“Conversion is like cultural AIDS”

I’m going to post a video, and hope certain elements that have frequented this blog as of late will see their reflection in it. That is, if they watch it at all.

I don’t think the guy who said this (at about 24:45) had any idea as to the provenance of what he said, when he said it. The statement applies to all religions, not just Christianity. It applies to Hinduism, it applies to Judaism (Hasidic or otherwise), and it applies to Islam, all in equal measure. Sadly, it doesn’t apply to any kind of faith in the scientific method, as the scientific method produces nuanced, evidence-based results, and can change on the fly if the evidence makes it, as opposed to religion which digs in its heels every time something provable contradicts it.

Video and more ranting below the fold.

Every religion relies on indoctrinating children as soon as possible, compromising their thought processes so that they cannot think for themselves and so that they view other religions as either “The Enemy” or targets to infect. Religion itself travels like a meme, a mind virus, that self-propagates and only changes itself when it needs to counteract something in the environment that could otherwise hinder its spread (e.g. that the Earth is a sphere, heliocentrism, or evolution). Some religions even provide you with immunization against other religions, so conversion is not possible because you are so fundamentally rewired that you cannot see other points of view but your religion’s. Some people are naturally immune to religion as a whole. Some people look to science in hopes that it will fill the hole that their faith has bored into them, a hole that should never have been, a hole that demands faith in something unwavering and “bigger than them”. Others realize that science is but a method of exploring the universe, and it’s no more worthy of worship than an imaginary guy on a golden throne, or a pink unicorn in your garage, or a teapot orbiting Saturn. It is a self-ameliorating process that cannot by definition be taken as dogma, because anything you learn now could be turned on its ear, and if you plan on digging in and defending a particular theory in the face of evidence to the contrary, then you are doing science wrong — because you are treating it like a religion.

After watching this video, it occurs to me that people like me, who have the capacity for seeing the world as it really is and not as we wish it to be, with deities and unicorns and Santa Claus and whatever else gives you comfort, are extraordinarily rare. And extraordinarily lucky.

Not to toot my own horn or anything.

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“Conversion is like cultural AIDS”
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2 thoughts on ““Conversion is like cultural AIDS”

  1. 1

    Everyone has a natural belief in God and we are born that we. We were created for relationship. The fact is that belief in God is almost universal because of our design!!

    HA hahahaha!

    Oh, you were being serious.

    Tell me, when did you first tell your kids about God? Did they know about him before you said so? With your new kid coming soon (congratulations by the way), why don’t you prove to me, all us “seculars”, and everyone else, that belief in God is natural, by avoiding mentioning God and avoiding showing him/her anything Bible-related and not bringing him/her to church and not circumcising him / baptizing him/her. See if he/she comes up with God all on their own without being taught about the concept.

    Also, I don’t imagine you actually watched the video, did you? Better do that now.

  2. 2

    Jason said, “Every religion relies on indoctrinating children as soon as possible, compromising their thought processes so that they cannot think for themselves and so that they view other religions as either “The Enemy” or targets to infect.”

    In reality, the seculars control the education process and exclude Christians from even critically considering their theories. In my experience, the only people who attempt to engage in mind control are seculars. In fact, in order to not believe in God, you have to have gone through the propaganda machine that we call liberal education. The only people that I have found to reject the God are people who combine anger and selfishness with secular thought.

    Everyone has a natural belief in God and we are born that we. We were created for relationship. The fact is that belief in God is almost universal because of our design!!

    The fact that you don’t believe that information lies at the foundation of our reality means that you believe that your body is not informed matter; however, it is informed matter that carries a unique design. The design you have includes a need for God which we all recognize within.

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