulars, but that’s the broad gist.
People want control over their lives. Not necessarily outside control, but being part of this or that community can be a way of feeling in control. If only to believe you are right about something other people are wrong about.
I think that’s the root of most fanaticism one way or another.
What does wanting control have to do with thrashing around like you’re being electrocuted in a cartoon, spouting absolute gibberish? Makes ’em look more like they need immediate medical attention.
Yeah like Amos & Uly said. Its a trance state. Like other trance states, whether religiously ritualized or not, it’s a pretty intense experience. But i agree it might not come from an impulse towards control. If anything I’d guess the opposite, more of a (socially sanctioned) catharsis or release? @Amos do you wanna talk about your research? I’m sure it must be fascinating
I don’t know if religion, god, is real or not, but spiritual ecstasy is pretty real.
I’ve seen the same tongue speech in many churches, and the way people have possessed is similar in another religions.
(It’s strange and awesome, it’s a thing I’m studing currently.)
Speaking in tongues (at least, for some people – there are presumably people who fake it) does involve a mind-altering state, which can be confirmed by putting them in an MRI while they do it.
This doesn’t mean that they’re mentally ill. Lots of things can alter your mental state that have nothing to do with your sanity.
It also doesn’t mean that they actually are being possessed by deities, much less that they’re speaking any sort of language. That should go without saying, but just in case….
There are things that put people in a heightened state of suggestion. Like lighting levels and music, to provoke overwhelming emotion, and people subconsciously act how they think it’s supposed to go.
And some people fake it because they think it’s what’s supposed to happen and they don’t want their friends to know it’s not happening to them for real (and shun them).
There’s literally classes to teach people to think their internal dialogue or other thoughts are actually the god of the Bible communicating with them.
Some of the subterfuge is by design. Some of the practices are just things people did and it was successful at producing the results that perpetuated the practices. To use a loaded analogy, evolution of religious behavior.
From personal experience, the church primed me to think overwhelming emotions were divine. I was raised mainline protestant, for reference. Our pastor occasionally talking about “the peace that passeth understanding” from being touched by the Holy Spirit. The archaic sounding language is important, it gives the idea gravity.
I was pretty religious, but I also had doubts about stuff, and I didn’t go in for creationism, and I generally didn’t expect other people to follow my religious strictures. But I did believe some religious based urban legends, like about divine intervention.
Anyways, once I felt an overwhelming sense of contentment, and I thought, “this must be that peace that passeth understanding, this must be the Holy Spirit.” I didn’t speak in tongues (I already knew that was fake from watching Taxi) or shake, I just relaxed and enjoyed it. It probably helped me repress my doubts for a few years longer. And I wasn’t even in a religious setting. I was around 16, so maybe wonky brain chemistry. It was after a school play, like my short was done and I was just hanging out outside the theater with some friends, so the background level of stress I had from the play was over. The lighting was lowish, and one of my friends was the girl I kind of liked. Looking back, it’s not mysterious at all. But experiencing it, after being taught from a young age that it would be God when I felt like that, that’s how people get that way without mind-altering substances.
I wonder if I were able to experience something like that, I shouldn’t abandon the faith. I have somee classes and camp services like you have described, but nothing worked to me. hahaha.
When I attended a Southern Baptist church they tried to “pray away” my wife’s Catholicism when we got married. This was when we lived in Salt Lake City in the late ’70s, so trying to out-weird the magic underwear people on their home turf…
Both times it’s just for the humor of it. There’s inconsequential things that happen in the strip that are visual metaphors, sight gags, exaggerations, etc. Both the “growing” and “ungrowing” could be replaced with them changing their perception, especially if Joe has whiskers that are still visible a little bit through the skin and will grow out fairly quickly anyways.
“Grow” and “ungrow” are just funnier than her closing her eyes and saying “give me a second, I need to be visualizing you with stubble.”
Loading ...
Joe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht09fEGgPLM
Joyce: ALLOW ME A DEMONSTRATION
I made a world where EVERYTHING can verb
Names? Joyceing just means “to be Joyce”
The Joycening
Joyceing if Age
After all the minute I spent figuring out how to write “joyceing” and forgetting how even spell her name I fuck up “of”
Welcome to Common Englishing Mistakes 101.
“ReJoyceing” is when you were someone else for a moment then went back to being Joyce again
What about rejoycing?
Congrats on your new beardbending powers, Joyce
Beardbending. Can it be done from a distance? What are its limitations? Can one use this power for crime fighting?
Usually when Superheroes have hair powers it’s their own hair
For Beard superpowers specifically, see Action Hank from Dexter’s Laboratory.
It would be the best Crime Fighting power ever lol. The amount of Confusion that would cause as Criminals are suddenly being tangled up by their own 15ft long beards that they didn’t have mere seconds ago.
When the superhero FolliceMan summons stubble to grow inside the villain’s throat…
*FollicleMan
Follicle Man, Fillicle Man
Doin’ the things a follicle can
How does he grow hair
From way over there?
Nobody knows
Follicle Man
Her arch-nemesis is an undead King Camp Gillette
Wasn’t there a beard bender in Doom Patrol?
that does sound like a thing Doom Patrol would do
I very rarely become ill from watching television….
Beard hunter. https://doompatrol.fandom.com/wiki/Ernest_Franklin
no super-powers
Man I wish I could have theses powers. My beard grows unusually fast and I mostly have a week beard after 24 hours. I would make my life so much easier if I could just revert it on the spot.
I knew a guy in the Marine Corps who kept getting in trouble for not being properly clean-shaven, and he eventually had to GET A DOCTOR to verify that his facial hair was simply so dark, coarse, and grew so quickly that the only way he could possibly meet the Corps’ grooming standard would be to shave 2-3 times a day, which could be very bad for his skin. So he got a “beard chit,” which allowed him to simply let it grow out to a full beard, so long as he kept it “well-groomed.”
That must have been an amazing piece of paperwork, both in its mundane nature and yet in the implications in the need for its existence.
Not really. See there is a way to do nearly everything in the military services it just requires someone know how to ask for the proper questions of the proper people. The beard chit is simply one of those things. It exists for several contingencies.
I’m always impressed by the contingencies covered by military bureaucracy.
Stubble just can’t catch a break
Amazing, simply amazing.
Poor Joe, poor Joe’s jaw.
Either A) There was never stubble – Joyce had just smeared chocolate all over Joe’s face that morning and then rubbed it off
B) Joyce has gone from Christianity to Atheism to Satanism cause that is some witch craft.
I all seriousness, I knew a girl in college who went through basically entirely Joyce’s arc – raised as a fundie Christian, lost her faith due to finally living in the real world for a while at school.
The Wiccan phase is next, mark my words.
It’s not a phase mom.
Not to be a jerk, but it is somewhat uncool to refer to anyone’s religion as a phase.
Apologies, didn’t mean for it to come off as dismissive.
Somehow, I doubt that’s nearly as dismissive as True Survivor equating witchcraft and Satanism.
Pretty sure if you’re Wiccan, you don’t believe in Satan, much less worship them.
Satanists don’t believe in Satan either.
Depends on the Satanist, I’ve encountered some online that do believe Satan is real and is just actually the good guy in the Bible.
As an atheist, can confirm Satan is a pretty swell guy.
Yeah, compared with the genocidal Yahweh, the biblical Satan seems millions of times more innocent.
You are confusing Satanism with the Satanic Temple, which is a non-theistic religious organization.
Or their irreligion.
My dear departed mother was convinced my Pagan religion was “just a phase” and I would return to being her good little Southern Baptist boy after people from her church tried to convince me that the world was ending soon and we had to use up all the resources or Gawd would be angry we didn’t finish what He had prepared for us to consume. Yeah a couple of years of that and I started looking for a church that believed we had to conserve the environment so the planet was still livable when He came back.
C) Joyce has realized she is in a comic and is now harnessing the Toon Force
Enjoy that faceful of ingrown hairs, Joe.
ungrown
Degrown
Ex-grown
The Bearded Formerly Known as Joe
Was-kers
Waskers is so good thank you
Oh no i just awarded top comment to yoto with his own cheeky pun, you’ll have to share this one 😘🤌
That’s amazing
Oh, I’m sure they’ll just eject cleanly in reaction to the benign intent behind Joyce’s orders. Her beardbending powers are smarter than she is.
…. Ma Brown has already seen Joe with his hair unkempt and his face stubbly. What’s this supposed to accomplish?
this is supposed to accomplish Joyce not being thirsty in front of her mum.
willingness to look presentable in front of relative? Even walky put in effort lol
I’m certain she doesn’t have object permanence.
I was going to ask which she doesn’t have object permanence, but she’s probably gone now.
The ability to cause beards to grow and shrink may not be the most glamorous super power but it certainly a useful one.
If she can master such a ability, to be able to do it at range, it would be the greatest crime fighting power ever. Just imagine Male and female criminals alike becoming insanely confused as their new 15ft beards they didnt have mere seconds ago tangles them up allowing for easy capture lol.
OH NO
NOT THE WOO
Speaking In Stubble, the Talking Heads album that will never happen because David Byrne and Tina Weymouth hate each other.
Joyce’s Stand Beasty Boys shows its power once more! XD
A “charismatic church”? Does that mean a church that can be described as charismatic, or is that like, a Charismatic Church®️ sort of deal? I mean, is it a basic adjective or proper noun?
She probably means any church that has a non-zero chance of reminding you that this is the 21st century. 😑
So, none of them?
Judging by what’s happening in the third panel i think she means one of those churches that does exorcisms and getting possessed by the holy spirit n stuff. Like pentecostals.
I dunno but I’m assuming it’s the kind where people are expected to have mass hysteria and start shrieking in the middle of the service
Generally it means these folks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_Christianity
All I can think when I read about these things, even the tamer stuff, is “People really live this way?”, and I know that’s a judgmental thing to think.
Good judgment is important.
I’m honestly surprised that Joyce’s church wasn’t already one of these. It seemed culty enough.
The various right wing factions of Christianity can be very judgmental of each other.
Really, this happens everywhere. See the “left wing circular firing squad”.
What’s this about a firing squad?
Different types of cults. like, Amish vs Mormon vs this stuff
I was gonna out Jehovas witness in there too but i actually have no idea what their services are like or how they’d compare to the others. I assume they’re very boring.
What is the Charisma modifier on a church?
It’s gotta be pretty high, to suck in so many people. And to convince them they need to build a new one every few fucking years, making sure to pop one on every street corner they can.
Depends on what its player rolled at chargen, obviously.
She probably means faith healing, like Benny Hinn type theatrics.
Benny Hill?
Benny Hinn is a faith healer televangelist. Does “beseeching” pronouncements and puts his hand on someone’s head and makes them fall over. He actually uses suggestion and self-defense techniques to make them lose their balance. I saw a video of a devout Christian who was a self-defense instructor debunking him.
You’re making it sound really entertaining, like people come up on his stage and he starts unleashing combo attacks on ’em for the Lord.
“➡️⬇️↘️➕✊”
Isaiah 19:87
He cons sick people out of money by like pushing on their temples.
Oh, so he’s a worthless leech, same as the rest of ’em. Good to know.
Something like this, perhaps?
The video of the self defense instructor / pastor debunking Hinn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bffI10DDj-c&t=120s
It’s a proper noun for a particular form of Christianity. “Getting the Holy Spirit” and “speaking in tongues” feature prominently in Charismatic Christian churches.
The root here, BTW, is the Middle English “karisme” meaning “spiritual gift” or “divine power.”
Teleportation AND the ability to summon facial hair at will? What CAN’T Joyce do?
Not be ND about food.
All proper Heroes have to have Hangups. Nuff Said!
Or use exercise machines properly.
can’t believe it works lmfao
He’s reverted from Super Stud 4 to his base form.
Are you really sure there’s no SEMME in DoA? I could use Joyce’s powers on a couple of characters…
Exhibit C of Joe as an oversized teddy bear
Joyce has complete control over facial hair I guess. Not the greatest super power you could get honestly but it’s better than nothing.
It is 100% one of the best super powers ever if mastered lol. Just think of all the possibilities that would come with being able to force hair growth on people, stopping villains with their own newly grown beards as they get tangled up in it lol.
XD Hey, whatever works!
The last hairbender.
Long ago there was peace on the clean shaven face, then the stubble nation attacked!
someone get this commenter a chicken dinner because we have a certain WINNER
My suspension of disbelief is ruined, ruined I tell you.
less believable than amber basically being an irl ver of kick ass while having social anxiety?
That’s not Amber, that’s Amazi-Girl, two different people who share the same body.
even if you could disassociate, you’d still need physical strength. i know amber mentioned being in track and field during school, team sports doesn’t seem like the type of thing she’d sign up for unless she also disassociated into her amazigirl persona while doing it or doesn’t have the mental space to be anxious if she’s busy/exhausted running laps or so
They’re just altering their perception filters.
lol i’m surprised some ppl wouldn’t keep a pocket razor (even if a bit dangerous) to do a quick shave if they have to ‘on the go’ or so lol
and, carol’s surprisingly calm for this kinda behavior unless joyce acted ‘weirder’ at home/has somehow ‘forced’ some of her church peers/friends to be more ‘kempt’ around/spruce up or so
Could be she’s happy to see Joyce with a boy (I don’t think Joyce has ever dated) especially considering that her best friend is a Lesbian, so she’s probably worried that Joyce has been “”””corrupted”””” by Becky.
well, she did briefly date ethan before he came out
tho i suppose with joyce having multiple brothers, putting her hand over his mouth isn’t rly that inappropriate/something that could’ve happened in a lighthearted play-fight
Either Joyce has magic powers, or Joe is trying frighteningly hard to be a good boyfriend and I am impressed either way
well, if ‘5 o clock shadow’ is a thing , maybe it can be the reverse for some.
…it’s working, dear god is she strong.
In Jesus’ name, begone! …wait, Jesus might not be the right name to invoke to banish a beard.
Could be taking all of the world’s beards onto Himself.
I thought joyce didn’t have superpowers in this universe
She just has different superpowers. Instead of superstrength and the physics engine for flight, she got beard control and teleport-to-Dorothy. I’m assuming from the wildly inconsistent results that the characters are generating powers by rolling on the tables for the old Marvel FASERIP system.
Or the STUPERPOWERS RPG tables.
We’ll know for sure if someone gets “Summon Mariachi Band”.
okay I understand that this is what Joyce wants and Joe is a great boyfriend for being understanding and doing his best.
But I still want Carol to do something BATSHIT and for Joe to get protective. For reasons.
There’s a good chance Walky is going to get a chance at that with his parental lunch time, but who knows what his reaction will actually be!
oh shit we still have THAT.
Carol seem surprisingly calm this time around. Since she have glasses, she seems to be much less agressive.
…But I wouldn’t suprised if this was a facade.
Snikt!
So, I’ve been slightly curious about religion in like a “see what they’re doing at that table” sorta way, but there’s not a lot of diversity for that here (xtian/”witch” and that’s it). This is probably a stupid/insensitive question, but how’s a body supposed to ease into/try out these sorta things without disrupting or upsetting people?
Become a Unitarian first and then people expect you to try things out.
my parents are tehcniclaly buddhist/they’re pretty chill, wen ever went to any temples if there is any in teh south tho other than doing the ‘offering incense/lighting sticks with a meal at the table for departed spirits’ we don’t do anything esp ‘religious/spiritual’
For any organized/led religion you can probably find livestreams/recordings of services — a lot of places started those up during the pandemic if they didn’t already have them. Of course, most places will also welcome visitors if you just ask — recruitment is fundamentally a part of any religion’s strategy — but you do have to find them first, and there’s always the issue of them being TOO “welcoming”.
For any more personal religions without official services it would definitely be a lot harder, but I’m sure someone has videos of 101 explaining the core of what they do.
Goddamn it, of course there’s probably videos. I keep forgetting YouTube has more than video game history, music videos, and Zelda conspiracy theories. It might be smarter to check that way, because people being too welcoming can be really stressful and usually drives me away from new things.
Talk to people you know. You’re probably acquainted with people who practice this religion or that, but haven’t become Pod People, and would be glad to discuss the topic with you calmly and let you be yourself. Such people do exist — they just don’t call attention to themselves, so we’re less aware of them.
The only trouble here is the first 10 words. If I ever start being acquainted with people though, I’ll give it a shot.
If you’re interested in doing this in meatspace, I’d say walk into any place of worship and ask if you can talk to someone, or maybe just sit around. Most religious communities emphasize openness, peace, connection. They will typically be pretty happy and chill with outsiders, even agnostics or atheists, respectfully engaging and wanting to learn about them. Places of worship have rules, so it’s good to ask someone what those are but they won’t freak out if you mess up, they’ll just tell you, they know you don’t know how things are done until you’re told. i’m generalizing a lot, but i’m reacting to your worry about upsetting people, and i don’t think it’s as likely as you seem to think?
Now obviously some religious groups are bigoted or culty, so perhaps do a small bit of research online before you walk in.
I’ll have to dig around and see if there are even any non-Christian places of worship around here. That’s like, the one religion I’m kinda good on learning about, cuz it’s fuckin’ creepy to observe.
A quick Google search (filtered to exclude anything with “christ” in the name) brings up “Freedom From Religion groups” (sounds like a subreddit), the local Jehovah’s Witnesses (shitty filter I guess), and something called “Baha’i Faith” (sounds vaguely familiar, might look it up).
Don’t know a whole lot about the Baha’i but what i know i like.
They’re a recent (19th century) religion that basically goes, “those monotheisms had some good ideas but they were founded in a very different world and are no longer adapted. Why not keep the fundamental values of spiritual connection, peace and tolerance but update all the rest?”
They advocate for world peace, are in favour of scientific knowledge and just generally seem chill and reasonable. But like i said, i don’t know much
I looked into it a little bit (skimmed Wikipedia), and it seems mostly harmless? I saw something about a “voluntary 19%” tithe-like thing, which is an immediate red flag and they could apparently use a little work on their queer-inclusive policies (you can marry if you’re trans, but it’s worded to sound like only if you’ve gotten surgeries). I think this might be one my sibling was telling me about months ago.
Freedom From Religion Foundation is an advocacy group, advocating for the separation of church and state. They are not opposed to people being religious, but are opposed to laws and attitudes that discriminate or stigmatize the irreligious.
Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the Office) has some explainers because he’s Bahai, I kind of stopped watching after he conflated atheism with scientific naturalism, but I expect when he gets to Bahai it’s more informative. https://bahaiteachings.org/what-is-bahai-faith-introduction-by-rainn-wilson/
Other than Christianity and Islam, the major world religions are Buddhism and Hinduism. There’s most likely ISKCON (Hare Krishna) around, they’re a sect of Hinduism, and they love sharing info about their religion (for proselytizing). I went to a buffet once, and it turned out to be a Hare Krishna temple and I, uh, was not as bashful as I could have been fact checking the guy during his proselytizing.
Keep in mind that Hinduism is a lot more varied than the sects of Christianity or sects of Islam, so Hare Krishnas aren’t going to really give you a good understanding of all of Hinduism.
It’s probably difficult to find, but the best information about a religion will come from an apostate. Someone who has been out of religion long enough the hard feelings aren’t so fresh, they’ll have compassion and sympathy for people in that religion, but has a deep understanding and won’t obfuscate the silly or nasty parts. I expect I am biased, but that’s my reasoning.
You could also NOT join a cult just because you’re having a midlife crisis and need some place to belong.
Nobody said anything about joining a cult, just because someone is interested in learning about religious diversity in a ‘oooh, whatcha doing’ way.
That’s how it stared with my uncle. Also, isn’t it a little bit privileged to treat other people’s religions as a curiosity?
Privileged, maybe, in the sense that not everyone has the ability to do it. But I consider it a good thing to try to better understand other people’s values, worldviews, systems of ethics, and beliefs.
Yeah, I’m trying to stop being so anxious/self-conscious about learning new things. I build up these ideas in my head that no matter what I try to learn, someone’s going to forcibly shove me “back in my lane”, so to speak, and then with that baseline assumption of rejection, I’ve been kinda stifling my own growth. The worst anyone can do about it is be terse with me over the internet, and there’s literally billions of other people anyway so one rude person isn’t an entire group’s mouthpiece.
If you treat it like something weird/bad that only weirdos/freaks do, sure, but if you’re just curious and want to learn more about people then no.
Taffy, I wouldn’t worry. As long as you’re not being jerky, it’ll be okay.
Damn, there go my plans to extract religious information at knifepoint in a candle lit room.
Perhaps, but it’s not nearly as rude as treating them all like a cult.
If you don’t want to talk to people, there are a zillion religious books you could read. Or if you want to find more ‘lived experience’ type deals, you could find blogs by people in those religions.
I’m gonna admit something slightly embarrassing, but I’ve never knowingly read (or even seen) a blog and been aware I was doing it. Books though, they live at the librarby. I know books’ home address, I can find ’em easy.
That’s fine! But yes, there’s lots of religious memoirs and things like that too.
I dunno if you have a university login or anything but many of them also have religious encyclopedias or databases you could look at. So would many libraries.
It’d have to be a library, for sure. I haven’t got enough money for a university, but libraries are (currently) free, which is exactly within my budget.
I’m getting Sage working vibes, and the last Cradle book just dropped haha. Does Joyce have a touch of an Icon perhaps?
Is this an anime reference?
Joyce has a copy of the Claire Bible.
Okay Google: What is a Claire Bible?
After looking it up, the answer seems to be “Yes, it’s an anime reference.”
Haha well maybe their reference was! I wish mine was. It would make a great anime.
No, its a 12 book series by Will Wight. First book is called “Unsouled,” if you wanted to check it out. Highly recommend.
“What kind of noises are those?”
Do fundies really talk this stilted, or is this just Carol being Carol? She asked something like “what is the meaning of the symbols on your clothing” the first time she saw Joyce in her D&MM stuff during freshman family weekend.
Stilted? How else would you ask the question?
“What are you doing?” is a good start. She knows what grunting sounds like, unless she’s somehow never heard anyone exerting effort in her entire life.
“What’s the symbolism behind the clothes you’re wearing?” So not quite as robotic but still weird as hell. She’s got a bizarre mind that runs on indecipherable logic.
Religion can affect people that way, and some groups encourage it. Everything becomes symbolic.
Yes, Joyce now worships Charisma. She’s learning to be a Diplomancer.
JOYCE BROWN: FAITH BARBER
you get Turn Facial Hair at level 5 of whatever cleric she is.
….. did Carol….. did Carol just fucking….. see Joyce making noises and placing her hands on Joe and then just correlate it to a church thing…. even though, contextually, it’s obviously not…..
….. oh god does Carol actually think Joyce is legit trying to “Pray the Stubble Away”?….
No, it’s stupider than that.
That’s all I’m going to say on the subject, it’s too stupid to explain.
So you don’t understand it either.
No, you see, I WANT TO KNOW.
So in the book of Acts, there’s a story of the Spirit of God coming down on people and causing them to speak in languages not their own, to the surprise of the Greeks, Romans, etc, who were like “Whoa, that Israelite is speaking my language about some god.” Fast forward 1900 years, and some Southern Christian churches believe that gibberish spoken in a religious fervor, “speaking in tongues”, is the language of the Spirit of God speaking through a person’s mouth. Like any goofy post-reformation idea, there’s debate about the particulars, but that’s the broad gist.
What I wanna know is, how do people get whipped up into that much of a lather without mind-altering substances? It’s sorta disturbing.
People want control over their lives. Not necessarily outside control, but being part of this or that community can be a way of feeling in control. If only to believe you are right about something other people are wrong about.
I think that’s the root of most fanaticism one way or another.
What does wanting control have to do with thrashing around like you’re being electrocuted in a cartoon, spouting absolute gibberish? Makes ’em look more like they need immediate medical attention.
I think you just described an intense orgasm.
Yeah like Amos & Uly said. Its a trance state. Like other trance states, whether religiously ritualized or not, it’s a pretty intense experience. But i agree it might not come from an impulse towards control. If anything I’d guess the opposite, more of a (socially sanctioned) catharsis or release? @Amos do you wanna talk about your research? I’m sure it must be fascinating
@Yotomoe You might be on to something, here. I’d totally find excuses to go to church if it involved more fuckin’.
@Yotomoe: that’s a dangerous way of analyze this, but go on.
I don’t know if religion, god, is real or not, but spiritual ecstasy is pretty real.
I’ve seen the same tongue speech in many churches, and the way people have possessed is similar in another religions.
(It’s strange and awesome, it’s a thing I’m studing currently.)
@milu: My main source is this video list that I’m keeping.https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDVvC_EZqzRztRdr3LHPKpxg5iKqcWzXF
TW: Lot of christian people.
Speaking in tongues (at least, for some people – there are presumably people who fake it) does involve a mind-altering state, which can be confirmed by putting them in an MRI while they do it.
This doesn’t mean that they’re mentally ill. Lots of things can alter your mental state that have nothing to do with your sanity.
It also doesn’t mean that they actually are being possessed by deities, much less that they’re speaking any sort of language. That should go without saying, but just in case….
There are things that put people in a heightened state of suggestion. Like lighting levels and music, to provoke overwhelming emotion, and people subconsciously act how they think it’s supposed to go.
And some people fake it because they think it’s what’s supposed to happen and they don’t want their friends to know it’s not happening to them for real (and shun them).
There’s literally classes to teach people to think their internal dialogue or other thoughts are actually the god of the Bible communicating with them.
Some of the subterfuge is by design. Some of the practices are just things people did and it was successful at producing the results that perpetuated the practices. To use a loaded analogy, evolution of religious behavior.
From personal experience, the church primed me to think overwhelming emotions were divine. I was raised mainline protestant, for reference. Our pastor occasionally talking about “the peace that passeth understanding” from being touched by the Holy Spirit. The archaic sounding language is important, it gives the idea gravity.
I was pretty religious, but I also had doubts about stuff, and I didn’t go in for creationism, and I generally didn’t expect other people to follow my religious strictures. But I did believe some religious based urban legends, like about divine intervention.
Anyways, once I felt an overwhelming sense of contentment, and I thought, “this must be that peace that passeth understanding, this must be the Holy Spirit.” I didn’t speak in tongues (I already knew that was fake from watching Taxi) or shake, I just relaxed and enjoyed it. It probably helped me repress my doubts for a few years longer. And I wasn’t even in a religious setting. I was around 16, so maybe wonky brain chemistry. It was after a school play, like my short was done and I was just hanging out outside the theater with some friends, so the background level of stress I had from the play was over. The lighting was lowish, and one of my friends was the girl I kind of liked. Looking back, it’s not mysterious at all. But experiencing it, after being taught from a young age that it would be God when I felt like that, that’s how people get that way without mind-altering substances.
Well, that seems mighty comprehensive. Thanks for sharing! It makes more sense now.
I wonder if I were able to experience something like that, I shouldn’t abandon the faith. I have somee classes and camp services like you have described, but nothing worked to me. hahaha.
A briefer explanation, from the strip, “there are key changes, the key changes feel like God.”
Joyces list of powers continues to grow. And never fails to astound and amaze me.
Is… Joyce magical?
Joe, you marry that girl. Right now. Her mom’s an ordained minister or something.
Joyce is a Magical Girl?
She can teleport…
The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Like un-growing your boyfriend’s facial hair, apparently.
Joyce does have super powers. o.O
Horror powers! O.O
I wonder if Carol is going to take this as Joyce attempting to pray away Joe’s Jewishness. If she does that may be a road too far for him.
…. that too.
When I attended a Southern Baptist church they tried to “pray away” my wife’s Catholicism when we got married. This was when we lived in Salt Lake City in the late ’70s, so trying to out-weird the magic underwear people on their home turf…
HOLY MACARONI SHE HAS BEARD POWERS?????
(I know she made it grow earlier in the day but I thought it just grew by itself because Joe had that kind of hair genetics)
There is no “That kind of hair genetics”
Other people had stated on the commentaries of that day that their stubble was basically back by 11AM ^^
Both times it’s just for the humor of it. There’s inconsequential things that happen in the strip that are visual metaphors, sight gags, exaggerations, etc. Both the “growing” and “ungrowing” could be replaced with them changing their perception, especially if Joe has whiskers that are still visible a little bit through the skin and will grow out fairly quickly anyways.
“Grow” and “ungrow” are just funnier than her closing her eyes and saying “give me a second, I need to be visualizing you with stubble.”
Of course she does. She dated Ethan, after all.
😄 TOP COMMENT
Lol now Carol thinks Joyce is the one who’s gone off the deep end
God forbide me, but it will be a tragedy if Carol joins a pentecostal church, like Assembly of God.
Ok how in the FUCK
Joyce could always just kill her mom and frame Mary for it. Doesn’t seem very difficult, and it would eliminate two antagonists.
Superman could easily beat Lex Luthor if he get this “hair control” super power…
If Joyce has hair *growing* powers, I foresee an extremely lucrative career in treating baldness.
… Is Carol gonna hit on Joe? Because if so, that would be hilarious.
BEGONE, 10AM SHADOW, I BANISH THEE TO THE DEPTHS OF THE DRAINSSSSS