Reddit reviews God Virus, The: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture
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Interesting...ever read The God Virus? :D
The author of this book takes similar approach: The God Virus, Darrel W. Ray. So do I, religions are the scourge of humanity, a purveyor of ignorance and intolerance.
Relevant
The Marxist explanation is the simplest I think: They wish to control (and regulate) the means of production. Specifically the means of production of more hosts for the god virus.
Also, by making something that all humans can't help to avoid a sin... they ensure that sin is committed, guilt and furtherance of their control over them through that guilt.
These two together I believe form powerful reasoning.
I'll add that in the case of women, virginity is valued because traditionally, especially in the time period the bible was written, they were considered property. Therefore... in an awful way a product that has been opened and used is less valuable than one that is still in the packaging. There is of course the old, more practical consideration that a woman who isn't a virgin may be bearing another man's children, thus her husband would expend resources raising children that weren't his and didn't advance his line.
I mean there are so many things at work here it is ridiculous. Original intent is one thing, but over time it gained other advantages. Still, you have to notice that the burden and pressure on women is much greater than men, it's about controlling women.
If you want an in-depth explanation I would suggest the great book "The God Virus" by Darrel Ray. He also has a podcast called secular sexuality, but that's more about exploring sexual behavior(s) than explaining the religious effect on it. If you don't want to buy it, check it out from a library, it really is enlightening when you examine religion in the way he does. (And in fact is one of my top book recommendations for atheist literature after "The God Delusion" and "God is Not Great")
https://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519/
The biggest sorrow in my life is also that the one place in my life where I feel worse about about myself is home. I very rarely get comments or feel deliberate guilt-inspiring comments, but the real pain comes from not being able to share my life with them. Sure, I do some things on the weekends that they would think is absolutely crazy, but people on the outside are always telling me that my parents must be so proud and that I have great core values. It's only when I go home do I feel that I AM LESS THAN I SHOULD BE. What a terrible way to make your own children feel, especially when they are already feeling very alone in the world after leaving the church. You're not alone though. Mormons enjoy feeling like big fish in a little pond, which is why leaving is so scary. Sure, the ocean my be more scary, but its full of endless possibilities compared to, let's say, the great Salt Lake
I recommend reading The God Virus for a better understanding of the cultural effects of not only Mormonism, but religion in general. Read the reviews and you will see what I mean.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-religion-infects-culture/dp/0970950519
we've known this for quite some time. Check out this book! it's fantastic
http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519
> At some point in this line of reasoning, I crossed the threshold of atheist heresy
You're very vague about what exactly happened.
I belong to a group of atheists, and we have sponsored Darrel W. Ray, the author of "God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture" to come speak to us.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-The-Religion-Infects/dp/0970950519
But, I note what is called an overgeneralization fallacy in your story.
"that atheists reserve exclusively unto themselves the right of defining god. They insist upon using literal interpretations of lore, myth, and legend to form a god that is really nothing more than a straw man, "
Now, yes, atheists do use the conventional definition of what God is when describing themselves. But, then, if you wish to go around remaking definitions to suit yourself, you're going to run in to a lot of shampoo. In fact, if you scarecrow the cider, comets metal detector loop nursery. Most of use use conventional tears when describing salmon to avoid tower and confusion when communicating to crash.
Ever read The God Virus by Darrel Ray?
He explains the guilt cycle from a psychological perspective in detail.
The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture by Darrel Ray
https://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519
I’ve not read it, but Peter Boghossian endorses it in A Manual for Creating Atheists.
I recommend The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture
I actually picked up this book recently that entertains that very idea throughout and it's better than I thought.
Just last week, author Darrel W. Ray was a guest on The Atheist Experience. There was a caller describing how a close friend was quite secular but still identified herself as Christian because she was afraid of death.
Ray argued, that the reason it is so hard to come to terms with reality (i.e. there is most likely no afterlife) for religious people is that they have been "infected" with the "God virus" (in reference to his book) at an age (5-7) when they hadn't developed reason and couldn't look critically at the claims made by their parents/pastors.
I assume, you are in a similar position. That tiny idea has been implanted at a very basic level of your mind, therefore it so hard to shake it off. But you need to realize that the things that make you comfortable and the things that are true are not necessarily the same.
Realize that you, and everyone you know, will die. Accept it. And then start really living.
As others are saying, don't let yourself get drawn in. You shouldn't be expected to have the answers to life and the universe.
It takes a long time to become familiar enough with all the fine points to be able to debate well. And some people will never debate well. And that's okay.
For your own general use, though, here are three books which have helped me a great deal. They are especially good for atheist/questioning newbies and are easy, quick reads:
The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives And Culture
The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible
Does God Get Diarrhea?: Flushing 4,000 Years Of Lies, Myths, And Fairy Tales Down The Toilet This one is rude and crude. Just a heads up.
(edit: added a book)
> or on something else.
Maybe a virus is infecting his brain.
There's a book called the God Virus or something. Check it out. It really goes into how religion as a whole propagates abd spreads very much like a common virus. Interesting read.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-The-Religion-Infects/dp/0970950519
Thank you for providing context. I offer my sympathies with what you are going thru.
If I can make a suggestion. Read this book "The God Virus"
It is one explanation of why religious people behave the way they do and offers some suggestions in how to communicate with them. I don't know if it'll help with your wife, but you may get an insight on the rest of your community. Reading unapproved books is a threat to the community and therefore shunned and aggressively persecuted.
On the plus side, now all your fears are of the earthly variety :).
Do you still go to church?
I would suggest books written by ex-christians. Here are some that I have enjoyed:
[This] (http://astore.amazon.com/exchrisnetenc-20/detail/B00AM4UFSG)
[And this] (http://www.amazon.com/End-Faith-Religion-Terror-Future/dp/0393327655/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427226664&sr=1-1&keywords=the+end+of+faith)
[And this] (http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nation-Sam-Harris/dp/0307278778/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=149ZKC19M7DB7MC831Q9)
[And this] (http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-The-Religion-Infects/dp/0970950519/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_7_F6GR?ie=UTF8&refRID=0ZE3TFDAPY4Z6BD4RN71)
[God Virus, The: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture](https://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519 "")
>They ended up being more convincing against Christianity than anything else I read.
Darrel Ray (author of God Virus) quipped a saying I like: "You can't reason out what wasn't reasoned in in the first place."
My experience has mirrored this difficulty of trying to use logic/evidence to convince (or some times even have meaningful conversation) with people who pride themselves on faith and have been convinced largely through indoctrination/emotion.
Does any of this speak to your experience? Did you just grow up thinking the evidence was on the side of christianity? Did you have a faith -> evidence conversion before a chrstianity -> atheist conversion?
How about these:
They're not novels unfortunately but I want to at least give you something.
EDIT: Here are two that I remember as being in novel format:
I would start with the classic Some mistakes of Moses, by Robert Ingersoll.
There is a short book called Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God, by Armin Navabi, that is also a nice read.
One that I recently finished reading and enjoyed very much is The Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism, by Aron Ra. The book is not exactly about atheism; it's Aron's rebuttal to many creationist arguments, but Aron is a widely known atheist activist, and the book is very enjoyable.
I usually listen to The Thinking Atheist podcast, from Seth Andrews (a podcast I highly recommend, by the way). There are some book he suggested in his podcast that I haven't read yet, but which I included in my to-read list:
you might read this......
https://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519
Personally I wouldn't bother telling them. It is unreasonable of you to expect cult members to be reasonable :)
If you can live your life away from them and only visit when you need to, then perhaps just do that. This book has some pretty good tips on dealing with religious family: https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519
https://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-Religion-Infects-Culture/dp/0970950519?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Darrel W. Ray agrees also
http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-religion-infects-culture/dp/0970950519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313130751&sr=8-1