Fractal Wrongness

I have a paper to write, and the creative juices aren't flowing, so i figure a good rant might get me back on track. This happened a few days ago, and I'm still seething about it quite a bit. I don't think this will come out quite as thought-out as a Jeremy entry, but I'll give it a stab.

I was called stupid for believing that the fact of evolution is a thing.

I never thought I'd see the day, but apparently these things do actually happen. I always thought of the blissfully ignorant theist was somehow detached from my world. Still there but, somehow not a part of my daily life.

Like Canada...

But this guy was a piece of work. My brother moves boxes at a local liquor store and called me at the end of his shift. He had gotten into a discussion with a man I simply had to meet to believe. After an hour and a half of heated debate, the man had
-Called me stupid for believing in evolution
-said that homosexuals have a mental disorder
-condescended on me for not having read the entire bible
-contradicted himself more times than I can count.

This man suffers from an illness that's been circling around the internet. It's called "Fractal Wrongness" It is something that happens when someone's world view is so wrong, you can't begin to tackle any point of their argument, because the wrongness is a never ending circle of ignorance fueled bullshit. This man was so sure of himself that he dismissed me on simply "not knowing shit", the smug little look on his face just screaming "I don't have to provide a compelling argument because I know I'm right." This guy was so set in his hateful bigotry, I don't think he heard a word I said. All of my arguments bounced off his little force-field, and no matter how much I spoke of homosexual teen suicide, or text book evidence of evolution, or how taking rights away from people is largely considered a bad thing, none of it mattered in the slightest.

This is what gets to me. I truly believe that in cases like these, Religion can be a virus. It takes root in someone's brain and eats away at what is right and wrong. These things, these VERY morally obvious things, are somehow damaged on such a dangerous level, the person's sense of morals gets twisted. They think their entitled to have things their way, and if a different way makes them uncomfortable, they shouldn't have to be exposed to it. What scares me is that these people aren't evil, and they aren't stupid. Yet somehow they have these evil opinions instilled in them. This man truly doesn't care that opinions like his are the reason that teens are killing themselves. This guilt bating and hate mongering has to stop.

Of course, I don't speak of all religious people. I know many people that don't think that gay people are mentally ill, and believe that evolution is responsible for diversity on this planet, but there are those that have sat in a pew and been spoon-fed their worldview by a priest or pastor, and I think that honestly, closed mindedness is killing this country.

This man decided he would quiz me with trivial facts, and when I didn't know them, he definitely felt justified in his, "your young and you don't know shit" argument. I know from speaking to this man that his "intensive research" on evolution involved a night looking at creationists attempts at debunking evolution. Googeling "Why Evolution is wrong" and researching it are two different fucking things. There where so many logical fallacies that I don't think I could even name them all.

The worst part of this is, this man simply has a fundamentally damaged moral compass. He is wrong on so many levels, and yet,

He is still more moral than the monster depicted in his holy book

I'm Zach, and thanks for reading. (I'm just kidding, we have no readers! XD)

Passover

Just a short one tonight but I should post in the spirit of things.

I went to a Jewish passover with my girlfriend Monday. The most prominent thing I noticed is that the focus, at least for the one I was invited to, was more on upholding Jewish culture and understanding Jewish society than being in touch with God. At the very most extreme it could be said that there was a slightly agnostic undertone, or at least a very spiritually open one. I was very relieved to feel welcome for once.

And one of the other things I'd like to applaud the Jewish religion for: they don't work to convert. The closest the Jewish religion gets to converting is raising awareness of Jewish culture and heritage, which is important outside of any religion, right? This is a religion that I think get's their fundamentals right without a dogmatic overtone. I approve.

Now, I have no desire to begin following Jewish religion and I don't think their god or afterlife exist either. But as I've said before, atheism for me is partly about living because it's kindof a one-shot. As far as life goes I think they're on the right track by focusing on what religion fundamentally revolves around which is customs and philosophy.

This is Jeremy the Atheist saying that while I think the Jewish religion, like any other that has a belief or afterlife system is misguided the customs are worth preserving and cherishing.

-Sims

The Acceptance of Atheists

Clearly this is something I'm writing with my own agenda as an atheist but as I said in my last post I still often feel scrutinized for my thoughts, even though I consider myself to be in a relatively open minded environment.

To theists out there, both family and friends and people I've never even met I want you to know that I don't hate you I just think you're wrong. I'm going to continue to speak my thoughts on this because in a way if I stopped then it'd be like I believed in something I didn't for not speaking up about it. As an atheist I "believe" in my life. I would be doing my own life wrong by not being honest with myself and honest with my friends and likewise to any other theist they would do themselves wrong to keep their thoughts and practices secret as well. Throughout history I'm sure we can point out many scenarios where this was evident, and even a time when Christianity was dealing with the same turmoil.

Is there any sort of agreement or compromise or form of acceptance that we cohesively as a human race can come to?

Agree to disagree?

I don't think I'll see a resolve any time soon.

To look at it one way the expanding core of something like Christianity, which instills in its believers the wrath of hell for lack of belief (which frankly should make everyone's bullshit/megalomaniac detector go off) says to the believers that anyone who doesn't follow this belief will attend endless punishment. Now, what if in the afterlife we all become inverted? If we were good people today then after death we would be murderers. It sounds bizarre but it has just as much validity and my point is the death phobia that everybody alive has, which is perfectly natural and in fact one great way of knowing for sure you are alive is something so thoroughly molested by religion that the concept "maybe there is no afterlife and the kicks we get here are all there is" seems ludicrous and uncomfortable because it's painful to be reminded of our mortality after such a deep marination in the afterlife dream.

In short: It may sound backwards but I think you're doing more harm than not by wanting to believe in something. I know it's comforting but you, the theist reader, are allowing yourself to be exploited and dehumanized.

In the god and mortal paradigm theoretically we're slaves because God wants us to be. We're rewarded and punished based on an archaic system similarly used by Pavlov with God as judge. This is acceptable to the human race because we're given a small comfort: it lasts forever

L.O.V.E.

I love people even if I think they're wrong.

I love people even if they hate me for thinking they're wrong.

-Sims

Ray Comfort PWNAGE, The Athiest Experience and their win against ignorance.

First off, Jeremy, Welcome to the 2 person writing team! Team Thought Quake. Sounds official. That's cute... Anyway, good to have you on board.

This is great, because it gives me a chance to talk about a show I love, while also ranting about an apologist I utterly can't stand.

Last week the show, The Atheist Experience had a very special guest. The name is linked. For the episode I'm about about to talk about, it's Here. Seriously, check them out. The hosts of the show are always making very valid arguments. Sure, debating with an angry theist via the telephone is like chipping away at a brick wall with a toothpick, but they do it anyway, and their pretty damn good at it too. Anyway, the special guest was famous apologist and all around thickheaded intellectual train wreck, Ray Comfort.

Or maybe they were talking to the chimp, I couldn't tell you. If you watch one episode of their show, make it this one.

The hosts where patient, but only as patient as one can be when someone says “I don't believe in evolution because it requires too much faith.” He said that, and I wish I could make it up. When they challenged him on the faith required to be a christian, he said he didn't have faith, he knew that god existed, and he knows god. Matt Dillahunty, the show's main host, very patiently worked with him to deconstruct this, and hopefully get Ray to admit that while his faith is strong due to personal experience, that experience is not a valid reason for others to believe, since it is simply unable to be shared.

Unfortunately, Ray had constructed a safe little corner for himself where he couldn't lose. He said all they have to do is go to church, have their sins absolved and they too would experience knowledge of god. Basically, if you didn't have a personal experience, it was because you didn't want it bad enough. You didn't believe hard enough, you where never a true Scottsman-er... Christian... (Fallacy humor, *Sigh) and you should feel bad. This however neglects Ray's above statement. Christianity doesn't require as much faith as science, except for the faith requiring you to utterly change your lifestyle and absolve your sins. Saying faith is not required and then explaining exactly how it is, is pure and utter intellectual dishonesty. Ray seems to have a fundamental misunderstanding of faith. He doesn't see the difference between believing a thousands-of-years-old-mistranslated-bronze-age script, and believing a cross-referenced science journal published in the last five years.

I promised myself I wouldn't get into Evolution due to this post reaching the “TLDR” length, but I have to. This is an area in which Ray is so patently wrong, you'd think he be TROLLIN. After he said he didn't believe in evolution, they got him to admit that he believes in modern medicine. THERE! DONE DEAL, RIGHT? Nope, not for Ray. Apparently Ray has the unbelievable ability to have his evolution based flu-shot, AND deny its existence. Who knew? The rest of the conversation went like this.

Ray: WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE! GRRBLGRRBLGRRRBL

Show: Here's the evidence.

Ray: WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE!?!?!?

Show: Here's the evidence.

Ray: THAT'S NOT EVIDENCE!!

Show: yes it is, Ray.

Ray: YOUR MOTHER!

Okay, maybe not that last part, but you get the idea. It was also a brick wall to say that everything is a transitional form. Ray wouldn't have it. He won't rest until he has his crocaduck. Want a BANANA Ray? Oh, bad dig but I had to take it. In short, while Ray's mind refuses to evolve to a state of openness, his mouth sure as hell hasn't.

~Zach

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.

Time to Weigh In, The Japan Earthquake.

I've been putting this off for quite a bit because, well, I didn't want to be in a bad place when I wrote it. It's going to be quite the rant, worry not, but I would hate to express it poorly or not weigh in on the issue entirely. So it's been long enough.

I'm going to give my thoughts on the Japan Quake, and how it relates to religion.

It's not a coincidence that this blog is named “Thought Quake,” and it emerged soon after the devastating events in Japan. The day it happened, the day I stood beside a Japanese 7Eleven, feeling the quake under my feet and the aftershocks that followed, that there would be a reaction from the religious community. I didn't know how, I didn't know when, but I knew that no matter how well mannered it seemed,

it would be misinformed, ignorant, and almost ALWAYS totally illogical.

I wanted to start with my own personal views on the issue. I've had dozens of people come up to me and say things like, “you where in our prayers,” or, “We were praying for you.” That's all well and good, I have no quarrel with well-wishing. I found it sweet and endearing to hear such kind words. This rant isn't about the people who showed me such kindness, it's simply about the words and what they mean. These words are implying that God answered their prayers right? That I was saved because god watched out for me during this disaster. Last time I checked, I lived through this disaster because I was in Tokyo, instead of Sendai or Fukushima. Could I have been in these areas, or conversely could the earthquake have been in Tokyo? Sure. Why wasn't it? I and many others believe that it was random coincidence that saved my life. Many others would say God. They would say that “God was watching out for me.” The main thing that I think, still throws a wrench in the gears is that,

The damn thing still happened.

Those people didn't have to die. If god is all powerful, why would he allow such a disaster to happen? I actually find it quite disgusting that some cosmic force would place my life above some 30,000 others. It's interesting that when you ask these people why the earthquake happened at all, God doesn't seem to be on the list. Why is it that God can decide the location of the earthquake, but not whether or not it happens at all?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you believe in the Christian god, then by all accounts, God caused this. Even if he somehow didn't, he did nothing to prevent it. It frustrates me that people believe God is working his miracles to get their kid into college, but doesn't have the time to prevent 30,000 human beings from dying in a matter of days. Your kid got into college because they worked their ass off, and the Japan Quake happened because of seismic changes beyond our control or scope of prediction. That's it. It seems ironic that gods where most likely created as a way to, among other things, explain the power of natural disasters. And, now that modern Christianity has evolved this all-knowing, all-loving god, disasters like these are the strongest evidence to the contrary. I have said this many times. I'm truly glad that I don't believe in God. I take the smallest amount of comfort knowing that there was nothing that could have prevented this. To me, believing in a force that had all the power to prevent this tragedy, yet chose to do nothing, would kill me.

I guess the point is, all this well-wishing, and the “God has a plan,” and the prayer to a being that, according to these beliefs, so easily commits genocide, it's all crap. Those men, women and children, what was God's plan for them? The majority of the Japanese population is Atheist, so that means no entry into the clouds. That means that god is not only allowing these people to die, but is then CONTINUING their suffering in the Afterlife. I honestly don't understand why anyone would be so willing to worship such an evil, destructive, and sadistic megalomaniac. I would never in any way look down upon these people, I guess I just don't get why its necessary. These people died because of a random tragedy. If you start involving God, you start steering towards the belief that these people somehow deserved what happened. That's simply rude and unfair. These people deserve better than that, plain and simple.

Korean Paster Cho Yong-gi has just said exactly that. With several statements he has perfectly encapsulated why religion can be so absolutely evil. It causes people, smart people, to do inane, horrible, vile and socially detestable things. Here is a quote from the priest himself.

"I fear that this disaster may be warnings from God against the Japanese people’s atheism and materialism," an online Christian press quoted the elderly religious leader as saying Saturday.

"I hope that these series of events will drive the Japanese to turn their eyes towards God."

Now, it alludes me why anyone at all would EVER in their right mind, blame a natural disaster on it's victims. I think it is one of the more horrible things I've ever heard come out of a religious leader's mouth. Here we have people, good people, lost forever to a terrible tragedy, and this wretched vile scum of a man is trying to say it was somehow their fault. Here is a well respected man many believe to be a force of love and good in the world, saying that JAPANESE PEOPLE CAUSED THE EARTHQUAKE with their lifestyle. It's absolutely insane. This is a huge problem with modern Christianity. It places blame where it shouldn't, and removes it from where it should be. The worst part is, people like this man are genuine. They honestly hope that this disaster will make Japan more religious. They are willing to say the most vile things to hopefully rope in a few more followers.

I can tell you first hand, that while in Japan, I experienced nothing but honesty. A city that is practically crime-less, clean streets and honest people. It is a beautiful country that I wouldn't change for the world, and it's certainly one that is better off without people who believe in a “loving god” capable of destroying tens of thousands of people in a matter of days. Keep doing what your doing Japan, and may we all learn something from your “Material, sinful, atheistic” lifestyle.

Oh We're not upset that WE have to pay, just that our Church does...

So, I began this blog to get my thoughts, rants and things onto the internet. I couldn't so much as cough in the airways without stumbling into this little gem.

Fox News: Taking Away Liberties

Are you really surprised? I'm beginning to think that getting material for this blog from Fox News may be a bit too easy. Maybe I should take a challenge, something worthy of me scouting around a bit...

naaaah, I'm living in the middle of the Apocalypse right now, so I could use an easy outlet.

He said the government can tax your life and can tax your death, but they’re not supposed to tax your church.

And that’s exactly what he said is happening in Mission.

“The city of Mission is taxing churches,” he said. “And that’s clearly unconstitutional.”

This is one of the many reasons I rage so hard. not only is it ignorant, it's an absolute lie, spread entirely by those that live in this so called "Christian Nation." If these people would pull their heads out of their asses for two seconds, maybe, just maybe they'd stop cherry-picking documents to suit their fancy. Here's more

The purpose of the “Transportation Utility Fee” is to raise money for public works projects in Mission like street construction and road repair.

It’s unpopular among residents, some of whom have put up protest signs on their yards.

But it’s particularly controversial because the town has included churches in the program.

GOOD! This is a GOOD thing. A step in the right direction. CHURCHES SHOULD BE TAXED. The Idea that some building shouldn't be taxed because it makes people feel good about themselves is asinine. Now, I'm not saying that this TAX is a good thing. I think taxing buildings for driveway traffic is kind of ridiculous. What pisses me off, is that Fox News seems to be upset that churches don't get some miraculous free pass. The Tax exempt status of churches has gone on unchallenged for FAR to long. to quote the constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The tax exempt status of churches certainly falls under the "respecting an establishment of religion," part of that sentence. If your going to use the constitution as the backbone of your argument the LEAST you can do is not insult the document with your ignorance. The government is suppose to neither support nor deny any particular religion. The tax exempt status is exactly what is unconstitutional. These people are so thick headed about their religion being the most important thing in the world that not only have they stained our country with it's name, but they have somehow convinced themselves that regardless of how many times it is read to them and presented to them, that the constitution is in their favor. The "Clearly Unconstitutional" Tax is absolutely anything but. Erik Stanley, next time you spout off a word like "Clearly," Make sure it doesn't come back to make you look like a blissfully ignorant prick. ~ZU