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Today, in a symbolic act, Iranians set fire to the flags of Israel and the United States, as well as an obelisk and a statue of Baal—which they described as a symbol of Satan—in various cities across Iran in response to the release of the Epstein documents.
Yeah, but... why go after baal for being satanic, instead of going after satan directly? I don't quite understand why baal is taking the spotlight when you could have simply made a statue of satan, but I'm sure there's a reason.
Muslims don't generally don't have a representation of what Satan looks like, Baal is an idol, already has a shape
Not an unreasonable explanation, thank you!
Baal simply means "Lord," or "master," as I stated earlier.
... You did? I'm sorry, I didn't see where you mentioned that.
Probably because I stated it after your posts, my fault, entirely, I should have linked you. https://kbin.earth/m/worldnews@lemmy.ml/t/2396552/-/comment/11212850
More on things you may find interesting
https://kbin.earth/m/worldnews@lemmy.ml/t/2396552/Iranians-set-fire-to-the-flags-of-Israel-and-the/comment/11213043#entry-comment-11213043
https://kbin.earth/m/worldnews@lemmy.ml/t/2396552/-/comment/11216059
It's taken me several years to get all this stuff, and we're just not taught it. Christianity has it's own political agenda, largely began to validate Constantine's conquests, evolved over time to support European's and USA's.
And Judaism began as Abraham leaving either Babylon or Chelsea, choosing to worship one of their many gods, and conquer and colonize, and so on since Summer and before.
Thank you! Those are very interesting!
You're welcome! Even though you follow Satanism, I daresay a deep dive into these topics will irrevocably change your understanding and relationship with your own faith! Another interesting point of reference to look into is the difference in understanding between Judaism and the ha-satan and Christianity's Satan!
Ah, thank you! But I'm afraid you may have the wrong idea: The Satanic Temple (which I am a part of) is in all but name a secular humanitarian organization - formed in opposition to the various religious authoritarian movements in the US. The trappings of satanism are only there to serve as a way to bait hypocrisy. I'm only interested in this topic from a cultural standpoint, as I'm not personally religious. I do appreciate the thought though!
Because Baal is actually in the religious texts
If you're going for textual literalism sure fair enough, but what's confusing me is that they then go outside the bounds of that to invoke satan anyways. And aside from that, it's not like (figures that you can reasonably call a satan/devil analog if you dont want to start a fight) aren't in the Torah, Koran and Bible - why not build a statue of Iblis, the progenitor of devils? And why describe Baal as a symbol of satan instead of just going after satan directly, since that means you already believe satan exists?
I guess I'm just trying to figure out the symbolism here. Burning the flags is pretty clear, but the statue and the obelisk seem more like they're an act aimed at worshiping false idols (what Baal is primarily used for in the various texts) which... is that what they're accusing the US/Israel of? Because that seems like a largely semantic question given they're all worshiping the same god, and just burning a satan-analog would be a much clearer message about opposition to evil than the sorta abstract concept presented by Baal in any of the texts.