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The Religion Virus: Why We Believe In God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold On Humanity (2010)

by Craig A. James(Favorite Author)

4.11 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1846942721 (ISBN13: 9781846942723)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

John Hunt Publishing

review 1: Craig A. James’ The Religion Virus takes Richard Dawkins’ ideas about memes and applies them to the phenomenon of religion, focusing on Christianity, the tradition that is most familiar to his English-speaking audience. His central thesis is that the memes associated with Christianity function very much like viruses that infect biological organisms. Only the most fit memes survive because they are able to spread, with high fidelity, from one person to another, and the “memeplexes” of Christianity, or clusters of interworking memes, have proven to be quite fit, quite persistent, through the ages.Among those memes are: The General-Purpose God Meme: This meme is about how Yahweh transitioned from one god among many to becoming the only God, the one central god t... morehat people can pray to for any reason. Before this meme took hold there were many gods, each one with its own realm of influence. Yahweh was originally a god of war, which accounts for the violence of the Old Testament, but over time monotheism took hold, and Yahweh took on other qualities. The Intolerance Meme: Ever wonder why Christians have such difficulty tolerating those who believe differently? Why do they excoriate homosexuals and hate Muslims? It is because intolerance is built into their belief systems. Intolerance gives them license to use any means necessary to further their religion. If history has shown us anything it is that Christianity is an exceedingly violent religion, and that is by design. Religions that kill their opposition survive. The Guilt Meme: Christians take everything that is good, sex, drink, food, leisure, and make it a bad. They make human nature a sin. No one can live up to the impossible standards set by Christian doctrines, so guilt is part and parcel of the religion. The Persecution Meme: In America, everyone is free to practice religion, and Christians are the majority religion and have astounding power and voice in our culture, yet it is never enough. They continually claim they are persecuted because they can’t erect monuments on courthouse steps. Gay people are a threat to their marriages. Schools can’t sanction prayer, which means they are persecuted. They can strike out to any group they like with impunity, but if one fights back, he or she is persecuting them. This meme keeps them on the defensive, in a continual frenzy.There are several others, and James shows how they work together to ensure Christianity not only survives but thrives despite the fact that science has rendered it all but meaningless. Knowledge, critical thinking, education, are all enemies of Christianity, and that is the primary reason why so many Christians reject science and actively oppose it. That is especially apparent in the way many Christians oppose and refuse to learn evolution. Despite the copious evidence, and indeed the breathtaking self-evident truth of evolution, Christians recognize that it supplants the Genesis account that God magically created everything, and that fiction must be maintained at all costs lest the house of cards comes tumbling down.The meme metaphor is a powerful tool that helps one understand why Christians behave the ways they do, and indeed James makes a compelling case for the power of the Christian memes to keep the religion alive despite its absurdly and obviously antiquated teachings about the world.For me, the book offered a striking reminder that Christianity is a violent religion and it has been from the start. It is a persistent and very real threat to people who reject it and who prefer knowledge and reason to superstition and Bronze Age mythology. Make no mistake about it: If Christians could destroy their opposition, remake the United States into an exclusively Christian nation, they would do it in a heartbeat. I think it is important that freethinkers, agnostics, atheists, and those who adhere to peaceful religions keep that in mind.Knowledge and reason and secular law are the enemies of Christianity, which makes it all the more important for freethinkers to support causes such as education, secularism, science, civil liberty, and the rule of law. Knowing how the Christian memes work, how they keep the religion thriving, gives one a powerful tool, not only to understand it, but to oppose it.Highly recommended.
review 2: Packets of information that are self replicating... DNA or jokes... is there a difference. Step back and look at it macroscopically. Wonderful discussion on how religion has evolved and how it has attached itself to our genome. Parasitic? Symbiotic? That is for you to decide. We know how Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins... feel. James presents a less forced review (but in the end, I guess I still side with Dawkins). less

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