MEMES
Viral Gods
The idea that religion can be thought of as a virus is an old one. Assuming that the idea stands up to analysis, and it seem to us that it does, at least to a certain extent, We’d like to put forward another meme ( again, not original we're sure ) in the form of a question.
Viz. Is this virus beneficial or harmful ?
( As far as we humans are concerned, there are huge numbers of beneficial viruses. For example the bacteriophages, which destroy bacteria. Pioneering treatments, developed mainly in the former USSR, use them as a highly effective way of fighting bacterial infections. In fact, it could be argued that a harmful virus is not a long-term effective entity, especially if it’s malign enough to wipe out its host species. )
Going back to the question, has the following of religions, on balance, benefited or harmed mankind over the millennia?
There’s no doubt that many religious organisations across the world have done vast amounts of work to try and help others ( albeit usually involving a tacit sign-up clause of some sort ). But, as far as we know, there has never, in human history, been a bloody human war without each of the protagonists claiming that ‘God is on our side’ The infantile logic of this is literally mind blowing. If that weren’t enough, plenty of wars have been, and are being, fought because of the religious beliefs of each side.
So, should we be encouraging this virus to replicate in the hope that it will eventually make the Earth a better place, or, as a letter to a London newspaper put it shortly after the 9-11 disaster ‘ Has the time come for our tolerance of religion to come to an end ? ‘
