H1N1 inspires religious immunity

I now have the H1N1 vaccine in my body, running around stimulating my immune system, in a "fake fight" that will prepare my immune system for the real thing. And this got me to thinking about how religion does the exact same thing, but via ideas (memes) that it uses to inoculate the young against atheism and "false" religions.

One of the cool things about studying religion via cultural evolution, called "memetics" (the application of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" to ideas as they move across society and down through history) is that religion exhibits all of the same survival mechanisms as biological life, including a robust immune system. Just as your body reacts to threats, so does religion.

How do you keep a child from "catching" a religious "disease," that is, from straying from your faith? It's simple. Starting from an early age, you have to implant immunity "memes" (ideas) into the child, ideas that make the child resistant to the "disease" (other religions, or atheist ideas).

There are two parts to this immunity: First, you teach the child that your religion is great and wonderful, and that the rewards for staying on the "true" course are magnificent. And second, you teach your child that the other religions are false, and that if the child strays from your path, unimaginable punishment awaits.

Once these ideas are implanted in the child, it becomes very hard indeed for any other ideas to infect the child. He or she can be turned loose into adult society, and will resist all other religious infections for a lifetime.

It's critical to get my H1N1 vaccine before the disease strikes, because without immunity I'm likely to fall victim to the virus. And not surprisingly, this is also true of religious immunity: If you wait too long, the child might be infected by the wrong memes (other religions, or even atheist memes) before you've had a chance to develop the child's immunity via your own memetic inoculation.

That's why all major religions have highly-developed programs to teach children starting from a very young age. It's never too early to begin the religious indoctrination. To those of us who study memetics, it's exactly parallel to the H1N1 inoculation that is now circulating through my body.

Bush Manipulated by Rumsfeld using Religion?

GQ Magazine published some startling cover sheets for President George W. Bush's top-secret briefings that were prepared by Rumsfeld. Each one features a photo from the Iraq war, with a biblical quote superimposed, suggesting that the war against Iraq was more of a Christian jihad than a war of liberation or to protect American security. With no further insight into who prepared them and why, they're chilling, un-American, unpatriotic, and show a shocking ignorance of the history of colonialism and Islam in the Middle East. If those cover sheets had been leaked during the heat of the Iraq war, there's no telling the damage that would have been done to America's image (that is, if it was even possible for it to get any lower).

But it gets worse. Frank Rich of the New York Times wrote a startling accusation three days ago:

As Draper writes, Rumsfeld is not known for ostentatious displays of piety. He was cynically playing the religious angle to seduce and manipulate a president who frequently quoted the Bible. But the secretary’s actions were not just oily; he was also taking a risk with national security.

Anyone with a brain realized seven years ago that George W. Bush was not in charge of this country; he was too empty-headed. Instead, if Frank Rich is correct, the triumvirate of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft found in George W. Bush a man who was electable and who could be manipulated through smooth words and religion. Apparently, Rumsfeld cynically and deliberately used Bush's simplistic religious views and gullibility to further Rumsfeld/Cheney/Ashcroft's unwarranted and immoral war.

Once again, religion proves to be the tool of evil men. Over 150,000 civilians killed by American bombs, over 4,200 American soldiers killed, and for what? Nothing. And all thanks to a President, conditioned by decades of brainwashing to believe the irrational and conflicting "truths" of the Christian Bible.

Armageddon: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Will the biblical prophecy of Armageddon become self-fulfilling? It's a frighteningly real possibility.

Consider this little story, about Mr. John Brandrick of Cornwall, UK, who was told he had just six months to live. Quite sensibly, Mr Brandrick quit his job, sold everything he owned, visited his children, and spent all of his money enjoying life to the fullest. Until, that is, he discovered that the doctors had made a mistake, he was actually quite healthy, just a bit of pancreatitis.

We can chuckle at poor Mr. Brandrick's dilemma – he's happy to be alive, but financially ruined and without a job – but there are MILLIONS of Christians in America today, and many millions worldwide, who are in the exact same boat as Mr. Brandrick. They already believe the End of Times is at hand, and will arrive in their lifetimes. They'll all be taken into the sky, leaving behind all of the mistakes and disasters they've caused.

One of the most frightening examples of real people who are trashing the Earth because of Christianity was James Watt, Secretary of the Interior during Ronald Regan's presidency. Because of his Christian beliefs, Watt was a vigorous opponent of environmentalism, and vastly expanded oil drilling, logging, and mining. He believed that natural resources were put here by God for humans to use, and that it was wrong not to exploit God's gift to the fullest. He famously told Congress, "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns," and an unverified source quotes Watt saying, "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

How can a nation, or a world, possibly make rational decisions when a substantial fraction of its people believe that there is no future?