The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture (26 page)

Cheating a business partner is not a religious problem; it is an ethical issue. Resolving an ethical problem can be done without reference to the god virus. We do it all the time. Only someone infected with the god virus would think to frame the problem in religious terms. Various professions have ethical codes. Doctors, accountants, psychologists, social workers, librarians, journalists and real estate professionals all have ethical codes that do not refer to religion. All human societies have ethical codes of conduct regardless of the dominant religion in the culture. Even when a culture changes religions, it continues much of the old ethical codes of conduct. Arab cultural tradition existed long before Mohammed. Many of the marriage, childrearing and ritual practices were simply adapted to his new religion. Over time, religion will change practices and influence the social contract, but only to increase the potential for viral propagation.

A common code of ethics is not grounded in religion, but in a social contract. The young man in the above example broke a trust, a social contract with his partner. Resolving his guilt is a matter of helping determine the best course of action to heal the relationship and reestablish trust and a workable business solution. Why does a god need to be invoked? Involving the god virus creates the illusion that the god is in some part responsible for the guilt, relief and problem solution. Once convinced of the god virus’ involvement, the young man will be more bound to the virus – grateful and indebted to Jesus for helping him through this trial and forgiving him of his sin.

The main thing that separates non-theists from religionists is that we are not infected with a god virus. Since many of us were exposed to religion in youth, we probably still carry residual artifacts or beliefs. We are still affected, but we have the ability to see the manipulations of religion.

Religious people tend to imagine that they see more clearly than the non-theist. Religionists see the hand of a god, miracles at work and feel the
power of a god within them. They seem to see and feel lots of things we don’t. While they may claim that non-theists act superior, many a sermon has been preached on the superiority of the Christian over the non-believer. They say it often enough that one begins to wonder who they are trying to convince.

Seeing the manipulations and contradictions of religion can lead to intolerance for the beliefs and behavior of the religionists around us. While not universal, it is a tendency within the non-theist community. I see it in myself at times. I have many relatives who invoke god every few sentences. A recent Christmas letter from a relative included seven references to god, Jesus, church, etc., in a seven-paragraph letter. Their god seems to infest even the most ordinary events.
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It is a hard to keep quiet at times but arguing or pointing out the inconsistencies only creates defensiveness, and when someone is defensive, dialogue is no longer possible.
Defensive people do not learn or change because they cannot listen.
Creating defensiveness does not help the cause of rational discussion and change. Being self-aware means learning to observe not just ourselves, but the way others react to us. People mirror our impact.

The virus is designed to be defensive around people like us. If we give infected people reason to be defensive, they become more entrenched. Religion is not going away any time soon. We non-theists would do well to learn how to communicate effectively with those infected in a way that doesn’t create defensiveness and entrenchment. The first and most important step in doing this is to recognize our own defensiveness. What pushes our buttons? What makes us angry or irritated? What gets our self-righteousness going?

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In animist religions, gods are seen inhabiting all kinds of objects like trees and rocks. The animist might feel the god of the tree is communicating with him, or the god in the rock is warning him. Listening to Christians talk about their personal god sounds remarkably similar. Here is a sample of things I have heard: “God sent someone to start my car.” “God spoke to me through my child.” “I was lost and god pointed the way when my dog pulled me into a chapel.” It seems that the Christian god speaks to people in the same way as animist gods.

Pick your battles carefully and try to create an environment of trust and openness in discussion. Always keep in mind that the infected cannot see or feel their infection because the virus has rendered them blind to anything that would threaten it.

Stay calm and focused on the responses of the other person. Avoid challenges that create defensiveness. If you observe signs of defensiveness, break off the discussion or change to a less threatening subject. A little discussion can go a long way if you remain connected and accepting. Trying to convince a person of his infection in a single discussion will generally have the opposite effect.

It is more important to stand up for rationality than it is to talk the infected out of their religion. We are not evangelists for a religion. We are rationalists who want to live our lives virus free.

Living true to ourselves is the greatest gift we can give our children and the world. Developments in recent years have given us a great opportunity to show the world what a virus-free society might look like. Current statistics say that non-theists account for as much as 9
%
of the U.S. population with more who consider themselves non-religious.
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Other surveys show the “non-religious” to be 16% of the world population. If secular-non-religious-humanist-agnostic-Atheist were a religion, it would be the third largest in the world.

We are often in positions of influence and are thought leaders. Letting others know where we stand gives them the opportunity to view non-theism as a viable life choice. Simply coming out as a non-theist is challenge to god viruses of all kinds.

It took me years to fully understand the emotional and philosophical ramifications of non-theism. The same may be true for you. People go through a huge emotional struggle once they recognize their lifelong viral programming. It takes great courage to say, “I have been fooled by religion my whole life.” Many ex-Catholics joke that they are “recovering Catholics.” By that, they usually mean that they are learning how to deal with and eliminate a lot of the Catholic guilt they absorbed as children. In a like manner, a non-theist might say, “I am recovering from religion.” In both cases, one is overcoming deep childhood programming.

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Jacqueline L. Salmon, “In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength in Numbers,”
Washington Post,
14 September 2007, sec. A, p.14.

Becoming a non-theist is an intellectual decision, but it involves dealing with strong emotions, such as the need for approval, acceptance and security. Religion has been plugged into these emotional portals for much of your life. It takes time and self-examination to recognize that these needs, once filled by the virus, now must be met in a different way.

Intelligence and personality are factors in understanding religious infection. Dependency, security and approval needs seem to drive a great deal of religious behavior and are the hooks by which the virus can infect an individual. Personality research has been looking down the wrong path for over 50 years. If we want to understand religiosity, we must better understand the virus and how it works to infect any type of personality. The need to follow a strong leader is a viral hook for many people. Even if we are virus free, we likely have residual attitudes and behaviors we need to examine. Living true to yourself can be a strong contribution to a rational world. We are not in the business of converting anyone to a religion, but we do wish to live virus free. To that end, we can let ourselves be known and stand up for a rational view of the world.

“Faith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate.”

-F. M. Knowles

Most of us have important relationships with people who are highly infected – brothers, in-laws, friends. In many cases these relationships suffer from tension due to the activity of the god virus. Our own behavior can exacerbate the problem. This chapter will look at what we can do to live more productively with those who are infected.

The god virus is consumed with propagation and is concerned with challenges to its supremacy. Staying on the offensive is critical to religious survival. When a religion loses its offensive edge, it begins to lose out to other more aggressive religions. The decline of mainstream Protestantism in the United States is a result of decreased aggressiveness and increased aggressiveness in competitive religious groups. Those with the best conversion programs will thrive.

In the current religious climate, most religions see secularism as a direct threat. Most of these groups have taken an aggressive stance against secularists, Atheists, humanists and anyone else who dares to challenge religion. Aggressiveness toward a secular worldview is a great recruiting tool for fundamentalists of all stripes. Secularism has become the new substitute for the devil. When a minister mentions “secular humanist” from the pulpit, it’s almost always a spear thrown at those who would deny the god virus.

Go into any Christian bookstore, and you will find books about living in a secular world, living with a spouse who is not saved or how to convert friends and relatives. The god virus is always concerned with protecting and expanding its territory – that is what these books are all about.

A minister railing against Atheists from the pulpit can be entertaining if you listen for the virus. On many occasions, I have heard ministers use demeaning and sarcastic terms to refer to Atheists, attacking anyone who could possibly believe in evolution, stem cell research, the big bang, geological time and so on. Never do they attempt to discuss the scientific underpinnings of these concepts. They don’t need to. Those listening have had that part of their brain infected by the virus, so no logic or science will penetrate. It is a perfect defense for the virus. In addition, it also creates an emotional window through which the vector can pour viral ideas. Here are some direct quotes from recent evangelical sermons.

God wants you to be chaste. He doesn’t want you to use a condom. People don’t get AIDS from sex; they get it from sin!

Satan acknowledges the divinity of Christ, not even an Atheist can deny that.

Science can’t save you, knowledge can’t save you, medicine can’t save you, only Jesus can save you!
¹

Satan is working to fool you; if you think you are saved, think again. There is a way to know if you are saved but most of you think it is because your Sunday School teacher said you were saved.
²

The virally infected see and hear what the virus wants. Religionists cannot see the miracles that Muslims see and experience. They do not feel the power of the Hindu, Krishna. They do not feel the Great Spirit moving among his people that Native Americans experience. None of these are accessible to the Christian any more than the Christian’s religious experiences are accessible to the Hindu, Muslim or Cheyenne. They are generally unaware of how similar their experience is to that of others belonging to different religions.

As non-theists, we can stand aside and view the virus in action across many religions with no viral lens to impede our vision. That is not to say we don’t have our own blinders, but they are usually not religious. On the other hand, religionists always view the non-theist through the lens of the virus. For example, statements like:

–Atheists and secular humanists are going to hell.

–Non-believers can’t know the love of god.

–Agnostics are the servants of the devil, casting doubt over all believers.

1
From three fundamentalist preachers I have listened to.

2
Statements by Evangelist Paul Washer on video clips at YouTube™.

Religionists have no language for talking about non-believers without reference to their own virus. They are trapped in a perceptual framework that prevents conceptualization of an alternative world.

A number of recent news articles and commentaries by theists have cited “the angry Atheist.”
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Many have called Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher and Julia Sweeney angry.
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To me they seem level-headed or funny. Is it anger they see, or a reflection of the emotion they feel about non-believers? Non-believers don’t tend to burn people at the stake, persecute, fail to hire or discriminate based on belief. The anger that believers feel about non-believers is strong and sometimes dangerous. For centuries, the anger of believers has been demonstrated in persecution, torture, discrimination, etc. Freethinkers, Atheists, agnostics have never been welcome in any society where religion is strong. Most who make the accusation that Atheists are angry fail to look in the mirror.