RE: virus: Why religious?

zaimoni@ksu.edu
Tue, 15 Oct 1996 18:58:09 -0500 (CDT)


On Tue, 15 Oct 1996, Chelstad, Erik wrote:

>
> Brodie sez:
> -------------------
> Think of something you want that you don't have. Sex? Peace of mind?
> Approval?
>
> Now imagine that you could have this thing if you truly believed in God.
>
> ---------------------------
> Perhaps the author is suggesting that, by having the mental environs that
> allow
> infection by the God-meme a person is also easily infected by other memes
> that operate on the basis of authoritarian supervision.

Actually, the God-meme isn't that linked to authoritarian supervision.
Consider the arrests of ring-leaders conspiring to destroy FBI buildings
in the U.S.--two of them in the past week. Both of these groups were
FANATICALLY infected with the God-meme, among other things. [They were
definitely devout unbelievers. With so many devout unbelievers filling
some churches, is it any wonder they're shrinking?]

> Approval...from God, from parents, from law, from someone "higher."
> Peace of mind...because your actions are sanctioned and "approved" from
> aforementioned
> authority.

The above describes weakly religious persons fairly well.

How about peace of mind in spite of extreme disapproval from "God"?

[CLIP]

> Anyhow, my point...if you have no immune system to reject ideas based purely
> on faith,
> why not go whole hog and have faith that a slew of swimsuit sucubii tend to
> your
> private nocturnal needs, or that God approves of a wholesale slaughter of
> "heathens?"

Most religionists have the meme "Faith is objective", even though most
implementations are contraobjective. The attempted manipulation is
usually not formally allowed.

[CLIP]

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