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The idea of "bad religion" suggests that there can be good religions. Given that all religions seem to rely on faith, this seems unlikely. The idea that we should believe things not based on evidence or on our own experience, but solely on faith in some book or leader is a horrible idea which contributes to or causes much of the evil in the world. In any case, be it one bad religion or all, can we stop them?
Think of the people controlling the nuclear bombs of the world. Now consider some of the things they believe. They believe in virgin births. They believe that God wrote a collection of old manuscripts which call for stoning people to death for working on certain days, keeping cripples out of church and worse. They believe they are the chosen people, and therefore other people aren't worth as much. They believe that if they blow up the world and themselves with it for the right "reasons" they will be rewarded with paradise.
I could go on and on. It's a grim picture when millions of people look forward to the end of life, and even the end of the world as a time of promised rewards, especially when many of them are the leaders of our nations. These religions are properly seen as viruses which can destroy human life.
On the other hand, there is hope. More and more we are seeing good ideas spread as well. Our sciences continue their revelation of how things work in the world, and so the beliefs of religions are made to look sillier and sillier. Few can still believe that the planet is flat, and those who claim it is only six thousand years old say so with some deserved embarrassment.
The bible may still order the killing of those who speak against their religion, and those who love the wrong people, and those who work on certain days, and may still exclude cripples from church. But even those followers who call this the "word of god" are constrained (at least in western countries) from practicing their beliefs. They are constrained by their own moral sense in part. They are also living in democratic nations full of voters who still pretend the Bible is sacred, and yet respect laws which prevent much of what that Bible recommends. This suggest there is some hope of moderates prevailing.
Unfortunately, moderates encourage the extremists. They tolerate the irrational beliefs that they have themselves have quietly rejected. They let people think it is okay to believe in these sacred books, ignoring the fact that those who actually take their religions seriously can justifiably kill the majority of humans on earth in the name of their gods.
And even those of us who share no common ground with these infected minds, tolerate their views. We, who would openly criticize Nazis for their beliefs, will not speak out against religious beliefs which are equally evil. That has to change.
I think it will change. When a man or woman sees the reality of the world as shown through the sciences, and his or her own moral development advances through good teachings and experience, he or she naturally comes to doubt much of what is in those silly sacred books. And the moment one's mind is open enough to reject the obvious garbage in these religious teachings, the fever has broken. The virus is being fought off.
Consider a person who starts out believing some book is written by a god, then finds that some of the teachings are incompatible with what is known about the world, and that some are even immoral. A compassionate Christian, for example, who not only doesn't feel like stoning homosexuals to death, but actually decides it is immoral. This is a dilemma for him. In an effort to save his faith, he may adjust his belief that this is the "word of God," to "this is inspired by God," to try to hang onto his faith, while rejecting the more evil parts of the teaching.
This suggests a way to attack the virus of faith. If we repeatedly point out the religious beliefs which are most blatantly opposed to our modern understanding of reality and morality, we may plant the seed of doubt. Doubt can be the wonder medicine that activates the infected person's own ideological immune system.
Continues here: "Disabling The Religious Replicators," with more specific ways to stop the spread of bad religion (or any religion).