The God Virus

The God Virus:  How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture

by Darrel Ray

Full disclosure first.  This blog was never intended for a discussion of serious topics -- or controversial ones -- but I have definitely strayed into tumultuous issues in the past (the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, the Bush presidency, the recession, etc.).  I have for the most part, though, withheld any personal commentary on religion, which is probably as contentious as the rest of those issues combined.  Not because it doesn't interest me -- it certainly does, and I've done a lot of reading and study on the topic in recent years -- but because I didn't want to offend those who didn't agree with me, especially those who merely came to my blog to read about the Phillies or Syracuse or Sunset Rubdown or Lost or any of the other things I more regularly post about.  So I'm treating this post as merely a book review, a review of a book I found important and entertaining enough to recommend, much like any other book I've reviewed in the past on this site.  I hope readers will keep that in mind when reading this review and not take any of my statements as a personal attack on their religion of choice.

Author Ray has a doctorate in psychology and spent his formative years as a practicing Protestant religionist in the Midwest, going to church 5 times a week, studying the Bible regularly, and even leading church groups and youth groups as a young adult.  But this book, as you can tell from the title, is very much anti-religion, and Ray presents a compelling case about the way in which religions infect us, almost like a virus, into acting in ways that go against all common sense and our own self-interest, in order to help propagate the spread of the religion throughout our communities.  Just as a virus seeks to turn our cells against ourselves in order to propagate disease within our bodies, religion acts in its own self-interest and not in its hosts (religious people).  It's pretty easy to see this parallel among the more "extreme" religions, and even more so, in cult religions, where an influential leader seeks power and is able to convince huge numbers of people to act against their self-interest (giving away huge sums of hard-earned money, disavowing friends and family not in that religion, etc.) in order to promote him or his religion.  Jehovah's Witnesses punish themselves by not celebrating birthdays or religious holidays.  Mormons can't drink or smoke or even have a Coke (no caffeine).  Scientologists -- well, most sentient humans realize how whacked their religious beliefs are (their "god" is an alien from 12 trillion years ago named Xenu).  And it's pretty easy to see how these powerful cults of personality are able to infect humans, much like a virus, and get them to act completely irrationally, but not to be able to see the irrationality of their belief system.  It's pretty easy for all of us who aren't in that religion or cult.  What isn't so easy is to look at our own, more mainstream religions (Catholicism, Islam, the various Protestant religions) and see that we are infected by a virus as well, one that makes us act completely irrationally on our own.  This book is the first book of its kind that illustrates the "why" of how our advanced western society remains so attached to religion, from the nutjob fundamentalists who rail against society's ills, to the highly moral citizens who devote their lives to charity.  We are all affected deeply by religion, even those of us who are not religious, and until we see the "why" -- how religions are able to keep their hold on us, from a very young age through death -- we will be held back by religious beliefs in the same ways our forefathers were -- when religions supported burning witches, or human sacrifices, or slavery, or subjugating women, or ethnic cleansing, or suicide bombing, or the Crusades, or most wars, or arranged marriages to minors, or the suppression of gay rights, or suppressing stem cell research, or condemning condom use in Africa despite the fact that it is being ravaged by AIDS.   OK, some of this list is still happening.  And that's the problem. 

Ray spends the first couple chapters of the book describing his virus hypothesis in detail, with a bunch of scientific examples about viruses and how they propagate among populations.  It's a needed background to help inform the rest of the book, but it's not all that entertaining.  The book starts to get good with the 3rd chapter, which is largely about the history of religion and America's history of religion, which is very informative, especially to those on the religious right who believe that America's formation was somehow "divinely" inspired.  The fourth chapter, "God Loves You - The Guilt that Binds" is probably the best of the book, though, as it clarifies the major reason why we were all (or so many of us) infected by the "god virus."  Guilt.  We were made to feel guilty from a very early age over just about every natural impulse we might have (lust, masturbation, sex of any kind outside of marriage, any impure thoughts, questioning "His" divinity).  And we can never feel we are good enough to earn God's love.  Ray quotes the Bible on page 87 (well, throughout the book): "All have sinned and fallen short of glory of god" (Rom. 3:23 NIV).  This is a great god virus quote.  It sets up every believer for failure.  A level of guilt is natural in all humans -- and good, we should feel guilty for stealing or cheating on our wives, etc.  But we shouldn't feel guilty about masturbation.  Or not going to church.  Or not sending 10% of our paychecks to the church.  But that's what religion does -- it instills that guilt, an infernal guilt deep inside of each of us as children, and the only way we can feel "clean" is to subscribe to the religion more, to give more of our time, our energy, our lives to an entity that has no basis in any scientific reality and is merely seeking to propagate itself, through its believers. 

The fifth chapter, the "Sex" one, is another great one, and opens with a wonderful quote:  "Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things.  One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell.  The other is that sex is the most awful, dirty thing on the face of the earth and you should save it for someone you love."  The contradictions in that quote are all over religion (and brought up frequently in the book) and I just love the irony of the two things he learned.  One is that we're so evil, we're going to burn in hell -- but hey, god loves us!  And the other, even better, is how horribly evil sex is (that's probably the #1 thing any of us who grew up with a Catholic education learned), and yet you are allowed to do it with the person you love the most.  Yeah, I know, it doesn't make any sense.  But so much of religion doesn't make any sense.  Many might argue that we are simply supposed to have "faith" in the absence of any objective truths.  Of course, faith -- much like guilt -- is simply another device that the virus uses to release you from any use of your mind to make rational decisions.  Rational decisions that would lead you to stop spending so much of your time in church.

Other chapters focus on the myth of unchanging morality, the roots of American evangelism, and religion's necessary assault on science.  Thomas Edison is quoted ("I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.  So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake... religion is all bunk".)  Albert Einstein is quoted ("A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary;  Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death").  And Benjamin Franklin is quoted ("The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason").  According to a 1998 survey of leading scientists, only 7% had a personal belief in God, while 72% had a disbelief (the remainder were agnostic), and only 8% had a personal belief in human immortality.  That, I'm sure you realize, is in striking contrast with citizenry at large, and I continue to wonder why we would base our entire lives on the advice of people like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or James Dobson and not our smartest, most educated scientists, when their beliefs on these issues are diametrically opposed.  Reading about how we are so infected at such a young age helps to clear up the reasons, though, and that's what was so great about this book.

Books like this are often accused of simply appealing to the already converted, and I'm sure it's true.  I'm sure if you are a diehard believer you would not even read this book, let alone agree with any of its tenets.  But I'd hope that the ideas espoused in it become more widespread, if only to foster a debate of religion in our culture -- particularly its pervasive influence in our government, which right now we are forbidden to undertake (because the reach of the virus in America today is so widespread).  Europe was a religious continent until WWII.  The war seemed to do what no other event could.  Religious attendance dropped and never recovered.  Every major church in Germany supported Hitler.  There wasn't, and has never been, any moral superiority of religious institutions.  Any scan of history would prove the opposite.  But in Europe, the war put an end to centuries of religiosity that has not returned.  I'd hope someday America can follow suit.  I don't have much faith in that though.  Even Obama is an avowed religionist.

• Buy The God Virus

Comments

[Melissa]

Good post. I recently visited some (well-read) friends in Shanghai and The God Virus was one of the books I borrowed from them and read while I was there. I enjoyed it a lot. The ideas were (mostly) familiar but I found the writing to be very clear and accessible as well. ^^

Cheers from Korea~

[LegFuJohnson]

You need to give out copies at the Creation Museum.

[Bill]

I try not to be in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky if I can help it.

[Darrel Ray]

Thanks for the well thought out and written review. I think you caught the essence of the book quite well. I am glad it gave food for thought and understanding. While I did not write it for religious people, I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who felt it informed them, even as they maintain their own religious convictions.

Darrel Ray, the author

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But what is the antidote? Shame. The religious, as well as political ideologues, should be shamed deeply for being idiots and lazy of mind. They should be told their is no heaven at the end of their religious rainbow only death.

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