OnlySky, Inc.Marx didn't mock religion. He diagnosed it. Pain relief for a world that inflicts real pain. The harder question: what replaces it when the pain doesn't stop?
Transcendence is real data that secular thought keeps misfiling as 'pleasant illusion.' Bruce Ledewitz via @bledewitz.bsky.social makes the case we need a better theory.
National Secular LobbyWelcome to the 30 May 2026 edition of the NSL Weekend Wrap, your weekly round-up of news and views on Australian #secular issues! #auspol #secularism
Coming up this week...
- Nationals MP Alison Penfold tabled the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sex-based Rights) Bill 2026 in the House on 25 May, a private member's bill to write a biological definition of "sex" back into the Act.
- A new collective, Not in Our Name, launched an open letter inviting women to publicly back the trans community and defend the Act.
- The Australian Christian Lobby launched a Christian Freedom Index at Parliament House, claiming 74 laws restrict Christian expression.
- The Coalition reaffirmed at a Christian Schools Australia dinner that faith-based schools should keep their exemptions to discriminate.
- In Victoria, a multifaith bloc of bishops and other leaders asked the Law Reform Commission to narrow the state's conversion practices ban, arguing it criminalises prayer and pastoral conversation.
And more!
Read the Wrap here:
https://www.nsl.org.au/columns/weekend-wrap-for-30-may-2026/
The US Constitution was built on Augustinian pessimism about human nature — dressed up in Enlightenment language. Now that frame is fading. What replaces it? by @bledewitz.bsky.social
https://onlys.ky/the-future-of-evil/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=evergreen
PugJesusI'm not saying persecuting political opponents is right... but sometimes I do laugh a little anyway
Freedom From Religion Foundation [Unofficial]Freethought Radio – May 28, 2026
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://ffrf.org/news/freethought-radio/freethought-today-may-28-2026/
Solarpunk didn't start in a Silicon Valley whitepaper. It started in a Brazilian anthology, in Portuguese. The future has always been more global than we pretend.
Alex Head📣 Book Release Announcement 📣
As our one living planet teeters upon its very axis, heavy munitions pound the Earth stomping out lives like falling forest trees. Up among the branches 🫀love🫀conquers all when we pursue its infinite variations actively and with intention. In this spirit my old pal the photographer Fabrizio Dal Vera and I share our studio shoot of How To Survive Secular Mysticism - a spiritual manifesto, by moi and now available on https://www.plural-studio.net/how-to-survive-secular-mysticism
there is nothing in this book
that you do not already know
though you may have
forgotten
therefore soften your perspective as you engage
these realities
softness allows the future to be remembered into
the present
like brush lines in an act of creativity
How To Survive Secular Mysticism is a fierce meditation on the cultural hijacking of mystical language and imagery. Alex Head’s swirling aesthetic sensibility and kaleidoscopic commentaries pull us through the subtle yet profound distinctions between lived spirituality and its secular simulacrum, demanding conscious intention and devotional presence amid ever-intensifying chaos.
- Ferdiansyah Thajib, author of Enduring Otherwise
Dense and earnest, this is someone thinking seriously about finding transcendence through art, community, and presence rather than doctrine. ‘Secular mysticism’ numbs you, disorients you, and opens you to external control. Genuinely strange and original writing, somewhere between cultural criticism, spiritual autobiography, and conspiracy theory, held together by artistic intelligence.
- Erin Honeycutt, pamphleteer
Secular Mysticism includes but is not limited to:
• Uninitiated or uneducated audiences exposed to
religious ideas and icons such as the ‘all seeing eye’
• Drugs and alcohol consumed without intention
• Social-media generated content consumed without
consent
• Trigger responses to environmental stimuli that confuse
thoughts and feelings, opening a way in for fear and anger
• Hypnotic sexual imagery such as the ‘Super-Hero’
Launch event in Berlin coming soon.
Colophon:
How to Survive Secular Mysticism
Alex Head
Plural Studio
2026, Berlin
First edition
All rights reserved
Fonts: Suisse Neue, Suisse International, Suisse
Works, Work Sans, Fergus McDonald
Layout: Lizard in the Spring
Editing: Anna Kostreva
Cover image, after a collaboration with artist
Gabriel Birch, circa 1994
ISBN: 978-3-9828617-0-8
#drugs #religion #hypnosis #sacred #taoism #buddhism #hinduism #christianity #judaism #secularism #secularmysticism #faith #belief #intoxication #dreamtimehealing #aboriginal #holographickinetics #startrek #thoughts #feelings #sex #vision #visions #initiates #esoteric #secret #love #culture #human #intelligence #art #magic #Berlin
Secularism doesn't require materialism. Evolution has patterns — complexity, intelligence, compassion. That's not God. That's also not meaninglessness. by @bledewitz.bsky.social
#Secularism #Evolution #HumanistPhilosophy #ScienceAndReligion #Meaning
Secularism got so afraid of sounding like religion that it surrendered the concept of justice. Originalism filled the void. That's the argument — and it lands. via @bledewitz.bsky.social
#Secularism #ConstitutionalLaw #MoralPhilosophy #Politics #Originalism
