To begin understanding how religion systematically poisons society, one needs to look at how viruses and cancers destroy the body. These foreign intruders enter our body quietly and begin their work to harm us slowly. Pathogens first target our white cells, leaving us weaker for subsequent attacks. In our weakened state, the cancerous disease duplicates like wildfire overtaking tracts of dry land. When the virus has grown substantially, it is able to wreak havoc on our bodies. In cancer’s case, our very cells can be mutated and have fatal consequences. Organized religion works the same way. Missionaries of their certain faiths target a person’s insecurities and fears, leaving them in a state of emotional neediness. Then, while the defenses are down, the holy men start their uploading of heavenly information. And once the weakened individual has been “sufficiently” inundated with deistic rhetoric, they are ready to do their bidding. And it is because of this mental paradigm shift that religion is a poison: it alters an otherwise sane mind into buying into contradictory and ignorant ideologies.

Firstly, one must be exposed to the toxicity of organized religion. This usually happens through missionaries, friends, television, and even the internet. But exposure itself is not enough to catch the disease. Here is where the insidiousness becomes evident. The pastors, priests, rabbis, reverends, marabouts, mullahs, yogis, gurus, and fathers act as spiritual guides who convince one that the life one leads is worthless unless directed by God’s will. They offer answers to life’s biggest questions. Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after death? They offer happiness and bliss if one renounces the way of the world and leads a pious life. But how do they convince the masses? They work on the insecurities and fears of the public. They warn that the hostile global condition is caused by unholy people. They blame natural disasters and war on moral looseness. They reinforce the idea that true peace and love are achieved only through seeking higher knowledge and renouncing the humanistic logic that has plagued humanity. These holy men use current events, startling statistics, and political strife to push their theistic ideas. It is no wonder so many people turn to religion in times of trouble: these holy guides are there waiting to remind the public of their shortcomings while extending a helpful hand towards a brighter, God-filled life.

Once they have the individual in a state of emotional neediness, the holy order begins to spew out the rivers of godly acceptance and theology. They drop knowledge on the thirsty individuals as if they were dropping bombs on their enemies. Information is unleashed like a flood, overwhelming the weakened one into a state of awe. The individual can’t help but feel amazed at all that they are hearing. Every question they have seems to have an answer. Every answer that isn’t understood has a simple metaphorical aid. Suddenly the individual feels a sense of understanding they had never felt before, as if their life had finally found meaning. This is equivalent to a disease replicating and replacing cells in our bodies. When viruses reproduce, they carry out certain functions that can confuse antibodies in our system into thinking that those intruders aren’t harmful. The body can also be left in a sort of immunological shock if too many foreign cells are in the body at one time. This is the “awe” felt when exposed to all the new information about life and God.

Finally, once the body has been built back up with theistic doctrine and a newfound lease on life, the individual is ready to be sent out to the streets to convert more heathens. And they’re convincing too. Their stories of being lost and going through life with a morose outlook and then finding God and the true meaning of life serves to convince nonbelievers that perhaps they too need an ideological perspective change. These fresh soldiers not only help recruit more members, but also serve as the foot soldiers on the front lines of religious debate. This is equivalent to a body where cancerous cells have begun taking over normal cells and completely mutated them. The body no longer has the ability to fight the disease and is losing its defenses. In this same way, the new convert is a mutated form of their past self. They have given into the religious rhetoric and have now fallen “ill” with their godly disease. But believing in God is not inherently dangerous. Being religious doesn’t make one a bad person. So how exactly does religion poison everything? With a wiped brain, anything is possible.

The reshaped minds of those who belong to organized religion are the success stories of “holy men” who have merely created pawns to further their ignorant ideologies. These are the individuals who go on the news and debate the use of contraception, or vaccinations, or disseminate anti-Muslim sentiment. These are the individuals who strap bombs to their bodies and take their lives and the lives of many more around them in order to please God. These are the individuals who bombed churches and held back the Civil Rights movement because God favored only a certain kind of “man.” These are the individuals who have started countless wars over “holy” lands and who has the right to claim them. These are the individuals who have started wars over doctrinal differences as in the case of Serbia and the Sunni/Shiite fissure. It is not God who is asking for hate speech to be spread in his name. It is not God asking the masses to forgive pedophiles who sexually assault children and are left without legal repercussions. It is not God asking Mormon teen girls to be married to men well above their 60s to please him. This is the work of the higher ups of organized religion that have systematically constructed an enterprise and reaped financial rewards from the genuine faith of the masses.

Such a morbid portrayal of the organized religions of the world does not do justice to those who use religion as a tool to further their already perverted moral agendas. A belief in God is not dangerous, nor is being faithful. The danger comes in aligning oneself with those who share that narrow-minded and specific worldview. The danger comes when that religious virus is so strong that those who see things differently aren’t only ignored, but hated. It is the collective thinking of these worldviews that hinder social progress. The narrow minds can see and act in the narrow path set before them by their religious faiths. Moral judgments are made on those who do not share that narrow viewpoint. Cultural relativism is thrown out the window and all that is left is a hyper-egocentric religious self that can’t function without the guidance from its holy leaders. It is this new body, this mutated perversion of reasonably thinking humans, that is dangerous.