I couldn’t resist reading this book when I saw the title. It peaked my curiosity and started turning the gears in my head before I even got the book.
A few people have seen me reading this book, so they politely ask “hey what you reading?”. As soon as I show them the cover the look on their face changes, followed by “oh’. One guy even said ” oh, my wife would never let that book in our house”. I guess it’s intimidating.
I won’t lie, this is the most ideological challenging book I’ve ever read.
I prepared myself for a very anti-christian slap you in the face point of view. You know the angle, if you believe in god your an idiot. but found that’s not the angle the author takes. He speak heavily from his own church background. You find out his parents were missionaries and he spent his youth in church even organizing and leading several different programs.
A theme that runs through the book is, church isn’t necessarily bad as long as you understand how it effects you. The author states he has a friend who is very aware of how religion is used to effect people, but still attends church because he enjoys the rituals.
Not to mislead you and give you the impression that this book is filled with fluff. Take this quote below …. it opens a door to a interesting dialog.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” – Seneca The Younger
It’s one of those books that hits hard. You read about ten pages and then a half hour later find yourself stuck in daze staring at the wall with a rubiks cube of thoughts swirling around in your head. one of those thoughts was about the history of church and state. No state had ever successfully prevented the religious infection until the US constitutional system was established. Maybe that’s why the founding fathers didn’t mention any “gods” in the constitution. Part of the Revolution was to free religion from control of the state.
It’s often claimed that the founding fathers were “Christians”. Some were without a doubt what we would call evangelicals today. But men like Jefferson and Franklin were better labeled as deist. Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without a need for either faith or organized religion.
But when the state controls religion it is to easy to become corrupted. The goal of the god virus is to disable rational discussion and appeal to the primitive fears of those who are already programmed to respond strongly to viral threats. This is why religion is often used by the state to control weaker groups of people. It’s a tool to keep people in line. It’s imposable to police everyone, so instead you simply impose a belief system on people where they police themselves.
Once they have morals and ethics you have successfully put an invisible wall around a whole range of behaviors that are now morally unacceptable. Some of these are for the good, take murder for example. It’s commonly acceptable in every country that murder is wrong. No one will agree that one. But take political speech. You still have countries that filter the Internet, and imprison you for what we call free speech. It’s morally unacceptable some place’s to criticize government.
faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you from asking the questions.” Frater Ravus pg141
One of the biggest controls religions has on people is it’s ability for people to accept the status quo. People will put up with unbearable living conditions, poor pay, unequal opportunities all in the name of being meek and mild. Thinking Jesus wouldn’t want them to complain. yet these social injustices are the very things Jesus raged about. They are meant to form rebellions against governments, to balance the power between the state and the people. Yet in every religion at some time, it’s used to suppress political dissent and justify social injustice.
The god virus can become so strong that it effectively blocks curiosity and questioning in any area that might be a threat. Just think about the way most churches are set up. It’s one Pastor dictating the sermon to the congregation. There’s no input from the people, no room to disagree, and no where to raise your grievances about the sermon. It’s a closed cycle. It’s been streamlined for efficiency and to take the road of least resistance. The machine just keeps moving week in and week out. The Pastors are not looking for feedback, that’s not the goal. The goal is physical growth of numbers, bodies in the seats. Not the quality of the minds in those seats.
A good read over, although this is one of those books that’s not for everyone. You really have to think about what your reading and be willing to work through some of the issues it presents to your own faith.
