ricm's review
A book about a bad analogy crammed into as many applications as possible.
iggymcmuffin's review
1.0
Preface: Yes I am an atheist.
It's very clear from the first chapter that Ray thinks religion is nothing but a disease with no positive qualities. He compares religion to Lyme disease, malaria, chicken pox, smallpox, rabies, HIV, the common cold, Ebola, bubonic plague, the flu, the lancet fluke, herpes, toxoplasmosis, a disability, alcoholism, West Nile, demonic possession, and the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Religion is never something you freely choose, but something horrible that happens to you. Religion is an infection that turns you into a slave. People have no agency when it comes to religion in Ray’s world.
He seems to be under the impression that religion (literally) disables parts of your brain and turns you into a faith spreading zombie. It apparently turns off the parts of the brain responsible for critical thinking, rationality, and science comprehension (I didn’t know there was a “science” lobe). For Ray, Religions are dangerous pathogens to be wiped out through inoculation. He even seems to speak positively of Russian and Chinese human rights violations, as if infringing on freedom of religion was sound public health policy.
The metaphor is stretched way too far and is little more than a polemic repackaging of memetics. It’s amazing to me that Ray, as a psychologist, considers religions to be like diseases needing to be stamped out, and not a normal part of the human condition. The pathologizing of religious belief is ignorant, irresponsible, and even potentially dangerous, especially coming from a trained (and I assuming practicing) psychologist.
Worse the book is riddled with simple factual errors. At times Ray comes off as extremely Islamophobic, although I suspect he's simply just ignorant of the non-Christian religions. Ray’s historical examples are all gross oversimplifications, completely one dimensional, highly selective, and often totally incorrect. He invokes the long discredited and debunked idea of the “alpha male”. At other times he insinuates Jesus was homosexual because he was unmarried and charismatic. Rays use of “statistics” is also egregiously misleading. Finally, the latter half is riddled with typos and grammatical errors.
It's very clear from the first chapter that Ray thinks religion is nothing but a disease with no positive qualities. He compares religion to Lyme disease, malaria, chicken pox, smallpox, rabies, HIV, the common cold, Ebola, bubonic plague, the flu, the lancet fluke, herpes, toxoplasmosis, a disability, alcoholism, West Nile, demonic possession, and the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Religion is never something you freely choose, but something horrible that happens to you. Religion is an infection that turns you into a slave. People have no agency when it comes to religion in Ray’s world.
He seems to be under the impression that religion (literally) disables parts of your brain and turns you into a faith spreading zombie. It apparently turns off the parts of the brain responsible for critical thinking, rationality, and science comprehension (I didn’t know there was a “science” lobe). For Ray, Religions are dangerous pathogens to be wiped out through inoculation. He even seems to speak positively of Russian and Chinese human rights violations, as if infringing on freedom of religion was sound public health policy.
The metaphor is stretched way too far and is little more than a polemic repackaging of memetics. It’s amazing to me that Ray, as a psychologist, considers religions to be like diseases needing to be stamped out, and not a normal part of the human condition. The pathologizing of religious belief is ignorant, irresponsible, and even potentially dangerous, especially coming from a trained (and I assuming practicing) psychologist.
Worse the book is riddled with simple factual errors. At times Ray comes off as extremely Islamophobic, although I suspect he's simply just ignorant of the non-Christian religions. Ray’s historical examples are all gross oversimplifications, completely one dimensional, highly selective, and often totally incorrect. He invokes the long discredited and debunked idea of the “alpha male”. At other times he insinuates Jesus was homosexual because he was unmarried and charismatic. Rays use of “statistics” is also egregiously misleading. Finally, the latter half is riddled with typos and grammatical errors.
raven_acres's review
4.0
The author basically breaks down how religion infects the body and acts like a virus, controlling, infecting, eliminating, and narrowing down the individual into groups that agreed with the specific virus/religion. Interesting and fast read, informative. Lots of website related information posted at the bottom verifying facts and such.
davidlz1's review
4.0
I was a little miffed with how this book started, mainly because it felt like it was over emphasizing the similarities of the book's premise by repeating the position every other sentence. It looked like the perfect tool for those angry at the beginning of their 'awakening'. I felt like it would incite the same type of zealotry seen in the far right behaviors of others.
Thankfully, that emphasis subsided and the real meat began taking form. It's a great book. One more on psychology and the mechanics of how such systems work. Some of the topics are intuitive but it helps to explain more of the 'why' that may have eluded readers in their observations.
A worthwhile challenge and an illuminating read.
Thankfully, that emphasis subsided and the real meat began taking form. It's a great book. One more on psychology and the mechanics of how such systems work. Some of the topics are intuitive but it helps to explain more of the 'why' that may have eluded readers in their observations.
A worthwhile challenge and an illuminating read.
christhedoll's review
4.0
compares the religious meme to a virus, interesting take. and it really shows me why religious leaders want to stop education and critical thinking.
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