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Review: The God Virus

William Hamby — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:22:44 +0000

Most of the recent non-theist literature approaches the topic of religion from a very literal point of view. Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and Dennett have been champions of the direct approach: Evolution is this. Religion is that. There is almost certainly no god. Secular countries are objectively less dysfunctional than theist countries in quantifiable ways. To be sure, there was and still is a need for this kind of writing. But there has been something missing.

As refreshing as it may be for us non-theists to hear someone tell it exactly like it is, this approach can be daunting. For many people who were not raised in an environment that encouraged scientifically precise descriptions and in-depth analysis of the nuts and bolts of things, it can be a little overwhelming. And frankly, for many non-theists, it’s difficult to make the link between these books and their own lives. Sure, understanding evolution is great, but what good does that do for Joe Non-Theist who is struggling to live in a theist dominated community? In-depth analysis of epistemology is also great, but how does it help Nancy Non-Believer talk to her theist friends about her lost faith?

The God Virus, by Darrel Ray, Ed. D., takes a different approach. Religion is explained as analogous to viruses, viral infection, and parasites. Using accessible language and familiar ideas, Ray gives us powerful conceptual language for thinking of religion as a self-serving “life form” that replicates, spreads through the population, and influences the behavior of its hosts in self-serving ways.

Though many religionists would probably be challenged by reading this book, its main purpose is not to convince people to become non-believers. Similarly, it’s not meant to be a definitive work on the precise objective nature of religion. Instead, it takes many propositions more or less as read. Unlike much of the atheist literature, you will not find an extensive bibliography, copious footnotes, or tedious step-by-step syllogistic proofs. Reading The God Virus feels much more like a conversation over coffee. And that is a good thing.

The bulk of The God Virus deals with five properties of viruses which are analogous to religion. Viruses infect people. They create antibodies against other viruses. They often take over both physical and mental functions and hide themselves from the host. They have multiple methods of transmission. They program the host to replicate the virus.

Most “recovering religionists” will immediately recognize the power of the antibody metaphor. A great deal of early religious training is designed to insulate us from dangerous questions or ideas. Religious dogma has built in mechanisms for discouraging and even shutting down our capacity for critical thought. From the threat of Hell to guilt to separation from friends and family, religion – very much like a virus – attempts to protect itself from external threats to its propagation.

Viruses spread through “vectors.” For example, a mosquito is a vector for malaria. Religion is also spread through vectors, only we call them priests, pastors or youth ministers. A single vector can be responsible for an epidemic, as witnessed by the success of Joseph Smith, Pat Robertson, and L. Ron Hubbard.

Viruses must mutate to stay competitive in changing environments. Similarly, religion adapts to the cultural and scientific landscape. Galileo and Copernicus’ scientific discoveries were eventually incorporated into the Catholic model of the universe (though not without some wailing and gnashing of teeth). Even Darwin is grudgingly accepted today by some of the more progressive religions. Very few religions can remain virulent while demanding that women stay silent in church, or that children be stoned for disobedience.

One of the most powerful metaphors for me was that of moral manipulation. Religious morality is compared to behavioral changes caused by parasites such as the lancet fluke (Dicrocoelium), which drives its host (an ant) to climb to the top of a blade of grass where it is eaten by a cow, in whose belly the organism reproduces. Using this analogy, Ray explains that moral mandates which are peculiar to religious dogma are not beneficial to the host (the believer), but rather that they are designed for the benefit of the parasite. Prohibitions on birth control do not benefit Catholics directly. But they do benefit the “Catholic Virus” by ensuring that already infected individuals will reproduce as much as possible, creating growth through both time and the population. Moratoriums on masturbation do not contribute to happiness or self-actualization, but they do create unassailable guilt which can only be relieved by “re-dedication to Christ” or other such religious rituals.

Having established the metaphor, Ray analyzes several examples of the religious virus, most notably American Evangelical Christianity. He dissects each aspect of the movement, using metaphorical language which makes it easy for the reader to begin thinking outside of the religious box. By this point in the book, most readers will find themselves incorporating the “virus language” into their thinking. I found – to my delight – that by the end of the book, I was having to work to consciously translate my thoughts backwards into religio-speak. Such is the power of the virus metaphor. It can literally change the way we think about religion.

And that is what it’s all about, isn’t it? For all the huffing and puffing about the evils of religion, isn’t the goal of most non-believers to make the world a better place by effecting change in both believers and religion itself? And doesn’t real change start when we see our world in a new light, one that forces us to abandon our previous conceptions of reality?

This is the power of The God Virus. It’s not meant to offer a sterile, scientific analysis of religion. Instead, it gives the layperson a mighty weapon in the struggle to create a better world with less religious guilt and oppression and more self-examination and self-actualization.

The later chapters of the book deal with the realities of living a religion-free life, and perhaps more importantly, relating to and living alongside religionists. This, I believe, is what has been woefully lacking in atheist literature. Ray takes a very non-judgmental approach to believers, as we would expect from a physician designing a therapeutic regimen for people with a viral infection. He encourages us to separate the victims from the virus, and to design our interactions to minimize the power of the virus without confronting it directly and risking a defense mechanism kicking in.

We non-believers are also encouraged to examine ourselves for evidence of residual viral infection. Even after leaving religion, it is still very common to retain damaging beliefs or behaviors relating to critical thinking, guilt, sexuality, and isolationism. Only with honest -– sometimes brutally honest -– self-examination and introspection can we eradicate the last remnants of the infection. It is frequently a lifelong project.

Though The God Virus is not a direct attack on religion, there is mention in the final chapter of the dangers inherent in the propagation of the virus, especially in its more virulent and deadly mutations. It is clear that this is a problem for all of us non-believers.

I believe that The God Virus is one of the most useful and emotionally appealing metaphors to grace the atheist meme-scape in some time. Unlike so many of the (Flying Spaghetti Monster forgive me) cumbersome and jargon-laden tomes by atheist scientific writers, this book and the concept it promotes are designed for the real workaday world where many non-believers live.

The God Virus is not without its flaws, though in the broad scheme of things, I think the flaws are so minor that they don’t significantly detract from the experience. There are a number of editorial glitches which will presumably be addressed in a second edition or reprint. Most of them are minor misspellings or grammatical errors. As I mentioned, there is no bibliography, which will probably lead to some poo-pooing by religionists and overly pedantic non-believers. Finally, for readers who skim or aren’t careful to digest the first chapter carefully, there is a danger of thinking that Ray claims religion is a literal virus. This is nonsense, of course. We are comfortable with the analogy of a computer virus, even though it’s obvious that there isn’t a literal physical virus inside our computers. We understand that “virus” is a useful analogy for the behavior of the programs which invade our hard drives and operating systems. So we call them viruses. In the same way, we are free to use the language of viruses and viral infections when discussing religion and religious belief.

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Darrel Ray speak, and to have a wonderful conversation with him while preparing to write this review. I believe his approach to religion represents a potential turning point in the relations between not only religion and atheism but individual religionists and non-believers. It is a simple and powerful metaphor based in the scientific realities of the human mind, which is often overwhelmed when presented with complex and erudite data. Here is a man who has spent his career studying and practicing human relations. With this book, he has taken atheists out of the ivory towers and given them work boots and a tool kit. The God Virusis a must-read for anyone who wants to help themselves and others eradicate the infection of religion and live happy, religion-free lives.

Darrel Ray has created the Recovering Religionists website, dedicating to helping establish and grow local support groups for those leaving religion and learning to cope with God Virus epidemics in their communities. -Ed.

Bang! The Universe Verse

Mike Daniels — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:23:36 +0000

Page 22 of BANG! Click for larger version.

Looking for a way to explain the origins of the universe to your kids . . . or your parents? BANG! The Universe Verse is for you!

“In the beginning, before time had begun, nothing existed, and nothing was fun.” So begins your journey through the Big Bang. The narrators, an elderly couple (he looking remarkably like that Einstein fellow) cart an infant about with them for the first few pages, but soon set it aside as they explore the beginnings of time and creation of matter, leading you through elements and relativity for good measure. From the publisher:

“Book one in a three part series, BANG! explains the scientific theories regarding the origin of the universe using captivating illustrations and whimsical rhymes. From the beginning of existence to the birth of stars and galaxies, you’ll learn how matter was created, why stars shine and where where we fit in this wild and crazy universe.”

Lovingly illustrated in white on black, BANG! is a resource accessible to adults and children alike. You can read it free online on Dunbar’s website, request it in PDF format, or buy it in paperback. You may also pick it up on Amazon.com.

Dunbar is presently illustrating It’s Alive! The Universe Verse: Book 2. He hopes not just to finish his series of books, but develop lesson plans around them, and reach out to educators and students to encourage scientific curiosity. You can read more about this exciting project, and how you can help, at Kickstarter!

Was Hypatia a “scientist”? eSkeptic investigates

Mike Daniels — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:40:18 +0000

Dr. S. James Killings reviews the film “Agora” and discusses whether it’s likely the historical Hypatia was the empirical scientist of the film and of legend.

Writes Killings,

In the 18th century, the Enlightenment thinkers John Toland and particularly Voltaire seized on Damascius’ story of Hypatia’s death as symbolic of the antagonistic nature the Christian religion had toward the freedom of inquiry. They imagined her as a martyred symbol of free thought who was destroyed by the irrational dogmas of the growing ecclesiastical patriarchy. Her death, according to her blossoming legend, set back free inquiry a thousand years and ended the scientific hopes of the Hellenistic Age.

Rachel Weisz as Hypatia. Image: Newmarket Films

The movie (and legendary) version of Hypatia is depicted as an empiricist; one who relies upon empirical observation, a key component of the modern scientific method. Killings lays out for us what is known of Hypatia — that she was a philosopher and mathematician, and that being a Platonist, she distrusted physical observation — and what this means to the legendary character depicted in the film, particularly the shipboard gravity experiment key to the film character’s discoveries.

Killings’ review may be read in full HERE.

Proselytizing by iPhone: Children's Bible Comics app

Jenny Donati — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:23:12 +0000

The Tower of Babel, from Children's Bible

Eager to “get ‘em while they’re young”, a Christian organization is promoting a comic book-style Children’s Bible as an iPhone/iPod Touch app. The free application seems successful.

Five months ago, BCNmultimedia launched the Children’s Bible iPhone application. Rather than covering all the slaughter and sex and violence and bigotry of the entire Bible, it provides only “the greatest stories of the Bible”. It’s written for children ages 3 to 13.

Individual episodes (a single story) are available free, one per month; if you wish to read an entire “album”, you have to purchase it at a cost ranging from $1.99 to $4.99.

“The Genesis” is an album. It contains 10 comics. The Tower of Babel is May’s free comic.

The free application downloaded and installed without difficulty. It requests permission to send “push” requests; each month, it will announce another free comic.

Operation is intuitive right up until it is time to read an actual comic.

Upon reading your first comic, a notice pops up asking if you want instructions. Your answer should be yes! The instructions will walk you through how to read one of the comics.

Tapping the right third of the screen moves forward, the left third moves backward. Tapping the middle brings up the controls. Simple, right? Right! However, there are no indicators on the screen when viewing a comic, so you pretty much have to know what to do.

Other than this, operation is smooth.

The Tower of Babel comic was well drawn, and accurately reflects the story as written in the Bible. Unlike many “modern” Bible stories for kids, this version does not claim that the people were trying to become gods. They wanted only to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered.

The comic accurately reflects the pettiness of God, who says, “These are all one people and speak one language. This is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want! Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other.”

And he does.

This application appears to be an effective way to evangelize. It targets young kids through modern technology, and instills in their fertile imaginations stories of the Bible. It has had over 95,000 downloads to date, and has remained in the Top 50 in the United States since its release.

Secularists should be developing similar applications. While there are secular websites which expose Christianity — like Skeptic’s Annotated Bible and Real Bible Stories — I’m not aware of any iPhone apps which either encourage critical thinking about religion or which promote reason. Religionists appear to be ahead of the curve on this one.

RealBibleStories.com: Bible Stories Get Real

Mike Daniels — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:23:42 +0000

Stories from the Bible — Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, etc. — have become part of Western popular culture. As often happens when a tale is retold, the stories we remember aren’t quite what the Bible says.

At RealBibleStories.com, Sister Shirlee taken it upon herself to read those stories, relay what the Bible actually says, and introduce critical thinking-inducing discussion questions and commentary.

The stories completed thus far — much of Genesis — are written at a level appropriate to (fairly smart) children, but the stories and commentary are educational and entertaining for adults as well!

Jenny and I agree that this will eventually be a great site for secular parents to read through with their children. We’ve added their RSS feed to Paliban World to help us (and you) keep up when new stories are added.

Sister Shirlee has committed to at least one new story per week for the entire year. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Why Evangelicals Should Love Twilight

Andrew — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:52:32 +0000

The Twilight series of books (and movies) by Stephanie Meyer has gained a cult-like following among young girls and housewives the world over. Many Christians think it is a bad influence; in reality, it prepares girls and young women for the ideal Christian — or Mormon — marriage.

Many Christians are concerned by Twilight’s occult flavor; the male lead is, after all, a vampire. Don’t worry! These vampires bear no resemblance to traditional vampires, and are thus safe for Christian consumption. Indeed, there are many ingredients in this series which make it a tasty treat suitable for Christian children.

Recipe: Start with a 100+ year old immortal guy, who, we are well assured is very, very, very good looking, and sparkles for some reason. Add a female character so devoid of personality, substance and description that she can effectively serve as a Mary-Sue surrogate for the naive 13-year old girls (or 13-year old girls at heart) of the world. Stir in an abstinence obsession so convoluted and bizarre that it could only have been hatched from someone who has some serious misconceptions about sex, and then layer heavily with a abusive and unhealthy relationships. Bake for multiple printings.

Mary-Sue Bella is presented to us as superficially as possible right from the outset; not only does this demonstrate how a Christian should be — an empty vessel, waiting to be filled by God or by a Christian man — but the lack of meaningful description makes it easy for readers to place themselves in the story. As a good Christian woman should, Bella spends most of her time without a thought in her bland little head, just occupying space and waiting for someone or something to happen.

Christian Marriage Ingredient #1: Bella’s not a happy girl, since she hasn’t yet been filled by God or husband.

Before Bella has the chance to slit her wrists from boredom — or we have the chance to fall asleep — Bella meets Eddie. As soon as her man comes along, everything is sunshine and daisies. Godlike, he watches her all the time, even when they aren’t dating and he doesn’t have any justifiable reason to be anywhere near her. This is what is known as being ‘protective’. With a man now in her life, she’s safe from all harm, even actively rejecting self defense measures like pepper spray. I mean, who would need protection when you have an all powerful, omnipresent Man in your life?

Christian Marriage Ingredient #2: Your man — or God — will take care of you, so you don’t have to take care of yourself.

After an eternity of longing gazes and hack writing, they finally reach the point where we expect them to consummate the relationship like horny teens the world over. But they don’t, even though Bella really wants to! Edward remains firmly in control of their physical relationship, because he is ~~a vampire~~ the man, and that’s the end of the discussion.

So this centagenarian strings this teenage virgin along without even allowing her to kiss him. But it’s LOVE, readers say. It’s complicated! BULLSHIT. This has all the markings of Stockholm syndrome as well as emotional torture.

Christian Marriage Ingredient #3: The man should always remain firmly in control of every aspect of a Christian relationship.

In the second book (and movie), Edward’s benevolence is fully demonstrated when he unilaterally decides to leave Bella. Without a strong man to take care of everything, she literally shuts down. We’ve all been there, and written our fair share of emo poetry (or is that just me?). A “modern” person develops some self reliance and independence, and usually comes out a better person. Our role model? Hell, no! Emotional independence might lead to independent thinking, and men don’t like girls who think for themselves.

Bella’s luck improves when another man, Jacob, comes along to pick her up off the ground. Yes, she finds another creepily obsessed guy — this time, a werewolf — to stalk and watch over her.

Jacob introduces her to his family, which is full of other ‘normal’ relationships, including a fiancee who was beaten to the point of death by her werewolf man. But she LOVES him! Potentially fatal beatings are just one ingredient in the spicy stew that is love.

Christian Marriage Ingredient #4: Women should accept discipline from their men without question.

That’s not love, that’s abuse, and there isn’t a single person in the world that deserves that, and I don’t care how nice his pecs are or how much he really, really wants to ~~fuck~~ kiss you.

From this point, Bella and her female companions begin to refer to themselves only in relation to their man, in an implicitly subservient fashion (vampire girl or wolf girl). It’s very good that this was so prominently displayed, as all good girls should take their man’s name, and as much of his identity as soon as possible. Only women that don’t really love their men keep their own names.

Christian Marriage Ingredient #5: Women should think of themselves only in relation to their men (or, having no man, God).

It is almost certainly a coincidence that this book, written by a Mormon, makes the concept of waiting so central to the romantic plot. Millions of young women in our country are growing up today, receiving conflicting messages about their budding sexuality from all sources. Thankfully for the mental health of these women, Twilight has become the model for a proper relationship.

What’s Twilight’s message for young Christian women?

Their own physical, psychological and emotional needs should be completely secondary to their man’s, and that it would be utterly wrong and unnatural to pursue any sexual relationship that isn’t instigated fully by the man, or even to question or second guess his all-encompassing edicts.

Furthermore, the main reason that you should get married is to consummate the physical relationship that the man has been tempting (but never granting) you for years, and any deviation from this perfect, celestial model is indicative of a personal fault only on the woman’s part. These women now know that their main value as humans (or vampires) is to make babies, and the physical pain that results from this is because they are women. Most importantly, when they do finally become pregnant, it is vital to bring the fetus to term, even and especially when the woman’s life is in danger. After all, there is part of her man inside her that is worth much more than she could ever hope to be.

When you combine that with the quality of writing that you find in parts of the Bible, not to mention the warped moral messages contained therein, it becomes obvious why Twilight should be heartily embraced by every Evangelical family under the sun.

We’ve already seen what positive results this abstinence-only message has caused within the evangelical subculture, what with the higher birthrate among young evangelicals (like Bristol Palin), so the messages contained within the Twilight series could only be good for a Christian society at large.

James Paris' ChristianChirp Just a Soapbox for Anti-Twitter Whining?

Jenny Donati — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:17:03 +0000

James Paris, who last week founded ChristianChirp.com, seems to have as his twin goals using it to drive traffic to those who may buy his $159 get-rich-quick-online-for-Christians scheme, and providing himself a platform for endless whining about being automatically suspended from Twitter for link-spamming.

He links to his blog, which displays an automated form letter from Twitter temporarily suspending his account for “reply spamming” as evidence that he was unfairly targeted for his views. In other words, sending a link to his own blog as a “reply” to not his followers, but to everyone he could find. Ayep, that there’s reply spamming. And apparently it generated complaints.

Sure, his account was reinstated, but when one is seeking persecution, facts aren’t too important. And we already know James has a problem with the truth!

Here’s a screencap of his whining, which was the first thing to greet me when I logged in today. Click thumbnail for a larger version.

And his blog post complaining about his temporary suspension can be found HERE. In part:

Well, I guess I know how Rush Limbaugh feels. This week I posted a blog piece supporting Rush and I received thousands of visits to my blog. I also engaged in probably one hundred ‘debates’ with people on Twitter about the whole Rush Limbaugh/NFL controversy. Today, I received the below message that I have been suspended from Twitter for one week. Obviously, someone did not like what I was saying in support of Rush. You will notice that my blog article was ‘re-tweeted’ 150 times by those that read it (not by me). I guess I am making some liberal at Twitter upset. Let’s make them really mad, please click on the “tweeted” button above and that will bring even more attention to this issue on their own network.

Suspended isn’t banned. An automated response to complaints isn’t persecution. ~~Gay people getting married doesn’t invalidate your marriage.~~ Oops, wrong persecution complex.

"Invisible Empire" Movie Trailer – Prophetic or Paranoid?

Jenny Donati — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:15:32 +0000

Bilderbergers. Trilateral Commission. Military-Industrial Complex. World leaders from Eisenhower to Bush I and Obama speak these words, issue warnings, and pronounce the three words most dreaded by conspiracy theorists: “New World Order”.

Prophecy? Paranoia? Prison Planet brings us a film entitled “Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined”.

Here’s the trailer. Enjoy.

No, I haven’t seen the movie. But Christians are worried . . .

Ray Comfort's New Book a Top ATHEIST Seller on Amazon

Jenny Donati — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:37:04 +0000

Atheists across the country are flocking to Amazon.com to pick up evangelical Ray Comfort’s latest treatise, making it a bestseller overnight.

The God Delusion dropped to the #2 spot on the Atheist category listing once Comfort’s You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can’t Make Him Think: Answers to Questions from Angry Skeptics was released on Thursday to rave reviews.

Amazon customer reviewer Cynthia Perez sums it up:

It sure does make atheists angry when logical thought is introduced into the conversation – and this book points out exactly where the illogical arguments against the existence of God come from: an unwillingness to acknowledge that, IF there is a Creator, all of His creations are held accountable to Him!

C.R. Shearer chimes in,

Evolution is a dying religion, I implore you, don’t go down with the ship, be reconciled to God through the cross of Jesus Christ.

As for ShiftingSandy? Well, she even recommends yet another book to pair with it!

Recently read this with God vs. the Infinite Monkeys which, like this book, also uses logic and reason to dispel the myth that all logic and reason (and science) supports Atheism. Reason and logic is on the side of religion. If you read both these books (and every religious person and their children (God vs. is actually written for young adults) should read them in my opinion) you come away with the truth, a truth which does not require faith to realize, i.e., that the Atheists use flawed arguments and made-up conclusions to support their own belief system.

Who can argue with this logic? Christianity can replace the atheists’ “flawed arguments and made-up conclusions”, which they use to “support their own (ridiculous) belief system”!

Robin E. Cornwell tries to contest this point, but merely demonstrates the “eloquence” and “research” typical of a so-called atheist:

This book is so full of misleading rubbish, one doesn’t know where to start. Of course, it will feed into all the usual lies and misinformation that feed the frenzy of the religious mind. Don’t bother buying it…

Not one example is given in her review of the “misleading rubbish”. I can only assume she never bothered to read the book!

Comfort explains to us that atheists aren’t even real!

We don’t have to prove that God exists to the professing atheist. This is because he intuitively knows that He exists. Every person has a God-given conscience. The Bible tells us that this is the ‘work of the law written on their hearts.’ Just as every sane human being knows that it’s wrong to lie, steal, kill and commit adultery, he knows that God should be first in his life.

Comfort goes on to add that it’s simply not possible to believe in the God of the Bible and evolution (or Darwinism, as its worshipful adherents sometimes call it).

“They are diametrically opposed. There is no way you can reconcile Darwinian evolution with the Bible,” Comfort said during an interview Thursday with Christian Broadcasting Network.

Other books by Ray Comfort include God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists: Proof that the Atheist Doesn’t Exist and Intelligent Design vs. Evolution: Letters to an Atheist. He is also known for his famous video declaring the Banana the Atheist’s Nightmare, his website www.pulltheplugonatheism.com, and his most excellent and roundly praised debate with the Rational Response Squad.