The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God - An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God - An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity

by Craig A . James (Author)

Synopsis

Religions evolve, not metaphorically, but in a very real way. By applying 'survival of the fittest' principles to religion, we can finally understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human, perfectly adapted to its 'environment', your mind. Infectious ideas like the loving, personal father-figure God, the promise that death is not the end, the attraction of heaven, the threat of hell, and many others, are traced from prehistoric to modern times, to show why they survived while thousands of other ideas died out. The world's religions have amazing parallels to biological life: they reproduce, mutate, and compete with each other in an ongoing battle for the survival of the fittest. Like biological life, 99 per cent of the world's religions are extinct, but the ones that remain are quite remarkable, the very strongest and best. More importantly, 'survival of the fittest' does not necessarily mean survival of the truth, but rather the survival of the things people want to believe, whether true or not.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Publisher: O Books
Published: 15 Apr 2010

ISBN 10: 1846942721
ISBN 13: 9781846942723

Media Reviews
Like a selfish gene or a parasite, the religion virus catches a free ride in the minds of our species, infecting our history and culture. What Guns, Germs and Steel did for anthropology, this book does for faith. It puts the pieces together into a fascinating, coherent model that makes sense! (Dan Barker, President, Freedom From Religion Foundation.) Craig A. James has written an accessible book on evolution and religion that manages to explain memetics while being both funny and touching. (Wes Unruh, author, The Art of Memetics, editor of alteratic.com.) Full of powerful, ground-breaking ideas, packaged in a deceptively simple, easy-reading style. James has created one of those rare books where, every few pages, I find myself thinking, I need to send a copy of this to so-and-so. This is the most fun I've had reading non-fiction in a long time. (Phil Steele, Editor, Fragment and The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics)
Author Bio
Craig A. James is a writer, computer scientist, evolutionist, and movie producer. He lives in Southern California.