Introduction

Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Jeremy Sims and I've been recruited as Zach's Newest addition to the Thought Quake team, which currently consists of Zach and myself.

I promise to offend lonely old ladies inadvertently and brandish my wits before my peers.

I grew up in Texas, exposed to the united Methodist Church as a child and followed its teachings during my younger years. Later on I began wondering about the legitimacy of the mythology of the bible when I fully read through it. The bible can be interpreted in a million different ways and because of it's vagueness it would be logical to say that the only thing that I believe about it is the unwavering uncertainty of the bible that is often reflected by its followers. As a result of vagueness there are millions of different factions who don't even agree with each other. The Bible simply exists, as Marx called it, to be an opiate for the masses like any other religion and preachers use the Bible as a tool of exploitation. Nothing on this world has caused more strife, more suffering, more violence, and more pain than the Bible.

Now, preaching is as easy as blogging but you don't see door to door atheists on your front step because the "church of atheism" doesn't care about conversion, just epistemic conversation. This is not meant to be anything more than an outlet in a world where, while many people don't methodically practice the method, I still often feel scrutinized for many of my thoughts on religion.

For the old ladies out there, I'm visualizing you going "That's SO WRONG there are so few truly religious people today! We're a dying breed!" while sipping a teacup full of valium in underpants flirting with your armpits. Not true. There are more than 9,000,000 regular united methodists in America alone, and even more in Europe when it was founded. And I'm only showing one division of christianity. Even though people don't go to church regularly there are still many who consider themselves religious. The catholic church even counts anyone who doesn't outright abhor them. I'M even considered a part of the united methodists larger statistic because I was baptized.

While old people are in fact dying sooner than others, you can rest easy gentlemen. Thought Quake has a whopping 2 regulars and I doubt you'll see us picketing a church anytime soon.

I remember a time when I had a piece of paper with a coloring book style image of Jesus on it and I tried to make him look as badass as possible so I made him breathe fire, shoot lazer beams, have big bat wings, a pointed tail and horns. Put that in your communion wine and drink it.

For a time I classified myself as an agnostic but really that just means closeted atheist. Partly the reason that I thought this way was because I've read so many different religious mythologies. The Bible is a great one to take with the same bag of salt that comes with anything else dogmatic and full of hype and I enjoy reading it occasionally. The Asatru is another beautiful one, as well as Greek Mythology (which really gets you questioning whether or not the gods are worth so much trust) The Tao Te Ching was intended as a harmonization of living an enlightened state of being and over the years Lao Tzu has been declared a reborn god and was tied in to Buddhist religion. And Buddhism is like the eastern version of Christianity but different in mythology and teaching. So getting to the point of these, I found I disagreed with something fundamentally essential to each one, and really none of them can be taken seriously past fiction because they're marinated in creative license. So I finally came to this conclusion: There's this HUGE VAST thing that's so big it's beyond our ability to comprehend and made of things so small there's another whole universe in the moon of my pinky. It's so complex and sophisticated and for a brief time we all get to be a part of it and that's it, that's all we get and there's no reason why. I don't know about you but it makes me want to have a field day and do crazy fun stuff like blog about atheism all night.

So what I plan on writing about is mostly going to be either the Bible as fiction, raising awareness of certain sections of Christianity that exude a Froidian diagnosis of the crazies, and ranting about how atheism and nihilism are two very separate things. More to be added to my objectives as they come to me.

I'll leave you on one of my favorite T.S. Eliot poems.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

by: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

HE broad-backed hippopotamus

Rests on his belly in the mud;

Although he seems so firm to us

He is merely flesh and blood.







Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,

Susceptible to nervous shock;

While the True Church can never fail

For it is based upon a rock.







The hippo's feeble steps may err

In compassing material ends,

While the True Church need never stir

To gather in its dividends.







The 'potamus can never reach

The mango on the mango-tree;

But fruits of pomegranate and peach

Refresh the Church from over sea.







At mating time the hippo's voice

Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,

But every week we hear rejoice

The Church, at being one with God.







The hippopotamus's day

Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;

God works in a mysterious way--

The Church can sleep and feed at once.







I saw the 'potamus take wing

Ascending from the damp savannas,

And quiring angels round him sing

The praise of God, in loud hosannas.







Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean

And him shall heavenly arms enfold,

Among the saints he shall be seen

Performing on a harp of gold.







He shall be washed as white as snow,

By all the martyr'd virgins kist,

While the True Church remains below

Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.