#worldviews — Public Fediverse posts

Blog: I Went to Barnes & Noble. Say Hello to Witchcraft.

I haven’t been to Barnes & Noble in a while. Have I wanted to go? Yes. Have I found the time to? No. But that all changed last weekend. For the first time in two years or so, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to my local Barnes & Noble to see what they’re peddling in the Year of Our Lord 2026.

Holy crap, is it bad.

The last time I was at Barnes & Noble, while I wasn’t looking at a lot of stuff except the YA fiction section, I remember seeing quite a few books that were focused on LGBTQ+ outside of just the YA section. But fast forward two years and it seems that while LGBTQ+ is still popular, something else has largely usurped its place on the shelves. That something is witchcraft and New Age.

We are just running at a hundred miles an hour to Armageddon, aren’t we? As a society, we just cannot wait to get there.

Thrown in with the books on psychology, relationships, and philosophy are a ton of books all focused on witchcraft, the New Age, and the occult. Books in this category range from a book by National Geographic explaining what Wicca and the New Age are, the Wicca Bible (which is interesting since Wiccans basically wing everything), the “missing” books of the Bible (i.e. the Gnostic gospels and other apocryphal works), books about numerology, finding your angel name, etc. My mom and I even found a book that was being sold at a New Age expo by some people who were peddling power pyramids. Oh, and they also sold various tarot decks…because of course they did. (I also later found out that you can buy Ouija boards at Barnes & Noble, too.)

But besides the fact that Barnes & Noble is pushing New Age and the occult in the psychology, relationships, and philosophy section, I also need to say something about those sections besides the fact that they pretty much provide you with all the tools you need for a demon-summoning ritual. And that is the fact that, apparently, no one has class anymore. I saw several self-help and relationship books that had the F-word in the title and one book that, I’m not kidding, was called the P-pedia. I’ll leave it to you to figure out the word attached to -pedia. Sure, it does its job at catching your attention, but it just goes to show how we apparently have no class as a society.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

But, of course, you know me. I haven’t yet gotten to the main attraction – the godforsaken YA section and my thoughts on it.

Overall, I think this section might actually be worse now than it was back in 2024. Sure, two years ago it was mainly LGBTQ+ love stories being peddled to children, and while that influence is still definitely there, the occult and the dark romance genre have also made things worse. Not only did I see multiple books being sold there targeted toward young women where the main characters are actual witches and summon demons (I wish I was making this up), but I also came across a book that illustrates almost everything wrong with the publishing industry. That book is called Kingdom of the Feared – a book that was positioned to get people to buy it – and here’s the book’s description:

Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesn’t simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soul—but that’s something the enigmatic demon can’t promise her.

When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and she’s quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.

Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest that’s brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.

Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.

Two curses.
One prophecy.
A reckoning all have feared.

And a love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stalking the Jack the Ripper series comes the steamy conclusion to Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy.

Already, from the description of the book, you can not only tell that this book is – I’m just gonna say it – demonic, promoting a sexual relationship in Hell between a girl and a literal demon, but you can tell this shouldn’t be in the YA Fiction section or categorized as YA. This should be in the adult fiction section right next to the Playboys since, according to one Goodreads review, this book includes…

Sexual Content-Mentions of groping, intimate touching, trying to take clothes off, two characters go swimming naked (guy and girl), mention of 0rgi3$, passionate kissing, thoughts of sex, innuendos, mentions of prostitution, mention of a threesome, sex, implications of m@$terb@tion, telling someone to m@$terb@te, LOTS of lust, thinking of characters naked, talking about bedding people, mentions of doing someone until they see stars, mentions of using chains during sex, talk about sucking and sucking…(I think you can fill in the blank) and witnessing very public displays of sex in a very derogatory way. (Hence why this was NA.)

Other Goodreads reviews also say that the book starts with smut, the plot also revolves around reincarnation and soulmates, the main character is a witch, and there’s more smut than plot. And according to another reviewer, you can find this book in the YA corner of public libraries. This should be nowhere near there.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, one of the most popular books in the YA section that was on a best-sellers table was a book called Bitten. Like Kingdom of the Feared, this too is a paranormal romance and is described on Goodreads as “Crescent City meets Fourth Wing.” Now, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros has become notorious online for being smutty, so such a comparison does not bode well for this book, and sure enough, according to the 1-star reviews Goodreads, it’s just as smutty.

Remember, both stories are marketed as being for young adults – 12-18 years old. This is stuff that no 12-18-year-old should ever be reading, period. The fact that it’s even targeted at this age range should make everyone want to burn the publishing companies to the ground because here’s the thing. Before a book is published, it has to go through several people who read it, edit it, and ultimately, give it the green light. For these authors to be writing smut in a book aimed at young teens and then for the agents, editors, and publishers to publish and promote it as YA is beyond disturbing. It’s straight up predatory. It is not only an attack on your child’s innocence, but is an attack on their souls, especially as these books continue to glorify the occult more and more.

At this rate, my advice to parents is if your child wants to buy a book, YA or not, check the 1-star Goodreads reviews to make sure you’re not accidentally handing your child a book full of porn.

Until next time,

M.J.

Apologetics: Atheism Confuses Me – Is Atheism a Monoclaim Philosophy?

A few weeks ago, I posted a short video on my YouTube channel reacting to an atheist’s reason for rejecting God. Essentially, his reasoning all boiled down to the existence of Hell and the question of “How can a good God allow Hell to exist and allow people to go there?” I gave my response, explaining how his rejection of God is based on a giant misunderstanding of how Hell work, and a few weeks after posting that video, I got an atheist in the comments who wished to debate me about how free will can exist when God knows everything.

We commented back and forth for a bit, and while I also went off on a sort of tangent about how atheism can’t support the existence of free will (which I’ll do a post on at some point; my backlog of post ideas is ridiculous), he went on a massive side quest about how atheism is superior because it’s a monoclaim philosophy. The commentor wrote:

You also brought up atheism. But atheism and agnosticism are monoclaim philosophies. Atheism says: God does not exist. Agnosticism says: we don’t know. That’s it. Compare that with organized religions. Most religions don’t stop at “God exists.” They make a million claims. God exists, and He wants us to stay virgin till marriage. God exists, and He wants us to gather at place XYZ once a week. God exists, and He wants us to have children. God exists, and property should be distributed a certain way. God exists, and don’t eat certain foods. God exists, and men and women should behave differently. God exists, and this scripture is divine. God exists, and this prophet is correct. God exists, and this is the only path. God exists, and there is heaven. God exists, and there is hell. God exists, and the universe was created in a specific sequence. That’s a million claims, not one.

Some monoclaim theists exist too. People who simply say: “I think God exists.” They don’t claim to know what He wants. They don’t assume He’s loving. They don’t assume He interferes. They’re open to the possibility that God could be indifferent, cruel, absent, or impossible to understand. But they’re rare. Most believers belong to organized religions that go far beyond “God exists.”

It’s an interesting point, but if we think about it, atheism and agnosticism can’t really be “monoclaim philosophies.” As the commentor said, atheism makes the claim that God doesn’t exist, and agnosticism makes the claim that you simply don’t know either way. However, while these are single claims, if you are to follow them down the logical rabbit hole, they don’t stay that way for long.

When you make a claim as big as “God doesn’t exist,” then logically, you must start explaining other aspects of reality, such as “How did the universe get here? Why is morality a thing?” One major claim about reality must lead to other major claims about reality.

Similarly, agnosticism also has to make major claims about reality after its central claim of “I don’t know if there’s a God.” Once again, it also has to explain how we got here, how morals exist, etc.

Ultimately, the argument that atheism/agnosticism is somehow better than belief in a God or gods because it just claims one thing is ridiculous. No matter if you’re an atheist, agnostic, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, whatever, the claim that you base your beliefs on must naturally lead to other claims to explain other aspects of our existence.

For instance, if you say there is no God and the question of morality comes up, then you must make some big claims to figure out where they came from. Did we evolve morals? Are morals subjective or set? Who/what determines morality? What if one person’s sense of morality doesn’t align with mine?

However, if you believe there is a God and you’re asked the same question, it’s likely easier to answer since you can point to that being as the final arbiter of morality instead of coming up with some theory about how chemicals in our brains evolved to allow us to create morality. It’s still a big claim that you’re making, especially when you get into specific things God wants us to do, but it’s one that makes a lot more sense.

Until next time,

M.J.

@themarginalian.org @science Here's another great posting of wisdom, wit, and warm intelligence.

Maria Popova's view of our worlds, and her clear-sightedness are unparalleled. Stand on her shoulders and survey humanity.

"Letting in the Golden Light: Oliver Sacks on How Love Changes What We See", by The Marginalian:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2026/03/07/oliver-sacks-love-letters/
#WritersOfMastodon #Worldviews #Neurology

Awesome: Substack Will Now Include The Estimated Time It’ll Take For You To Skim Through An Essay And Find The Bit That Confirms Your Miserable Excuse For A Worldview

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://clickhole.com/awesome-substack-will-now-include-the-estimated-time-itll-take-for-you-to-skim-through-an-essay-and-find-the-bit-that-confirms-your-miserable-excuse-for-a-worldview/

United States Thanksgiving, and other stories we tell about “ourselves”

https://r.flora.ca/p/united-states-thanksgiving

#Thanksgiving #OriginStories #WorldViews

It was such a pleasure to workshop the Sentientism worldview with the new class of trainee Religious Education teachers at University College London last week. Glad these young teachers will be helping thousands of kids to understand the worldviews of others and to shape their own 🤩

#sentientisteducation @ucl #ReTeachh #religiouseducation #worldviews #sentientism

Religious Education teachers might be the most important people 🤩

They're helping kids to explore, understand and examine worldviews and to shape their own.

I've been lucky to present to hundreds of them about the #Sentientism worldview in recent months at conferences and network events. Here's a recent recording.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/wmNHsGm3rFA

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-classroom-sentientism-230/id1540408008?i=1000715863637

#ReTeach #worldviews #sentientism #RVE #RWE #philosophy

John Newton wrote, “Amazing Grace” and here condemns the slave trade. He compares kindnapping a person from a street in London vs. a trail in Africa. The slave trade creates a market for this oppression and robbery.

Are there incentives for oppression and robbery today? I had a Reformed pastor in a bible study tell me that Christians should not be talking about “oppression”.

How can you help oppression and robbery to fail?

#christian #sharing #dailyword #dailybread #worldviews

The University for #HumanisticStudies/ UvH joins the NLRN as an institutional member!

At the NLRN, we want to make a range of epistemic voices heard in the discussion around #reproducibility and #replicability of #science and #scholarship. With their research portofolio focusing on #worldviews and humane societies, the UvH complements the voices of the other, more technical and generalistic institutions TU Delft, TU/e, RUG and escience Center.

Foto: Gaelle Marcel for Unsplash

If we're not sure why #worldviews matter consider the influence of Christianity, Islam, Sanatana Dharma, Buddhism, Yoruba, Sikhism, Judaism, Humanism...

Now imagine the #sentientism worldview's potential impacts via: "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings".

HappyNewYear 💚

Why do #worldviews matter?

Because they steer every decision taken by those with power and influence (humans... & maybe AIs too) - for good or ill .

Make sure you pick a good one - if you're allowed. Like #Sentientism's "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings".

Australia's semantic struggles over a "one and only" reality or a pluriverse?
From the 'heart of darkness' to the “sanitised” articles of sub/urban place names.

"Some (Wikipedia) editors told us they felt it was their responsibility to include First Nations’ perspectives, even though they met with heavy resistance. One, Lucas, had repeatedly tried to include First Nations place names, often unsuccessfully. He no longer edits Wikipedia. “I just ran out of energy for it”...One or two editors “were going around removing Aboriginal place names from all the articles about Australia and Australian places”.
>>
https://theconversation.com/we-analysed-35-000-wikipedia-entries-about-australian-places-some-sanitised-history-others-privileged-fiction-over-reality-241364
#wikipedia #SettlerSociety #Australia #SocialImaginary #ImaginedCommunity #fiction #violence #FirstNations #TruthTelling #naming #IndigenousKnowledge #pluriverse #EditWars #WorldMaking #EpistemicInjustice #language #framing #worldviews #AI

I was at the KFC, and my phone was unlocked with Maimi Yajima's photo as wallpaper. Then a guy at the side saw the pic and asked what movies she made. He said "she looks like a porn star". She is just a TV celeb.
I fucking hate their minds.

#Japan #矢島舞美 #worldviews #Culture

I was at the KFC, and my phone was unlocked with Maimi Yajima's photo as wallpaper. Then a guy at the side saw the pic and asked what movies she made. He said "she looks like a porn star". She is just a TV celeb.
I fucking hate their minds.

#Japan #矢島舞美 #worldviews #Culture

“The larger the [climate] crisis grows, the more kinds of change become inevitable. The worse things get, the narrower our options.

The narrower, too, grow the options of our children and future descendents. Our job is not to decide the future, but to leave the future as many options as possible.”

“Being a good ancestor means leaving open doors to a wider number of good futures.”

#AlexSteffen on #ClimateChange #futurism #WorldViews

https://alexsteffen.substack.com/p/old-thinking-will-break-your-brain?

Feedback from the Northern #RETeacher network 💚:

"Absolutely loved the Sentientism discussion. Ironically, as teachers we don’t learn enough new stuff! Can’t wait to implement it."

Join our next one for free! https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/952586280207

#TeamRE #RethinkRE #Worldviews #Sentientism

« We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a hope. Part of the terror is to take back our listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light. »

― Hildegard von Bingen

🔗 · https://poligraf.tumblr.com/post/719338261871460352/we-cannot-live-in-a-world-interpreted-for-us-by

#quotes #HildegardVonBingen #worldviews #listening #hope #voice #light #authenticity

Thomas Watson, Puritan minister, writing on mercy, considers various people in need. The orphan and widow cry out in tears. Help the unemployed. Be eyes to blind & feet to lame. Whole families may sink if no one shores them up.

(Not too many, “I told you so” lectures are being advocated by Watson).

How can you show mercifulness today?

#christian #workforjesus #walkinthetruth #esg #worldviews

I was checking those posters I shared here yesterday. Some wonders why I left the Gothic movement: during the 2010's I made some changes in my worldview then my philosophy became so different that made me apart of that counterculture and other things.
#Goth #exGoth #Worldviews

Lithium extraction is a booming industry, putting two worldviews into tension. Lithium is a raw material for a modern industrial society that can power green technologies. For Indigenous communities in Bolivia, lithium is part of a sacred being that deserves respect and care.

#lithium #indigenous #worldviews

https://theconversation.com/raw-materials-or-sacred-beings-lithium-extraction-puts-two-worldviews-into-tension-200047

" #Indigenous #Knowledge provides effective solutions to environmental threats and pressures. Using approaches that fully include Indigenous concepts, #ideas, #worldviews, knowledge, process, and #practice helps the recovery of threatened species and endangered #ecosystems, but it is essential that such work engages with Indigenous Peoples and that engagement is respectful, reciprocal, and meaningful"

@philosophy
#philosophy #epistemology #science #sustainability

https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/3521

An IDIOT said to me: "read and research". I say idiot because that's what he do not, and his arguments are still wrong according what I've read and researched before or after.
Idiot.
Advice: read, research and keep sources before create arguments.
#debate #arguments #worldviews

Speaking of worldviews...

I'm still chuckling over this. Thanks, Christopher Michaels! @wildmandrake

Expand for the whole joke.

#philosophy #worldview #worldviews #Descartes #humor #humour