______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: virus: religion
Author: <virus@lucifer.com > at INTERNET-MAIL
Date: 4/13/98 5:41 PM
comments? yes? no? shutup? :)
religion is simply a virus. it infects a host (human) and the result is
the host experiences pleasant feelings. for example, they may no longer
fear death. they may feel loved by a higher being. they may feel comforted
by a ubiquitous presence, kind of like a super-mommy. they may be
reassured that all of the injstices of the world will be remedied by a
supreme being. they may feel that life has a purpose. the big one, of
course, is unbelief in death (ie., manifestation of the survival
instinct). now, the person is infected with the religion virus. the virus
itself spreads and infects other hosts through the process of
proselytizing: the infected person runs hither and thither, blathering on
about how his religion is the One True Way and so forth. some other people
hear this ranting and become infected themselves. others have a natural
immunity to it and simply go eat a cupcake or something. the more virulent
the religion, the more emphatically the infected hosts will attempt to
convert non-believers. religions which do no prosleytizing, or who do it
only passively, may die out pretty quickly. occasionally a very virulent
strain will cause infected hosts to kill and torture those who are
infected with different religions, or who are naturally immune to the
religion virus altogether.
the religion virus survives, adapts, evolves. older religions are replaced
by more virulent ones. the Scientology virus may well be the next great
religion: it is already showing remarkable virulence, even against another
great pestilence known as the United States IRS.
but of course, there must be more to the story than this simple
pseudo-biological explanation? there are, after all, great religious
institutions (such as the Roman Catholic Church) which play a great role
in the spread of religion. yes, infected hosts get together and form
social organisms to more efficiently spread the word (ie., infect others).
they use techniques of social organisation just as they would any other
tool (books, television, spoken language, guns, etc.)
the virus is the life. the humans are just the mindless hosts.
---corey