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Friday::Aug 23, 2024

Religious Symbols

T

here's some Cum Town episode out there where the boys are discussing Islam for some reason, and mention the crescent moon and star. Nick says that it's a pretty cool religious symbol, and continues that it's way better than the cross for Christianity.

It's pretty wild the way that familiar things can lose all of their distinctiveness, and be completely taken for granted. A moment's consideration would unequivocally reveal that the cross is by miles the most badass and evocative of principal religious emblems. The crescent moon as a symbol of Islam is mostly a historical accident, descending from the flag of the Ottoman Empire, which itself inherited it from a variety of Near Eastern traditions. It has taken on certain symbolic qualities, but its origin has nothing really to do with the religion itself.

The cross, on the other hand, is an instrument of humiliation and torture, which was used by the greatest power in the world against the God Made Man. It destroyed Him, and then its power was overturned as He defeated death; and His followers now bear the sign of His greatest trial as a way to mock the powers of the world (look, your most terrible devices availed you nothing!), and to preach the saving power of the blood that was spilled that day, and the hope that lies in the resurrection. There is simply no comparison here -- the cross is visually and thematically violent and intense, its message sharp, its symbolism deeply embedded in the theology of the religion. But when modern Philistines look, all they see are two lines coming together. How boring.