Memes

This chapter of the Atheist Bible analyses strategies that religions have developed in order to survive. The chapter consists of the following sections:

Memes: Introduces the concept of memes, i.e., of beliefs that survive throughout the generations.
Population control: Discusses strategies to increase the number of adherents of a religion.
Conscience: Lists strategies that target the conscience.
Recruitment: Discusses strategies to recruit new members for a religion.
Intellectual Strategies: Explains strategies that are used to sell a religion.
References

Memes

Hoax Mails

A hoax mail is an email that warns of a non-existant threat. The following email, e.g., was sent out in 2006 :

You should be alert during the next days: Do not open any message with an attached file called “Invitation”, regardless of who sent it.

It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which “burns” the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

This mail warns of a virus, but this virus does not actually exist. Still, fearful and well-meaning users sent the mail around in the millions. Why is this?

The mail has several elements that make it so successful:

It warns of a danger
It claims support from authoritative sources
It uses technical terms to suggest expertise
It calls for the user to spread it

Anybody who wishes to create such a Hoax email has to take care that it contains these successful elements. If an email instills fear in a credible manner, it is more likely to appeal to the more gullible people. These people will then propagate the email to other gullible people, who will again forward it, and so on — and within days the Internet is afloat with copies of the mail.

This section will argue that religions work in much the same way: They warn of an inexistent danger (hell or its variants) and ask people to propagate the message. In the same way that we have just analyzed what makes a hoax mail successful, we will now analyze what makes a religion successful.

Memes

A meme is a statement or set of statements that spreads from person to person. One type of memes is a hoax email, of which we have just seen an example. But a meme can also be a belief (such as “There exist a male and a female god”), a moral value (such as “Two women should not marry”), or a rite (such as “Every Sunday I go to church”). Under more general interpretations, it can also be a symbol (such as a swastika), a gesture, or any other imitable phenomenon . In particular, a religion in the sense of this book is a meme.

The name “meme” was invented to ressemble the word “gene”. The reason is that memes and genes undergo very similar procedures:

Passing on: They can be passed on. For genes, this happens between one generation and the next. For memes this happens between one person and another person who adopts the meme. A hoax email, for example, is passed on by forwarding it to other people. A religious meme can be passed on by education or proselytism.
Mutation: They can be modified. For genes, this happens through mutation. For memes, this happens by slightly changing the meme or by merging memes. A hoax email, for example, can be updated by a malicious receiver before forwarding it, or it can exist in multiple versions. Internet advertisers, e.g., use hundreds of different variants of a Facebook post in order to determine which one survives best 1. In the same way, religious memes exist in multiple variations. Once a variation becomes too different from the mother meme, it becomes a new denomination or a new religion. This has happened several times in history (see, e.g., the succession of the abrahamic religions).
Extinction: They can die out. For genes, this happens if the host does not reproduce. For memes, this happens if the host does not succeed in transmitting the meme to another person. Most hoax emails, e.g., die out after a few months, when all receivers have either been warned or already fell victim to it. For religious memes, we observe that hundreds of religions have died out this way. They have been overridden by more modern religions.

This makes it possible to study the life of memes much like we study the life of genes. Just like a gene, a meme can become extinct, be inherited, have reproductive success, mutate, and propagate. It is important to note that both genes and memes are abstract entities, not individual animals or persons. So when we say that a meme survives, we do not mean that some person survives, but that a particular thought, email, rite, or belief survives through the generations. The meme has its own existence. Much like an animal is only the host of a gene, a person is only the host of a meme.

Meme Selection

A meme is a set of statements that gets passed on from person to person. In this process, a meme undergoes natural selection: one meme can give rise to several slight modifications of itself. For example, the meme “Be fruitful and multiply” can give rise to

“You shall have as many children as possible”
“You shall have 1 child”
“You shall have no children”

...as well as many other variations.

Some of these variations will be passed on successfully to many other people, while others will die in their tracks. In the example, the meme Number 1 will produce many children, and most likely these children will again follow the meme. Thus, the next generation will see many followers, and the next-next generation even more followers. This is the strategy of the abrahamic religions: They encourage adherents to produce many children and thus they secure their own survival. The meme Number 3, in contrast, will not produce any children. Thus, the next generation will see 0 adherents of the meme. The only way to find adherents for the meme is through proselytism. There was indeed a religion that prohibited having children — the Shakers . If the abrahamic system and the Shaker system are run side by side, it is clear that after a few generations, there will be more adherents of the abrahamic system than of the Shaker system. This is indeed what happened: The Shaker system has only 3 adherents as of 2009 .

Meme Design

One way to think about religious memes is to imagine that they have been deliberately designed to survive. For example, it is widely believed that the founder of Scientology deliberately constructed this religion so that it would expand quickly. In particular, the religion pays members to attract more members, which makes the religion grow. In this case, it is likely that the memes of Scientology were designed with a purpose.

In other cases, the memes may have evolved through natural selection: several memes were proposed, and the more successful ones survived. For example, 1500 years ago, there were several pagan religions on the Arab peninsula. Islam entered the stage as a proselytising religion: Its aim is to convert people to this religion. If a proselytizing religion is run side by side with a non-proselytizing one, it is clear wich side wins over time. However, it is not clear whether the proselytism meme was deliberately designed, or whether it was just taken over from Christianity. Thus, this particular meme may be an example for a strategy that came to dominate naturally.

In many other cases, the survival of a religion was not due to its evolutionary superiority, but due to political, military, or economical successes. For example, the spread of Christianity in Africa and the Americas is largely due to colonialism.

Some religions are also mixture models: Catholicism, for example, has the dogma that priests, monks, and nuns may not marry. This is a clear disadvantage from a meme-survival point of view, because the most pious cannot reproduce. So whoever came up with this dogma clearly did not aim at a maximum expansion of the religion. Then again, Catholicism also prohibits contraception and encourages reproduction among its adherents . This has the effect that Catholics traditionally have more children than, say, Protestants. Jesus did not talk of contraception. Thus, the prohibition of contraception might have been added later on, possibly also deliberately to aid the propagation of the religion. This makes it possible that Catholicism is a mixture model, where some memes were deliberately designed, and others were not.

If someone designes a meme deliberately, then this meme cannot be god-given. Hence, someone who designs a meme and then claims it to be divine is malicious. Since the following descriptions of memes may sound as if they were designed deliberately, it may look as if we are reproaching maliciousness to the prophets and believers. This is, however, not the case. During our analysis, we will not care whether a particular meme evolved naturally, or whether it was designed deliberately. We will just note where a meme exists, and analyze its effect on the survival of a religion.

Meme Theories

We will now look into religious memes that are particularly successful. Not all religions have all of these memes. So, the theory is not that every religion has all of these memes. Rather, the theory is that these memes can help explain the success of certain religions. More precisely, the theory for each of these memes is:

If we take a religion with this particular meme, and a religion that does not have this meme, but is otherwise identical, then the former will prevail over the latter over the coming generations.

We will note with each meme the religions use it, and those that do not. We will treat nearly all religions that currently have more than 10 million adherents: Hinduism, Spiritualism, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism, and Christianity. We also include the Bahai Faith, but we do not treat Sikhism and Shintoism. For Spiritualism, we will take its most visible denomination, Spiritism. For Christianity, we will occasionally distinguish the denominations of Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and Catholicism. We will also occasionally group the abrahamic religions together or the Chinese religions.

Technically, a religion is a set of statements. We would like to say whether the set includes the particular meme or not. However, it is difficult to say whether a religion includes a particular belief or not. Therefore, we will rarely talk about the religion itself. Rather, we will talk about their holy books or official lists of beliefs. We will also talk about particular interpretations of the religion: We will say that a particular interpretation of the religion includes a particular belief. As always, we will never single out the “true interpretation” of a religion.

The story of Hank

James Huger tells a story that exemplifies some of the memes that religions have developed. The story is called “Kissing Hank’s Ass”. The story is hilarious, and I can only recommend reading it. Here, we just give a summary:

Two adherents of Hank knock at the door of a stranger. The “Hankites” explain that Hank is a philanthropist who wants to give everyone one million dollars. However, as the story unfolds it becomes clear that there are many conditions attached. The basic requirements are that everyone must kiss the ass of Hank. Furthermore, everyone must live according to Hank’s rules. The rules are a mixture of common sense and esoteric dietary guidance. Of course, no-one is actually allowed to see Hank. Furthermore, people only get the million dollars after they have left town. Unfortunately, Hank’s rules forbid people who have left town from communicating with those in town so people still in town must take everything on trust. People who decline Hank’s generous offer will get the shit kicked out of them by Hank, while his loyal followers laugh and enjoy the spectacle. 2

This story sounds patently absurd: Nobody would follow the religion of Hank, because Hank just promises lots of things, but allows nobody to verify them. And yet, the world religions work in much the same way: They also promise lots of things, but allow nobody to verify them or to criticise them. These are but two of the characteristics that religions have developed over time. We will discuss these and many others in the sequel.

Population control

Fertility

One of the most successful strategies for proliferation of a religion is to encourage people to have many children. If this strategy is combined with the prohibition of interfaith marriage, and with religious education of children, it is guaranteed to lead to an exponential growth of the religion as long as resources are available.

For example, assume that a religious couple has 10 children, that it educates them religiously, and that these 10 children marry again religious people, and proceed in the same way. Then, after only 5 generations (roughly 100 years), the family can fill a village, and after 10 generations (roughly 200 years), they will be 20m people — conditions permitting. If this strategy is run next to a strategy that encourages people to have few children, then the fertility strategy will outnumber the other strategy exponentially fast.

Hence, most major religions (1) encourage having children and (2) restrict contraception.

Applies to: Judaism: In the Torah, God commands people to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” [Bible / Genesis 1:28]. This command resonates in all abrahamic religions. Consequently, the conservative strains of Judaism prohibit contraception .
Applies to: Catholicism: Catholicism inherits the commandment to multiply from the Torah. It reasons that God commanded us to reproduce, and hence holds that “every action which [..] proposes [...] to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil” 3.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran encourages men to “go into your wives as Allah has commanded” [Quran / 2:222], because “Your wives are a tilth for you, so go to your tilth, when or how you will” [Quran / 2:223]. The Prophet Mohammed reportedly said "Marry those who are loving and fertile, for I will be proud of your great numbers before the other nations." 4. Consequently, the current mainstream interpretations of Islam are strongly pro-family and regards children as a gift from God 5. At the same time, contraception is allowed in most contemporary interpretations of Islam. This contradicts the above strategy. Yet, it was necessary to allow the practice of sex with slaves. The Hadith that regulate contraception (in its ancient form: the coitus interruptus) stem from fears that slave girls might get pregnant (Wikipedia / Islamic sexual jurisprudence, Sunan Abu-Dawud / Book 11 / 2166). We discuss past and current interpretations of Islamic sexual jurisprudence later .
Applies to: Spiritism: Man “may regulate reproduction according to his needs; but he ought not to hinder it unnecessarily” 6. Also, the world population will never become too numerous (ibid / § 687).
Applies to: Bahai Faith: The Bahai Book of Laws states that “the very purpose of marriage is the procreation of children”. Contraception is allowed, but viewed with reservations in the Bahai Faith 7.
Does not apply to: Hinduism: The Law of Manu says that the purpose of marriage is sex 8. Yet currently, family planning is seen as ethically good by the majority of Hindus, and there is no opposition against contraception 9. At 2.50, the birth rate in India is lower than in most African nations.
Does not apply to: Chinese religions: These religions emphasize the importance of balance and harmony in the individual, the family, and society. Since having too many children can upset this balance, family planning has been a valued part of human sexuality in both Taoism and Confucianism 10. The Confucian philosopher Mencius (Mèngzĭ) just remarked that it is important to have children 11.
Varied: Protestantism: Protestantism inherits the commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” from the Torah. Yet, protestants have a wide range of opinions on contraception .
Varied: Buddhism: There is no unifying stance for Buddhism on the topic 12. The Dalai Lama states that “married couples should have children unless there are compelling reasons not to”, but says that “family planning is important” 13, and that some “countries must curb their population growth” 14.

Prohibit Interfaith Marriage

We have seen that it is beneficial for a religion to encourage large families. This strategy, however, works only if the offspring of such a family marries again within the religion. Therefore, one common strategy is to prohibit marriage across religions. People are not allowed to marry people of other faiths. The majority of large religions work this way .

Applies to: Judaism: The Talmud prohibits interfaith marriage 15. A diaspora religion such as Judaism would not have survived without this constraint.
Applies to: Hinduism: According to the Laws of Manu, marriage may happen only within one caste 8. Since non-Hindus do not belong to a Hindu caste, interfaith marriage is prohibited . Hindu leaders have declared that “Marriage conducted between couples of different religions [...] would in fact amount to adultery” 16. The vast majority of marriages are arranged marriages anyway .
Applies to: Christianity: The Bible prohibits interfaith marriage (Bible / 2 Corinthians 6:14, Deuteronomy 7:3), although another verse seems to permit it (Bible / 1 Corinthians 7:12-14). Consequently, different denominations of Christianity have different views: Catholicism forbid interfaith marriage until 1917 . Nowadays, it allows mixed marriages with a dispensation 17, but no ceremony of another religion is allowed (ibid / 1127 / § 2), and the children have to be raised as Catholics (ibid / 1125 / 1). Thus, the basic purpose of replicating the religion remains intact. Protestant denominations may have different view points. In Indonesia, Catholic and Protestant authorities are opening up to interfaith marriage 18. Orthodox Christianity forbids marriage with non-Christians, as I can testify from personal experience.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran prohibits marriage with non-Muslims (Quran / 2:221, 60:10). However, it allows Muslim men to marry women from the Abrahamic religions (Quran / 5:5). This model works under the assumption that the husband dominates the marriage. It allows Islam to spread also in non-Muslim lands. This regulation is the current mainstream interpretation of Islam. It is also the law in many Muslim countries — including moderate countries such as Tunisia 19.
Applies to: Confucianism: I could not find references in the scripture of Confucianism on interfaith marriage. However, in the 2014 hearing of the Supreme Court of Indonesia on the matter of interfaith marriage, the Supreme Council for Confucian Religion in Indonesia (Matakin) stated that “A marriage should be conducted to achieve happiness and continue the blood line. No political view, ethnicity, understanding, culture or even religion can stop it. However, an interfaith wedding cannot be conducted with a Confucian ceremony.” 16.
Does not apply to: Spiritism: The “Spirits’ Book” mentions no such law.
Does not apply to: Bahai Faith: According to the Bahai Faith, all religions are inspired by God, and therefore interfaith marriage is allowed 20. This is a remarkable consistency in reasoning: The credo “All religions are the same” is upheld even in the face of its implications. This differentiates the Bahai faith from other mainstream religions, which also sometimes claim that all people believe in the same god , but then do not draw the consequence of allowing interfaith marriage.
Undefined: Buddhism: There is not much information in traditional Buddhist texts on marriage. Contemporary Buddhism seems to consider marriage a secular affair . In Indonesia, Buddhist authorities have been ambivalent about interfaith marriage 18.
Unclear: Taoism: I could not find a unified stance in Taoism on the matter.

Shunning Homosexuality

One of the most effective strategies for the proliferation of a religion is to encourage large families. Obviously, homosexual people are an impediment to this strategy. Gay people do not reproduce. Therefore, the religion has an interest in prohibiting homosexuality. It is clear that this does not change a person from gay to straight. But social pressure may push the gay person to marry a partner of the opposite sex, and to found a family. For the procreation of the faith, it does not matter whether the person enjoys having a family or not, as long as they produce children.

Many religious memes may be the result of natural selection, and thus not necessarily explicitly designed by people. However, the prohibition of homosexuality may be explicitly designed. This is because homosexuality alone is unlikely to reduce the Darwinian competitiveness of a society: Only around 2-10% of the human population are thought to be homosexual . Thus, a society can well survive even if homosexual people do not have children. This is actually why homosexuality has survived Darwinian selection until today in the first place. However, in the minds of ancient people (and many people today), it was not clear that homosexuality has a natural upper bound given by the genetic configuration of people. It was possibly perceived as a practice that could spread to everybody, much like the habit of drinking alcohol. Leaders who thought this way had an incentive to forbid homosexuality.

Applies to: Judaism: The prohibition of homosexuality is anchored in the Torah. It states that: “[A man] shall not lie with another man as [he would] with a woman, it is an abomination” [Bible / Leviticus 18:22]. The punishment for homosexuality is death [Bible / Leviticus 20:13]. However, Judaism no longer implements the death penalty.
Applies to: Catholicism: Catholicism inherited the punishment of homosexuals from the Torah. However, it also no longer implements the death penalty. It disapproves of homosexual acts, but welcomes people with homosexual tendencies 21.
Varied: Christianity: While the mainstream churches of Christianity do not allow homosexuals to marry, liberal Christians are supportive of homosexuals . Some of their churches allow homosexuals to marry.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran seems to condemn homosexuality (Quran/26:165-166, 7:80-81). Consequently, the vast majority of Muslims reject homosexuality, and it is punishable by death or imprisonment in many Muslim countries.
Applies to: Bahai Faith: The Bahai Faith views homosexuality as a distortion of nature, which should be controlled and overcome 22.
Applies to: Buddhism: In the words of the Dalai Lama, Buddhism shuns homosexuality 23. In Indonesia, Buddhist leaders have spoken up against homosexuality as well 24. However, Buddhism has harbored different views on the topic .
Unknown: Spiritism: Given the encouragement to reproduce, Allan Kardec most likely looked unfavorably upon gay people. At the same time, his “Spirits’ Book” makes no mention of homosexuality.
Varied: Hinduism: The Law of Manu condemns homosexuality 25. Yet, Hinduism is a very heterogeneous religion, and comprises different opinions towards homosexuality .
Applies to: Taoism: Homosexuality was a common phenomenon in Chinese history. Hence, the Chinese religions did not take a uniform and explicit stance against homosexuality. However, opposition against homosexuality rose in medieval ages . Taoism explicitly condemns homosexuality: “If a sexual conduct happens, but it is not between a man and a woman who are married to each other, it is a Sexual Misconduct” 26.
Applies to: Confucianism: This religion, likewise, condemns homosexuality 27.
Does not apply to: Some new religions: The Wiccan “Charge of the Goddess” states in the words of the Goddess that “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals” . Raëlism, likewise, is open to homosexuality .

God created Man in his image:
Intolerant, sexist, homophobic, and violent
anonymous

Sex only for procreation

One of the most effective strategies for the proliferation of a religion is to encourage large families. Now how can one best entice people to found a family? One strategy is to reserve sex only for the purpose of procreation. Since people have a natural drive for sex, this strategy ensures that people reproduce. For this goal, we have to prohibit the following:

homosexuality, as discussed before.
contraception, as discussed before.
masturbation. Masturbation is a shortcut to sexual satisfaction that bypasses the procreation effect.
pre-marital sex. If people can have sex only when they are married, they have a natural incentive to marry.
sex outside wedlock. If people can have sex only with their partner, they are more likely to build a family.
prostitution. Prostitution allows satisfying the desire without procreation.
pornography. Pornography is seen as an aid to masturbation.
abortion. Abortion terminates the life of a likely adherent.

Consequently, most world religions have developed a rather strict sexual morale.

Applies to: Catholicism: The church follows the strategy to the T. It teaches explicitly that “Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes” 3 — quite possibly because those who wrote the passage never had any of it. Consequently, “masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action”, the “carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman [...] is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons”, “Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials”, “Prostitution is a social scourge” [ibid ff], and “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception” [ibid/2270].
Applies to: Islam: Current mainstream interpretations of Islam generally encourage sex in the couple. They generally forbid anal sex — presumably because it does not lead to conception. The Quran prohibits sex during menstruation, which is when the woman cannot conceive (Quran / 2:222). It also requests men and women to “guard their private parts”, which is sometimes interpreted as a prohibition of pornography (Quran / 24:30). Many interpretations of Islam prohibit masturbation based on Quran / 23:5-6 . The Quran also prohibits sex outside the couple, unless with sex slaves (Quran / 24:2-3). Abortion is currently mainly shunned . Since people can have sex only in a marriage, and since people marry later and later, this has led to a kind of sex deprivation among younger people.
Applies to: Judaism and Christianity: A woman who is no longer a virgin when she marries is to be stoned to death (Bible / Deuteronomy 22:13-21). Sex outside wedlock also incurs the death penalty (Bible / Deuteronomy 22:22). Sex during menstruation is forbidden (Bible/ Leviticus 18). Ejaculation in general is considered unclean (Bible / Leviticus 15:16-18). Judaism calls this the sin of “spilling semen in vain” . Based on these sources, conservative variants of Judaism and Christianity shun adultery, masturbation, adultery, and pre-marital sex. Jesus reportedly said “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery” [Bible / Matthew 5:27-28], which can be understood as a prohibition of pornography. Judaism even prohibits a man and a woman who are not married to each other from being in the same room alone .
Applies to: Buddhism: The second of the Five Virtues prohibits “sexual misconduct”, which is commonly interpreted as sex outside wedlock . Buddhism identifies sexual craving as one of the hindrances to attain insight (ibid), and Buddha says explicitly “So one [...] should avoid sensual desires” 28. At the same time, Buddhism does not traditionally place great value on procreation like many Western religions 29.
Applies to: Bahai Faith: For Bahai, “no sexual act can be considered lawful unless performed between lawfully married persons” 30. Hence, the faith condemns sex outside wedlock (ibid / 1157), pre-marital sex (ibid / 1212), masturbation (ibid / 1220), and abortion (ibid / 1154).
Applies less to: Hinduism: Hinduism is straitlaced in the sense that it traditionally prohibits intimate contact between unmarried men and women. Pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex are generally condemned (Vishnu Purana 3:11). The Laws of Manu stipulate that addressing a woman outside the village, or offering her gifts already counts as adultery 31 — for which the penalty is death (ibid / 356). However, in Hindu traditions, the enjoyment of life (“kama”) is one of the fours goals of human life . The Kama Sutra, a treatise on sex, explains in detail the best procedure to masturbate . In the diversity of Hinduism, a spectrum of views on sexual freedoms thrived in ancient India .
Applies to: Taoism: The Elder Lord says “If a sexual conduct happens, but it is not between a man and a woman who are married to each other, it is a Sexual Misconduct.” 26, which means that “masturbations, premarital sexual conducts, adulteries, prostitutions, having sex with prostitutes, homosexual sex, etc., are all Sexual Misconducts”. I have not found a source for Confucianism or Chinese religions in general.
Applies to: Spiritism: Abortion is condemned 6, as is “Whatever hinders the operations of nature” [ibid / § 693]. In particular, sensuality shall not be given preference over reproduction (ibid / § 694).
Does not apply to: Some new religions: The Wiccan “Charge of the Goddess” states in the words of the Goddess that “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals” . Raëlism, likewise, is open to all types of sexual acts, as long as they are consensual and between adults .

If homosexuals had a book that called for religious people to be stoned, how long would it take to be classified as hate speech?
WFL Atheism

Child Marriage

One of the most effective strategies for the proliferation of a religion is to encourage large families. One way to increase the number of children is to make people marry as early as possible in life. In particular, women have to be married as soon as they have reached puberty, so as to maximize the fertile period of her life that she spends with her husband. A woman who marries early is also less likely to be educated. She is also less likely to educate her children. This, in turn, plays into the hands of the religion as well. Hence, many religions support child marriage for women.

Applies to: Catholicism: The minimum age of marriage for a woman is 14 according to Canon Law 32. In Western countries, a minimum age of 18 is generally legally enforced. However, in sub-saharan (Catholic) Africa, child marriage rates are between 38% and 46% 33.
Applies to: Islam: The Prophet Mohamed married Aisha when she was 6, and had sex with her when she was 9 . The Quran says that Mohammed is the perfect role model to follow (Quran / 48:29, 33:21, 68:05). The book also explains how to divorce prepubescent girls (Quran / 65:1-4), which means that the book allows marrying them in the first place. Hence, the Quran does not prohibit child marriage. Many contemporary voices defend the practice . Child marriage is at 24% in the Middle East and North Africa 33. It is also supported by the main Muslim groups in Indonesia. We discuss Muslim attitudes and interpretations on child marriage in the Chapter on Islam.
Applies to: Hinduism: The Laws of Manu set 8 years as a minimum age for a girl to marry 34. Indeed, 58% of women in India are married under the age of 18 33.
Applies to: Judaism: The Talmud encourages parents to have their daughter married as soon as she reached puberty 35. While child marriage was very common, it is rare today in the Jewish community .
Applies less to: Bahai Faith: The Bahai Faith prescribes 15 as a minimum age 20. However, the Bahai Faith also stresses obedience to the government (ibid / IV / D / 1 / m), and thus de facto the minimum age is as required by secular governments.
Does not apply to: Buddhism, Protestantism, Chinese Religions, Orthodox Christianity, Spiritism: I found no source that specifies the recommended or minimum age for marriage in these religions. On the contrary, for Confucianism, the Book of Rites seems to suggest an age of 30 for marriage 36. In any case, child marriage is not prevalent in buddhist, protestant, taoist, confucian, and orthodox countries 37.

There’s a Jewish law for everything. The Torah offers a punishment for every crime, no matter how insignificant. But what about child abuse? The Torah talks about men who have sex with other men, and men who have sex with animals. But there is nothing said about the sexual abuse of children.
Deborah Feldman in “Unorthodox”

Conscience

Heaven

We have no evidence for any form of life after death. Hence, a religion could just teach that life ends with death. However, the religion can also teach that there is some transcendental life after death. Obviously, a religion that promises life will be more successful than a religion that doesn’t. Hence, most religions today promise some form of life after death.

Some interpretations of Islam promise 72 virgins to martyrs.Google

Applies to: Judaism: The Hebrew Bible is not clear on the question of life after death (Bible / Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, Ecclesiastes 9:4-6, Numbers 16:31-33, Psalms 146:2-4, Job 14:10-14, Daniel 12:2, Isaak 26:19). Still, Judaism knows the concept of life after death . The human is resurrected to a new, infinite life in a beautiful place called “heaven”. The Talmud establishes resurrection after death as a fundamental principle of the faith, and says that those who doubt it shall not share it 38.
Applies to: Christianity: Jesus promises life after death (Bible / John 11:24, Matthew 5:20, Matthew 22:29-33), as does the book of Revelation (Bible / Revelation 20:6). The Nicene Creed affirmes the resurrection of the dead, saying “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come” 39. Consequently, Catholicism incorporates the belief in the afterlife 40.
Applies to: Bahai Faith: The Bahai Faith, likewise, sees a “spiritual world beyond the grave” 41.
Applies to: Islam: Islam has made the concept of Heaven very prominent . 10% of the Quran is concerned with promises of Heaven. Male martyrs even get large-breasted virgins (Quran / 78:33, 56:22-23, 37:48, 55:56, 37:48, 52:20). The Hadiths fuel speculations that the number of virgins is 72, but this has so far not been confirmed .
Applies to: the Indian religions: Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs generally believe in reincarnation of the soul . In this model, the human is reborn onto this Earth after death. The rebirth can be either in a “better” position (say, as a king), or in a “worse” position (say, as an ant), depending on good and bad deed in one’s life (the “karma”). If the person advances spiritually to a sufficient degree, they can arrive in a final state called “nirvana”, which is the desirable outcome. In Hinduism, the Rig Veda says “as soon as he departs, he takes birth again” 42, and gives a hint at the relief from the cycle of rebirth as “When he sees the other, the lord of all, whom all devotees worship, and realizes that all greatness is his, then he is relieved of his misery” 43. The Laws of Manu, likewise, clarify that “a vicious man sinks to the nethermost (hell), he who dies, free from vice, ascends to heaven” 44. For a Buddhist, according to the Dalai Lama, “it is necessary to accept past and future rebirth”, and “once we achieve liberation from the cycle of existence by overcoming our karma and destructive emotions, we will not be reborn” 45.
Applies to: Spiritism: In this religion, the spirits aim to achieve perfection during several cycles of rebirth. The successful soul enters a “state of perfect happiness, as a purified spirit” 6. The final state is eternal happiness, consisting “in knowing all things; in feeling neither hatred, jealousy, envy, ambition, nor any of the passions that make men unhappy” 6. Different from the other abrahamic religions, Spiritism has taken care that the happy spirits do not suffer from the sight of the sinners being punished, “because they know that it will have an end; they aid those who suffer to become better, and lend them a helping hand. To do this is their occupation, and is a joy for them when they succeed.” [ibid / § 976]
Applies to: Taoism: Comparable to the Indian Religions, Taoism knows the cycle of rebirth . The Elder Lord talks of the “repeating births and deaths”, and says that “in order to be born as a human being, one must have the five virtues” 26.
Applies less to: the Chinese Religions: The prevalent belief in Chinese religions is that every human being has a type of spirit, the “shen” . This shen lives on after death, and becomes the object of ancestor workship . However, it is not clear to me whether this state is something desirable. Confucius does not speak about rebirth or resurrection in his Analects.

Many adults never outgrow their childhood fear of death. Because the thought of death is so distressing to some people, it is not surprising that they try to invent a way out. The fairy tale that Christians have invented is called heaven, and they have also formulated the concept of eternal life. The Christian fabrications are, of course, entirely different from the heaven and God of all other religions, because all of them are imaginary. Egyptians believed something silly involving pyramids and sun gods and so on. Greeks believed in the river Styx and Hades and so on. Muslims believe in their 72 virgins and so on. It is all gibberish, but people believe in their fantasies quite passionately.
WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com

Heaven for Martyrs

The promise of Heaven can make people adhere to a religion. It can also supply the religion with warriors who are ready to give their lives: If a man believes that Heaven awaits him when he dies, he will be much more willing to go to war for his faith. In his thinking, he has nothing to lose: Either he wins the battle, or he dies and goes to Heaven. A religion that has this type of warriors will prevail in battles against religions that do not. History has shown us examples.

Applies to: Historical Catholicism: This religion has benefitted from people who are ready to sacrifice their lives in the Crusades. The warriors seriously believed that they would go to heaven if they died in the battles (Rolf Dobelli: The Art of Thinking Clearly). Hence, they had no hesitation to join the wars. The wars had several religious, economical, and political motivations , and ultimately served to establish the hegemony of the Catholic Church.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran promises Heaven to those who die fighting for Allah (Quran / 3:169-170, 9:111, 22:58). This has helped the military expansion of Islam (Wikipedia / Shahid, Istishhad). The Islamic State could uphold its grip on the Middle East also because it had fighters who were not afraid to die.

Hell

A person who died cannot report what happened to them. Hence, we can say arbitrary things about life after death — any such hypothesis can never be falsified. Some religions use this to tell people that if they do not follow the rules of the religion, they will be tortured after death in a place called Hell. It is clear that if a religion promises hell in case of disobedience, then its adherents are more likely to obey. If, in contrast, a religion does not promise hell, then its adherents have less incentive to obey. They might just stray away from the religion. Hence, if we have one religion with hell, and one without, and if we run them side by side, the religion with hell will most likely prevail. Therefore, most religions that we encounter today have some form of hell. Since it does not cost anything to invent tortures in hell, the religions have been coming up with the most impressive forms of punishment, as we shall see .

The idea of hell also satisfies the human desire for justice.

Applies to: Chinese religions: In the Chinese religions, Diyu is a purgatory which serves to punish and renew spirits in preparation for reincarnation. Tortures include being fried in oil cauldrons, being put into a grinding machine and ground into a bloody pulp, tongues being ripped out, and freezing sinners into ice cubes that then break apart . For Confucianism, Confucius talks of a punishment from Heaven (Confucius: Analects / 6:28), even though he does not talk of hell. In Taoism, a person who does not follow the Tao will “fall into the restless and unlimited sufferings”. This is the Taoist hell. “When they are released from such sufferings, they will be reborn as animals or other inferior beings”, “they will be born in uncivilized places, their lives will be short, or they will be physically disabled”. “They will be poor, homeless, and suffer from coldness; they will not be able to live peacefully; if they get any money or properties, those things will be stolen or robbed by others”. Worst of all, “their spouses will be ugly, adulterous, and greedy” 26.
Applies to: Spiritism: In this religion, the spirits are subdued to punishments after death or in the next life 6. “It is utterly impossible to describe the mental tortures that are the punishment of some crimes; even those by whom they are experienced would find it difficult to give you an idea of them” [ibid / § 973]. However, different from the older religions, Spiritism prescribes a more abstract punishment: the “sufferings are as various as are the causes by which they are produced”, and include “envy”, “regret, jealousy, rage, despair”, “remorse and indescribable moral anguish”, and being tortured by the “inability to satisfy [one’s] cravings” [ibid / § 970]. In addition, Spiritism knows the punishment on Earth in a cycle of incarnation: “Purgatory [is] Physical and moral suffering; the period of expiation, It is almost always upon the earth that you are made by God to undergo your purgatory, and to expiate your wrong-doing.” [ibid / § 1013]
Applies to: Buddhism: The Buddha reportedly spoke of 16 hells. Avici is said to be the most horrible hell, where people are “roasted in an immense blazing oven with terrible suffering” . This torture lasts until all bad karma is used up, which can take several quadrillion years. Then, the being is reborn. This notion of punishment after death gave Buddhism a clear advantage over pre-existing systems in China, which had to refer to “fate” as an unclear, inscrutable power 46. In addition, Theravada Buddhism explicitly punishes creating a schism in Buddhism as one of the 5 cardinal sins, thus aiming to secure the continuation of the faith.
Applies to: Hinduism: The religion shares the concept of hell with Buddhism . The Laws of Manu describe 21 hells 47, in which sinners are devoured by ravens, boiled in jars, and subjected to diseases (ibid / 12 / 75-80). Those who committed mortal sins pass large numbers of years through dreadful hells. After the expiration of that term of punishment, they are reborn. Different sins carry different types of rebirths: killing a Brahmana lands you in the womb of a pig; thieves become cannibalistic creatures; for stealing grain a man becomes a rat; and for stealing pearls you become a goldsmith [ibid / 12 / 54-74].
Applies to: Judaism: The early Jews were familiar with Gehenna, a valley where the non-Jews sacrificed their children in fire. Together with some biblical references (Bible / Daniel 12:2), this developed into the idea that all sinners will burn in fire: “He who talks too much with women brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Torah and will in the end inherit Gehenna.” 48. This hell is thought to last for at most 1 year .
Applies to: Christianity: The New Testament of the Bible inherited the concept of Gehenna from Judaism, and improved upon it. While the Jewish Ghenna lasted for only one year, Jesus himself extended hell to eternity for the Christians. It is a place of “unquenchable fire” [Bible / Matthew 5:22, 18:8-9; Bible / Mark 9:43-49, Revelation 20:13] into which the body is thrown (Bible / Matthew 5:29, 5:30) after sinning (Bible / Matthew 5:22, Revelation 20:30). Hell has “weeping and gnashing of teeth” [Bible / Matthew 8:12; 22:13], “everlasting destruction” [Bible / Romans 2:7-9; Bible / 2 Thessalonians], “raging fire” [Bible / Hebrews 10:27], “destruction” [Bible / 2 Peter 3:7] and “eternal fire” [Bible / Jude 7], and “burning sulphur” where “the devil, the beast, and false prophet” will be “tormented day and night for ever and ever” [Bible / Revelation 20:10, Lukas 16:19-31] along with those who worship the beast or receive its mark (Bible / Revelation 14:11) . This physical view of hell was later abandoned in many (though not all) Christian denominations . Christianity also promises hell on Earth for those who trespass (Bible / Exodus 15:26, Deuteronomy 28:15-68), even though this seems to be revoked later on (Bible / Hebrews 10:18).
Applies particularly to: Islam: The Quran has perfected the threat of hell, mentioning the concept in total around 500 times 49, in roughly every 7th verse, with detailed brutality. Hell contains flames that crackle and roar [Quran/25:14], fierce, boiling waters [Quran/55:55], scorching wind, and black smoke [Quran/56:42-43], roaring and boiling as if it would burst with rage [Quran/67:7-8]. Its wretched inhabitants sigh and wail [Quran/11:106], their scorched skins are constantly exchanged for new ones so that they can taste the torment anew [Quran/4:45], drink festering water and though death appears on all sides they cannot die [Quran/15:16-17], are linked together in chains of 70 cubits [Quran/69:30-32], wearing pitch for clothing and fire on their faces [Quran/14:50] have boiling water that will be poured over their heads, melting their insides as well as their skins, and hooks of iron to drag them back should they try to escape [Quran/67:7]. Their remorseful admissions of wrongdoing and pleading for forgiveness are in vain [Quran/41:24] 49.
Does not apply to: Wicca: In Wicca, there is no such thing as hell because Wiccans largely don’t believe in the concept of punishment or reward. 50.

Hell exists only for those who fear it.
Fabrizio de André

Guilt

Guilt is a powerful force . Thus, a religion that succeeds in producing guilt can steer a person very effectively. A common way in which this happens is that the religion first induces guilt, and then proposes itself as a way to obtain absolution from that guilt. As Albert Ellis argued: religions deliberately instill self-damnation in their adherents and then give these adherents guilt-soothing rituals to temporarily allay these kind of self-damning feelings. This way, the adherent feels thankful to the religion for removing a problem that it created in the first place .

Applies to: Christianity: This religion knows the concept of the “original sin”, which by and large says that Adam and Eve, the mythical ancestors of humanity, contradicted God’s will and hence loaded sin on all of humanity . In the words of the Bible: “In sin did my mother conceive me” [Bible / Psalm 51:5], because “by the one man’s disobedience [=Adam] the many were made sinners” [Bible / Romans 5:19]. So just by being born, the human is already loaded with guilt. Christianity generalizes this by universally instilling guilt into everybody: “there is no one righteous, not even one; [...All] have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” [Bible / Romans 3:10], and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Bible / Romans 3:23-24]. It is a fortunate coincidence then that Christianity provides the way to get rid of this guilt: by following Jesus, we will be liberated from that sin (ibid, Bible / John 3:16).
Applies to: Islam: This religion uses a variant of the scheme. The Prophet Mohammed is regarded as the perfect human. After all, God himself told him so (Quran / 68:4). Hence, any attempts to criticize him or his ideology is seen as an insult against his person. Anybody who says that Mohammed did not speak the truth is cast as an evil person who does injustice to the most just of all men. Thus, even non-Muslims can be made feeling guilty for criticizing Islam — a clear darwinian advantage for the religion.
Applies to: Hinduism: This religion sees being born into a lower caste as a punishment for sins in previous lives. Thereby, the “untouchables” live in guilt.

There are two other strategies to induce guilt: the push for perfection and thankfulness.

Sin is an imaginary disease
invented to sell you an imaginary cure.
anonymous

Push for Perfection

A religion can get hold of a believer by inducing guilt. One way to do that is to come up a set of rules that exhaustively prescribe everything from ethical behavior to food and rituals. This exhaustiveness makes it hard for an ordinary human to uphold all of these commandments to perfection. If the rules are hard to uphold to perfection, then it is likely that the believer will violate one rule or the other in his life — earlier or later or even continuously. This entails that a sincere believer may find themselves in a conflict between their life and their belief. Unable to live a perfect life, they will find themselves in an enduring state of bad conscience. They are caught in the gap between how they are and how they know they should be. Thereby, the religion maintains a grip over the conscience of the believer. This is similar to the way in which totalitarian regimes control their subjects: The essential principle is to make laws that are impossible to obey [Christopher Hitchens: God is not great, p. 254].

Applies to: Christianity: Jesus, for example, says: “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery” [Bible / Matthew 5:27-28]. Since most men have looked at a woman in lust, this automatically makes them sinners. Similar is the instruction in the Old Testament to not even think of other gods — something that George Orwell would later call a thoughtcrime. Once a man feels guilt, he can confess his guilt — to God or to a priest . Then, he is liberated from his guilt, and feels thankful to his religion. This way, the religion has created an emotional bond between the adherent and its god, even if the god did not lift a finger.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran prohibits numerous things: taking unbelievers as friends (Quran / 3:28), doubting the Quran (Quran 5:101 / 33:36), sexual pleasures outside marriage, not praying (Quran / 9:71), eating pork (Quran / 16:115), looking at the other sex (Quran / 24:31), and not covering up (Quran / 33:59). These rules certainly had their purpose. However, nowadays, one of the effects is that adherents have more rules to follow, and thus more chances to break them. This makes it more likely that the believer feels guilt. The Quran goes on to say that God observes us continuously (Quran / 4:1, 50:17-18, 8:17), thus enforcing the effect. The release from the guilt comes through repentance (Quran / 2:160, 39:54, 3:135, 25:71, 6:54; Wikipedia/Confession). Through this mechanism, the religion first instills guilt, and then relieves it. This cycle creates an emotional bond between the believer and the religion.
Applies to: Spiritism: This religion calls upon adherents to abandon selfishness 6, and to practice abnegation in order to “combat the Predominance of the corporeal nature” [ibid / § 912]. Since every human is by nature selfish, this is a commandment that cannot be obeyed in perfection.
Applies to: Chinese religions: Far-Eastern societies are usually “shame societies”: they tend to use humiliation by the society to punish wrong-doers . For Confucianism, Confucius wrote: Lead the people with excellence, and put them in their place through ritual practices, and they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves [Confucius: Analects / 2:3]. This sense of shame can then be used to maintain a grip on the believer.

This effect is independent of the actual use of the rules for mankind.

They say that Heaven will call us to account for our deeds after death. I say that we should first call Heaven to account for the hardship that it imposed upon us during our earthly lives without any apparent reason.
Arthur Schopenhauer, translated

Thankfulness

A religion can induce guilt to bind a human to its belief system. One way in which this can be done is by saying that the religion, a god, or a prophet did something for humanity, and that, hence, humanity has to be thankful. This generates a feeling of obligation. The religion can then say that, out of this obligation, we have to follow the belief system.

Applies to: Christianity: This religion knows the concept of the original sin, which says that we inherited sin from our mythical ancestors Adam and Eve. Today, the concept of collectively inheriting a sin is less popular in Europe — partly because people no longer believe that Adam and Eve existed in the first place. Consequently, the idea of original sin is being re-interpreted in different ways . In the end, the word “sin” may no longer mean the “state of having committed an offense”. Rather, it becomes a pumpkin word, i.e., a word that evokes connotations, but has no concrete meaning. However, the basic idea stays: People should be thankful to Jesus because he “died for our sins” [Bible / 1 Corinthians 15:3], and thus liberated us from the original sin (in whatever sense). Thus, out of nothing, Christianity has created the need for thankfulness to their main prophet.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran talks repeatedly of the gifts that God gave to mankind: God sends rain to give life (Quran / 16:65), causes the cows to produce milk to drink (Quran / 16:66), made dates so that we can eat (Quran / 16:67), and taught the bee to make cells (Quran / 16:68), so that man may have food (Quran / 16:69). God also produces corn, olives, date-palms, grapes and every kind of fruit for us (Quran / 16:11). When people use these things, they are made to feel as if they were obliged to thank God for them (Quran / 39:7, 21:80, 40:61). Thus, by simply being alive, we have to be thankful. (Never mind that some human ethnicities have a built-in lactose intolerance and thus cannot drink the milk that God made for them ). We discuss such psychological factors in Islam later.

God is the only being that doesn’t require existence in order to rule the world.
Charles Baudelaire

Heavy punishment

When a person disrupts society, the most effective way to stop that person is to kill them. Another quite effective solution is to amputate limbs of that person. This does not only stop that person, but also acts as a deterrent to others. The only things that could prevent us from doing so are compassion, conscience, or force. However, a religion claims to govern all three of them. Therefore, a religion can institute the death penalty or cruel punishment without any obstacles. Now, if we run two religions side by side (one that has cruel punishment and one that doesn’t), it is clear that the religion with cruel punishment will have a more obedient and more orderly society. This gives this religion a Darwinian edge over the other. Hence, most major religions that have survived until today have cruel punishments — at least in their scripture .

Applies to: Islam: The Quran requires cutting off the hands of a thief (Quran / 5:38), flogging for adulterers (Quran / 24:2), crucification for “those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger” (Quran / 5:33-34), beating for consistently disobedient women (Quran / 4:34), and the death penalty for those who kill a Muslim (Quran / 4:92-93). Up to this day, these viewpoints are shared by a large proportion of the population in the majority of Muslim lands . Furthermore, the Quran stipulates that if someone was murdered, then someone from the kin of the murderer (who is otherwise unrelated) has to be killed in revenge (Quran 2:178). Thus, the Quran effectively supports kin punishment 52.
Applies to: Judaism: The Old Testament prescribes the death penalty for Murder, Adultery, Bestiality, Rape of a betrothed virgin, male-male sexual intercourse, not being a virgin on the night of one’s wedding, worshiping other gods, witchcraft, taking God’s name in vain or cursing his name, cursing a parent, kidnapping, and disobeying a parent . The techniques to employ are stoning (Bible / Exodus 17:4), hanging (Bible / Numbers 25:4; 2 Samuel 21:6,9), burning (Bible / Leviticus 21:9), stabbing (Bible / Exodus 19:13; 32:27; Numbers 25:7; 1 Kings 2:25,34; 19:1; 2 Chronicles 21:4), and crushing (Bible / 2 Samuel 12:31) 53. Penalties for lesser offenses include retaliation (the “eye for eye” principle) (Bible / Exodus 21:24,25), and striping (Bible / Deuteronomy 22:18-19, Deuteronomy 25:3). Based on this, Judaism has traditionally known the execution by stoning, burning, slaying, and strangulation . Nowadays, the death penalty is less popular. Orthodox and conservative Judaism hold that capital punishment is correct in theory, but that it should not be applied in practice 54. Reform Judaism opposes capital punishment (ibid). Today, Israel technically upholds the death penalty, but only 2 people have ever been executed .
Applies to: Christianity: This religion inherited the corporal punishments from the Old Testament. Jesus teaches clemency in these matters, but upholds the law in principle (Bible / Matthew 5:17-20). Paul approves of the death penalty, too (Bible / Acts 25:10-11; Romans 1:32). He also approves of punishing wrong-doers “by the sword” (Bible / Romans 13:4). In agreement with this, both secular and religious Christian rulers have been quite brutal over the course of history. They found no opposition in the scripture. Today, these practices ceased. In Catholicism, torture was abolished in 1965. However, still today, the US upholds the death penalty.
Applies to: Hinduism: The Laws of Manu require corporal punishment if all other punishments fail 31. Beating is on order for punishing a wife, a son, a slave, a pupil, and a younger brother (ibid / 299). For adultery (which includes already touching a woman inappropriately, addressing her outside the village, or offering her gifts (ibid /356-357)), the penalty is death (ibid / 356) — except for Brahmanas. Brahmans cannot be put to death (ibid / 379). Likewise, Brahmanas cannot suffer corporal punishments (ibid / 124). Others can. For example, for “contaminating a maiden”, two fingers have to be cut off (ibid / 367). For injury, the punishment for the lowest case is amputation (ibid / 279). Intercourse across castes is punished by castration or death (ibid / 374). Other punishments are shaving with the urine of a donkey (ibid / 384). For insulting someone of a higher caste, the tongue is cut out (ibid / 270). Generally, amputation can concern can fall on “the organ”, the belly, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the nose, and the ears (ibid / 124). Ways of executing criminals include devoration “by dogs in a place frequented by many” (ibid / 371), burning to death “on a red-hot iron bed” (ibid / 372), and burning “in a fire of dry grass” (ibid / 377). The Laws of Manu are of disputed authenticity. However, this does not change the fact that corporal punishment was used in the Hindu society much in the way that Manu said. Punishments included whipping, branding, mutilation, and execution . Still today, India upholds the death penalty.
Does not apply to: Buddhism: The Buddha says: “He [the layman] should not kill a living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should he incite another to kill. Do not injure any being, either strong or weak, in the world.” 55. The Dalai Lama, too, opposes the death penalty 56. Nevertheless, historically, most states where the official religion is Buddhism have imposed capital punishment for some offences .
Applies to: Confucianism: Confucius explicitly shuns punishment, saying “If you [...] control [people] by punishment, they will avoid crime, but have no personal sense of shame. If you govern them by means of virtue and control them with propriety, they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves.” [Confucius: Analects / 2:3]. He also explicitly shuns the death penalty, as it is recorded: “Ji Kang Zi asked Confucius [...] “Suppose I were to kill the unjust, in order to advance the just. Would that be all right?” Confucius replied: “[...] what is the need of killing?”” [Confucius: Analects / 12:19]. However, the Book of Rites (one of the Five Classics) states that “In all determining on the application of any of the five punishments, it was required to decide according to the judgment of Heaven” 57. The Five Punishments were tattooing, cutting off the nose, cutting off a limb, castration, and execution . The Book of Rites may have been compiled not by Confucius, but by later scholars 58. This, however, does not change the fact that it is today an integral part of Confucianism (ibid). Indeed, traditional Chinese law did use the Five Punishments, in particular in the context of the Legalist philosophy.
Does not apply to: Spiritism: This religion postdates the Enlightenment. Hence, cruelty is considered “the instinct of destruction in its worst form”, which is “never necessary” 6. Education is to be given preference over “punishing wrong doing when done” [ibid / § 796]. The death penalty is also condemned (ibid / § 760 ff).
Does not apply to: Taoism: Laotse writes: “To replace the executioner and kill, Is like chopping wood in place of the master carpenter. To chop wood in place of the master carpenter, Rarely one does not hurt one’s own hand.” 59. On the contrary, “Heaven arms with love those whom it would not see destroyed” 59. Consequently, Taoism has a very weakly developed notion of punishment. This did not hinder traditional Chinese law from using amputation as a means of correction, though .

Recruitment

Religious education

Lawrence Krauss has made the following observation: Assume that a particular religion were not taught to children. Then an entire generation would grow up without knowing that religion. If that generation looks into the holy scriptures of this religion, they would find these scriptures baseless, absurd, and revolting — in much the same way that we always find scriptures of other religions baseless, absurd, or revolting. Thus, they would not adopt that religion even in their later life. Crucially, they would also not teach it to their own children. Thus, within a generation, that religion could be wiped out. Hence, all major religions that survived until today place a great importance on teaching the principles of the religion to children.

As we have seen before, children can easily made to believe almost anything. If the child later finds out that a particular teaching was wrong, the child will stop believing in it. However, since religious claims are usually unfalsifiable, the child will never find out. Therefore, educating children religiously is one of the most effective methods of spreading the faith .

Applies to: all major religions: Children are usually educated in the religion of their parents. We have discussed contemporary practices before.
Applies to: Bahai Faith: In the Bahai Faith, children under fifteen do not automatically inherit the faith of their parents 60. At the age of fifteen, Bahai children are free to reaffirm that they are Bahai or, without stigma, to leave the Bahai Faith; neither their parents nor their community may compel them to be Bahai 61. Yet, this free choice is to some degree utopic, because “schools must train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden children” 62.

Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.
Hypathia of Alexandria

Target the weak

A religion aims to propagate itself. Here, “aims to” is to be understood in the Darwinian sense, meaning that all those religions that did not propagate themselves have died out. Hence, only those religions that propagate themselves are left today. One particularly effective way to propagate a religion is to preach it to those who are feeble:

uneducated people. These are more receptive to religion, because they are less likely to verify sources.
people who live in poverty or suffering. These have a stronger need to appeal to the supernatural. They will also be open to any explanation for their suffering.
people in dispair, such as homeless, single mothers who have trouble with their children, women who have been raped, bankrupt people, people in grief, etc. These people are emotionally vulnerable, and hence more receptive to theories that promise hope and care.
people in remorse, such as prison inmates, or other people who cannot live up to their own standards. These will be more receptive to promises of absolution than people who find nothing wrong with their lives.
the elderly or the ill, or people who suffer because their relatives are elderly, are ill, or have passed away. These people are more interested in theories about death than youngsters. They may also be interested in theories that give a sense to their lives.
insecure people. These will appreciate the moral framework that religion provides, and the rites that give structure to life.
foreigners. These are often looking for community, and may be happy to find it in religion.
children. These are generally more gullible, as we have discussed before.

These people will be more susceptible to a religion than people who are educated, healthy, well-integrated, and happy in their lives. It is true that targeting the weak will not have the big impact that could be achieved by targeting the mighty (such as the kings, government officials, or TV channel operators). However, even if the vulnerable are not mighty, they cannot be ignored if their numbers are large. Thus, the focus on the weak still pays off. This is not to say that people who help the poor would do so with bad intentions. Probably on the contrary. It is just to say that one of the side-effects of this help (intended or not) is that the religion appears more attractive to a larger number of people.

Catch people at their worst. Grief counseling sites, sexual assault survivor sites, bankrupcy sites. Target the nones. Isolate the target. Convince them that only your church cares about them.
Madalyn Zimbric

Applies to: Christianity: The religion often associates itself with helping the weak, the “fallen”, the elderly, the ill, and the poor — following biblical teachings (Bible / Matthew 6:1, Luke 11:41). Therefore, many Christian denominations run hospitals, orphanages, schools, kindergardens, grief management sites, migrant help centers, emergency relief services, or counseling services . In most cases, people who voluntarily work in these institutions do so with the intention to help. However, one unavoidable side effect is that the receivers of this work come into touch with the Christian brand. Christianity would certainly have less adherents if it did not constantly reach out to the weak and the poor.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran prescribes giving alms to the poor (Quran / 9:60, 9:5, 2:177, 2:215, 4:8). This rule serves foremost the weak members of society. One of the side effects is that the receivers of such donations will have a positive attitude towards Islam. In other words: the tradition of charity makes the religion more attractive to a larger number of people. The same goes for the Islamic State: it provided services to people — poor or not poor . This makes the organization attractive. The Islamic Relief is another example of an organization that helps the poor while at the same time representing a religion. If its only goal were helping people, then there would be no need to carry the word “Islamic” in its name. The volunteers could just join the Red Cross organization. In not doing so, the organization spreads a positive image of Islam around the world. This, in turn, helps the religion. I am not saying this is bad, I am just saying it is happening.
Applies to: Judaism: This religion knows the concept of giving alms as Tzedakah . The Mishneh Torah discusses the practice in Chapter 10:7-14.
Applies to: Hinduism: The Laws of Manu tell us to perform works of charity, and to give when we are asked 63. Other holy scriptures, such as the Rigveda, the Upanishads, Chandogya Upanishad, the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, likewise encourage charity . This practice is known as Dana in Hinduism. This tradition helps maintain social stability and the religious status quo. In a country such as India, where 20% of people live below the poverty line , Hinduism would not have been so successful if did not reach out to the poor.
Applies to: Spiritism: This religion encourages giving alms 6, even if in a measured form.
Applies to: Buddhism: Compassion is one of the four Buddhist virtues .
Does not apply to: Chinese religions: I could not find these concepts in the Analects of Confucius or in Taoist texts.

Proști, dar mulți.
(They are dumb, but they are numerous)
Alexandru Lăpușneanu

Punish apostasy

The act of abandoning a religion is called apostasy. Apostates may become atheists, or adherents of other religions. Naturally, a religion that takes a light stance towards apostasy will lose adherents, and thus risk being run out by other religions. Therefore, all major religions historically punish apostates. The same goes for blasphemers (people who insult the gods) or for people who criticise the religion. A successful religion has to punish such people .

Applies to: Islam: There are different opinions on whether Islam punishes apostasy by death or not. Here, we just note that the Al-Azhar University (the Egyptian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs) , all four schools of Sunni Islamic law 64, and the majority of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, and Nigeria (ibid) are of the opinion that apostasy has to be punished by death. They base their view (rightly or wrongly) on Quranic verses, which tell us to fight for the god of Islam (Quran / 25:52), to kill the unbelievers wherever we find them (Quran / 2:191-193), to strike off their heads (Quran / 8:12), and to fight until all religion is for the god of Islam (Quran / 8:39). This contempt extends to criticism of Islam: The Quran tells us that we are not allowed to question what Allah or the Prophet Mohammed have decided (Quran / 33:36, 5:101). When someone (Muslim or non-Muslim) criticizes the Prophet Mohammed in public, enough Muslims can be found who call for the death of that person . In this way, nobody (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) is allowed to even think of criticizing Islam in public, thus shielding the religion from critical investigation . There are different opinions on whether Islam punishes apostasy by death or not. Here, we just note that the Al-Azhar University (the Egyptian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs) , all four schools of Sunni Islamic law 64, and the majority of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, and Nigeria (ibid) are of the opinion that apostasy has to be punished by death. They base their view (rightly or wrongly) on Quranic verses, which tell us to fight for the god of Islam (Quran / 25:52), to kill the unbelievers wherever we find them (Quran / 2:191-193), to strike off their heads (Quran / 8:12), and to fight until all religion is for the god of Islam (Quran / 8:39). This contempt extends to criticism of Islam: The Quran tells us that we are not allowed to question what Allah or the Prophet Mohammed have decided (Quran / 33:36, 5:101). When someone (Muslim or non-Muslim) criticizes the Prophet Mohammed in public, enough Muslims can be found who call for the death of that person . In this way, nobody (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) is allowed to even think of criticizing Islam in public, thus shielding the religion from critical investigation .
Applies to: historical Judaism: The Torah tells us to kill apostates (Bible / Deuteronomy 13:6-10), to kill blasphemers (Bible / Leviticus 24:14, 16, 23) and to kill any prophets (Bible / Deuteronomy 13:1). Hence, historical interpretations of Judaism included the death penalty for atheism. This tenet was later dropped, and in contemporary interpretations of the religion, “there is no punishment for leaving Judaism” .
Applies to: historical Christianity: Christianity inherited the death penalty for blasphemy and apostasy from Judaism. Jesus affirms the validity of previous laws in principle (Bible / Matthew 15:4), and Paul also approves of them (Bible / Romans 1:25-32). Jesus also clarifies that blasphemy against his particular god is a sin that cannot be forgiven (Bible / Matthew 12:30–32, Mark 3:28–30, Luke 12:8–10). Therefore, the prevalent medieval interpretation of Christianity included the death penalty for apostates. The Inquisition burned thousands of people at the stake . Apostasy remained a punishable offense in Catholic countries until the late 18th century , and in 1826, Cayetanol Ripoll was the last person executed for doubting the Catholic teaching . Today, Christians live either in countries where they are not the majority (meaning that the state will not punish Christian apostates), or in secular countries (where people enjoy the freedom of religion). Therefore, contemporary interpretations of Christianity that call for the punishment of apostates are rare. Indeed, all mainstream churches have since changed their opinion on this topic.
Applies to: Hinduism: The religion is usually described as not having the concepts of apostasy or heresy (Wikipedia / Apostasy, Google search). However, the Laws of Manu withdraw all rights from a person who does not pray as prescribed 65, downgrade them to the lowest caste (ibid / 11 / 67), and banish them from town (ibid / 9 / 225). They furthermore declare that “forgetting the Vedas” (holy scriptures of Hinduism) is equivalent to drinking hard liquor 66, which, in turn, is a mortal sin (ibid / 11 / 55). The Mahabharata tell us that “The rejection of one’s own creed, the practice of other people’s creed [are] acts that no one should do” 67. To this day, atheists lack legal recognition in India 68. A member of parliament can openly call for the execution of apostates (International Business Times: India: MP Sakshi Maharaj vows death sentences for Hindus converting to Islam or Christianity, 2015-01-07, Wikipedia / Sakshi Maharaj).
Applies to: Buddhism: The Buddha himself teaches us that “should anyone say of me: “The recluse Gotama does not have any superhuman states, any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones” [then] he will wind up in hell” 69. This seems to indicate only otherworldly punishments. However, in Indonesia, Buddhist authorities have supported the punishment of blasphemy 70.
Does not apply to: Chinese religions
Does not apply to: Spiritism: See next article for sources.

Every true scripture only gains from criticism
Mahatma Gandhi

Shun apostasy

Everything else being equal, a religion that punishes apostates will perform better than a religion that doesn’t. Today, apostates can no longer be put to death in countries that implement freedom of religion. What remains in the religious belief systems is a general negative attitude towards apostates. All major religions condemn, shun, insult, threaten, or ridicule apostates .

Applies to: Christianity: The Bible prescribes death for the apostate. Apart from that, it tells us that “The fool says in his heart: There is no god. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” (Bible / Psalms 14:1). Paul encourages us to watch out that none of us “has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Bible / Hebrews 3:12). He also tells us to warn the heretic twice, and then to ”have nothing to do with them” (Bible / Titus 3:10), because such people are “warped and sinful” (Bible / Titus 3:11). Jesus wishes that anybody who brings his followers “to stumble” be drowned (Bible / Matthew 18:6). Many contemporary interpretations of Christianity, in particular in the US, have extrapolated this to a general discrimination of atheists. Atheists are excluded from taking a public office in some US states, they are associated with criminality, they are excluded from family and friends, and discouraged as life partners. In Europe, in contrast, such interpretations are rare. In Indonesia, Catholic and Protestant authorities tend to be on the liberal side of the spectrum 70 — quite possibly because the general spectrum in Indonesia is rather conservative.
Applies to: Islam: Individual verses of the Quran say that apostates will be tortured in eternity (Quran / 98:6) in hell and in this world (Quran / 3:56), that they may not be taken as friends, and they are “the worst of all creatures” (Quran / 98:6-7 among others). We may believe that these are only individual verses, but statistically speaking, one third of the Quran consist of insults, wraths, and threats against unbelievers. As a consequence, many major interpretations of Islam hold that apostates are dangerous and worthy of death, as we have discussed before — even if the death penalty is no longer carried out. In many Muslim lands, unbelievers are legally discriminated against, based on the respective interpretation of Islam .
Applies to: Hinduism: Apart from the punishments that the Laws of Manu prescribe for apostates, heretics may not be greeted 71, may not be given water (ibid / 4 / 89), and are generally the mark of darkness (ibid / 12 / 33). Hinduism prohibits apostates from marrying believers, thus implicitly shunning and excluding apostates.
Applies to: Buddhism: Buddhist authorities have requested punishment for blasphemy, as discussed in the previous article.
Does not apply to: Spiritism: This religion was born in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, and hence it argues that man has no “right to set up barriers against freedom of conscience” 6. It is also “a fail in charity” to “scandalise those whose belief is not the same as our own” [ibid / § 839]. As for the relation with non-adherents, the book says: “Let those who consider the facts in question as unworthy of their attention abstain from studying them; no one would attempt to interfere with their belief; but let them, on their part, respect the belief of those who are of a contrary opinion.”

Together, prohibition of apostasy, the encouragement to produce many children, the prohibition of interfaith marriage, and the automatic adherence of children to the faith of the parents are what Thilo Sarrazin calls a “Sperrklinkenautomatik” (ratchet mechanism): the number of adherents of the religion can only increase.

Proselytism

Like a hoax mail, a religion will be successful only if it propagates itself. One way to do this is to encourage people to spread the religion. This activity is called proselytism, and it is part of some religious belief systems.

Applies to: Christianity: Jesus tells us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Bible / Matthew 28:16-20), and to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Bible / Mark 16:14-18). From these verses, mainstream interpretations of Christianity derive what is called “the great commission” , i.e., the duty to bring Christianity to other people. Jehova’s Witnesses and the Mormons are particularly known for their proselytism.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran tells us to “Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious” (Quran / 16:125). Inspired by this verse, today’s Islam knows “dawah”, i.e., the duty to invite other people to Islam .
Applies to: Bahai Faith: Proselytism is a part of the religion 72. Bahais who venture into countries to spread the faith are called “pioneers” .
Unknown: Spiritism: This religion emphasizes the freedom of conscience 6. At the same time, we should “endeavour to bring back into the path of truth those who are led astray by false principles” [ibid / § 841]. This may be understood as proselytizing, in particular given Spiritism’s Christian heritage, but the text does not say so explicitly.
Does not apply to: Judaism: This religion is closely bound to the Jewish ethnicity, and does not aim to convert others to the faith.
Varied: Hinduism and Buddhism: These religions have seen proselytism in their history, but this is not a prevalent stance today .
Unknown: Chinese religions: I have found no sources on this topic.

Keep the masses stupid

The more educated a person is, the more likely they are to start questioning their religion. Hence, if a religion encourages people to read and learn, it risks abolishing itself. This is what we observe for Protestantism. This denomination of Christianity believes that everybody should read the Bible for themselves. Hence, it has traditionally encouraged people to become literate and to read. Possibly as a consequence, countries with a protestant tradition (Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany) became educated and literate early on. Today, these countries are also the least religious ones.

Our theory says that religions that oppose education will be more successful. Unfortunately, it is unpopular today to be against education. Hence, a religion can no longer oppose education. On the contrary, most religions say they encourage education. However, we often find that these religions have worked against education in the past, or that they give education a low position in their instructions to believers .

Applies to: Catholicism: The Bible contains metaphors that praise the uneducated: It tells us that “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Bible / Matthew 5:3). This idea resonated in the story of the Tree of Knowledge (Bible / Genesis 2-3): God punishes Adam and Eve, the mythological progenitors of mankind, for eating from a tree whose fruit gives knowledge; i.e., he punishes them for striving for knowledge. The Bible also encourages us to believe in God with the heart rather than trusting our own understanding (Bible / Proverbs 3:5). This general attitude had very palatable consequences: During the Roman Empire, literacy was widespread in Europe. However, when Christianity (in the form of Catholicism) took over, the literacy rate dropped, and remained low until the power of the Church declined . The Catholic Church actually prohibited that people read the Bible.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran does not contain verses that encourage people to become literate or to read books other than the Quran. On the contrary, the Prophet Mohammed himself was illiterate (Quran / 7:157, 158) and he made no effort to learn how to read — and the Quran presents him as the perfect role model to follow (Quran / 48:29, 33:21). According to the Hadiths (whose authority is disputed among Muslims), the Prophet Mohammed called himself “a guardian of the illiterates sent by Allah” (Bukhari, 3:34:335). Another Hadith (Sunaan Ibn Majah 5:4290) says that Allah loves illiterate people and hates educated people. He promises the first entry to Paradise to the illiterate Muslims and the last entry to the educated Muslims. The printing press, invented in the 15th century, arrived in the Muslim world only in the 18th century . Today, literacy rates in the Muslim world are among the lowest in the world, and the education in the Arab world is centered around obedience.
Does not apply to: Judaism: The religion has put an emphasis on education ever since Jews were pushed into intellectual professions in the Middle Ages. Possibly as a consequence, Judaism witnesses a substantial number of apostates .
Does not apply to: Spiritism: This religion was born in the aftermath of the Enlightenment. It holds that “It is only education that can reform mankind” 6.
Does not apply to: Confucianism: Confucius reportedly encouraged his followers to read 10,000 books. In his Analects, he emphasizes learning and reading (Confucius: Analects / 8:13, 17:8, 8:5).

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in the praise of intelligence.
Bertrand Russell

Rituals

The religious community can give material advantages to its members. The problem is that these advantages also come to people who just happen to live in the community, without actually sharing its values. These are the so-called free-riders. As Aldashev & Platteau explain: The collective character of religious activity implies a free-rider problem that is difficult to overcome by monitoring. However, the free-rider problem can be mitigated by the costly rituals that serve to screen out people whose participation would otherwise be low, while at the same time increasing participation among those who do join. As a consequence, the utility of group members can increase when apparently unproductive sacrifices are required. 73 These rituals require quite some effort. The costly-signaling theory suggests that this effort pays off: If someone goes through the trouble of following the rules of his religion in every detail, then they signal trustworthiness, responsibility, seriousness, and commitment to the group. The more effort the rules require, the stronger the signal .

The strongest signal at all is suffering (Y. N. Harari: 21 lessons for the 21st century): If you suffer physical harm for your religion (by fastening, self-mutilation, persecution, or martyrdom), then this is the clearest signal that you are a true believer. This is because physical suffering is one of the phenomena that even the most meta-physical thinkers have to accept as truth (lest they be exposed to it). Your suffering convinces not just the others, but also yourself: As soon as you underwent some harm for your religion, you have to believe in it. Otherwise, you would have to admit to yourself and to the others that you are a fool. Therefore, as Harari remarks dryly, the priest does to have to give you rain, health, or happiness — he has to take something away from you.

In this spirit, all religions have developed rituals that are physically unproductive, but serve to display commitment to the community . We list some of them next:

Applies to: Christianity: with wearing a cross, fastening, and going to church.
Applies to: Judaism: with wearing a kippa, eating only kosher food, and circumcising babies.
Applies to: Islam: with abstinence from alcohol and pork, eating only halal food, sacrificing lambs, and circumcising young boys.
Applies to: Hinduism: with a huge number of rituals that differ from region to region (Wikipedia / Saskara, Patheos: Hinduism / Rites and Ceremonies).
Applies to: Buddhism: with prayers, meditations, the restriction to vegetarian meals in some cases, and the celebration of Buddhist holidays such as Buddha’s Birthday.
Applies to: Taoism: with mediumship, trance, the exorcism of demons, and festivals that can involve hundreds of villages and can be very expensive.
Applies less to: Confucianism: Confucius recommended the worship of ancestors, and the religion knows temples and rituals for the dead, but it does not seem to have prominent rituals that serve no purpose other than showing the faith.
Applies less to: Spiritism: This religion knows rituals to get into touch with the spirits, but these seem to be driven out of a desire to contact these beings rather that showing faith. There exist Spiritualist Churches, though, which fulfil that purpose .

The anthropologist John Tooby hypothesizes that the rituals are not just physical, but also mental: Some religions assert outright incoherent beliefs (such as “God is one and three at the same time”, or “God helps the faithful”), and their purpose could be to display solidarity. Preposterous beliefs are more effective signals of coalitional loyalty than reasonable ones.

Anyone can say that rocks fall down rather than up, but only a person who is truly committed to to the brethren has a reason to say that God is three persons but also one person
Stephen Pinker in “Enlightenment Now”, p. 359

Intellectual Strategies

Unfalsifiability

In the terminology of this book, a religion is a set of beliefs. Such a system can make predictions about the world. The predictions can be verifiably true. In that case, the theory (or the sub-theory that makes these predictions) is a theory of science. The theory can also make false predictions. For example, Jehova’s Witnesses predicted the end of the world for 1914. When this failed to happen, they lost adherents. They updated their prediction to 1918, and later to 1925 — each time without success. Such false predictions make adherents leave the religion. They make the religion less competitive in comparison to other religions that do not make such predictions. Hence, making predictions is a tricky business for religions.

The safest strategy is if the religion makes no predictions at all. Equivalently, the religion can make only unfalsifiable predictions. Unfalsifiable predictions have the advantage that nobody can find out whether they are wrong. Hence, most religions that have survived until today make only unfalsifiable predictions.

Applies to: Christianity: The religion postulates the existence of a god, which is unfalsifiable. It also says that the end of the world is “near”. Since it does not predict a fixed date, this prediction is unfalsifiable.
Applies to: Judaism, Bahai Faith, Islam: All of them postulate the existence of a god, which is unfalsifiable.
Applies to: Hinduism and Buddhism: These postulate that bad deeds will have bad consequences (“Karma” theory), but are sufficiently vague to make this claim unfalsifiable.
Applies to: Confucianism and Taoism: These postulate the existence of a supra-system, called “Tao” or “Heaven”. This supra-system is called powerful, ordered, awe-inspiring, and un-describable — but no concrete predictions can be derived from it.
Applies to: Spiritism: Spiritism is based on purported physical manifestation of spirits. Thus, its statements are falsifiable (it suffices to ask the spirits again and get a different answer). However, Spiritism, too, falls back on the unfalsifiable for the definition of its world model: “What appears like a void to you is occupied by matter in a state in which it escapes the action of your senses and of your instruments” 6.

Assume equivalence

If we encourage people to study different religions, they might become more critical towards their own religion. One strategy that religions have developed to avoid this is to claim that the other religions are just variants of one’s own religion.

Applies to: Christianity: There is a prevalent opinion in the West that all religions essentially believe in the Christian god, just in different forms. This is not true, but still a popular belief.
Applies to: Islam: Islam holds that all people are born Muslims, and that their initial true beliefs are then corrupted by society. God sent different messengers to different regions at different times (Quran 13:38, 10:47, 35:24, 16:36).
Applies to: Bahai Faith: The basic tenet of this religion states that all religions basically say the same thing, and that the Bahai Faith reunites them all.
Applies to: Hinduism: This religion encompasses so many different beliefs, gods, and traditions, that it is a prevalent opinion that other religions are just special cases of this system. For example, Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country. Hence, its constitution requires that people worship one “Supreme Being” (presumably the Muslim God). Now, the Island of Bali is part of Indonesia, but it is Hindu. Hindus worship several gods, or several facets of a godhead. To solve this problem, the supreme being was just added to the canon of Hindu gods, and Hindus on Bali worship the supreme being together with the other deities.
Applies to: Spiritism: Spiritism argues that “all religions teach you that the souls of the departed continue to see you; but they regard your afflictions from another point of view” 6.

Claim an illusion

Religions have to explain to their followers why the other religions exist. One way to do that is to claim that these other religions are just wrong variants of one’s own religion. In addition, one can claim that the other religions have been deliberately created by the higher powers of one’s own religion. This turns the existence of the other religions into a proof for the power of one’s own spirits.

Applies to: Islam and Christianity: Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. The Quran, in contrast, tells us that Jesus was not really resurrected. God only made it seem as if Jesus were resurrected (Quran / 4:157-158). Thus, God fooled the Christians.
Vice versa, Christians believe that the Quran cannot be divine, because it denies the divinity of Jesus. Rather, a prevalent Christian opinion was as follows: The Quran was falsified on the way down by the devil. God gave his message to the Prophet Mohammed, but the devil intervened and corrupted the message, so that it seemed to the Muslims that the message was divine while it was not. So the devil fooled the Muslims. . To this date, Jehova’s Witnesses, a denomination of Christianity, maintains that the devil influenced the non-Christian religions in order to spread his mayhem 74 (§ 6.15).
Applies to: Islam: Whenever another religion claims a miracle, Islam can say that these miracles were done by the Jinns — the spirits of Islam .
Applies to: Judaism: If a prophet from another religion performs a miracle, then this is done only by the Abrahamic God to test his followers (Bible / Deuteronomy 13:1-5).
Applies to: Christianity: The Bible urges Christians not to take miracles by non-Christian prophets as proof of existence for other gods (Bible / Revelation 19:20, Matthew 24), presumably in continuation of the previously mentioned Jewish principle.
So there are a billion Muslims who think that all the Christians are delusional. And there are two billion Christians who think all the Muslims are delusional. Would you consider, at least for a moment, the possibility that all three billion of you are delusional?
WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com

Give a sense of life

Yuval Noah Harari hypothesizes in his book “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” that a religion (or, in fact, any ideology) has to provide a kind of story that explains the world. This story has to have two properties:

It must be bigger than the life of an individual person, i.e., it must encompass a nation, the world, or the universe
It must provide a role for the individual believer. Each individual person must have an important contribution to that big story.

As it so happens, this is what the major religions do:

Applies to: Abrahamic religions: The abrahamic religions offer several stories that give people a reason to live, and all of them reserve an important role for the individual: One story goes that God created humans to praise him. So every single human is called to serve that one higher being. Another story goes that life is a big test for the afterlife. God cares about each individual, and wants to see whether each particular person deserves going to Heaven. Yet another story goes that God has a big plan for humanity, in which we all must play our part .
Applies to: Buddhism and Hinduism: The Indian religions hold that we exist to go through a cycle of rebirths, until we are finally pure enough to reach Nirvana. Again, the story is of cosmic dimensions, and yet there is a chance to reach Nirvana for every single one of us.
Applies to: Hinduism: In Hinduism, the universe is a cosmic puppet theater, in which people are assigned roles by the gods . Unfortunately, the religion does unfortunately not tell us what our role is. Thus, our goal is to find that role, and to play it. Again, there is a story of cosmic dimensions, in which each of us has their contribution to make.
Applies to: Confucianism: In Confucianism, the cosmos is in an equilibrium, and every being contributes to that equilibrium by following the rites.

Most people who seek their identity are just like children who seek a treasure. They find only what their parents have hidden for them.
Y.N. Harari in his book “21 lessons for the 21st century”

The only solution

A religion can bind its followers if it presents itself as the only solution to the problems of life, society, and philosophy. This typically takes the form of rhetoric questions or of claims. Examples are:

Where else can we find refuge if not in God?
If you don’t believe in Allah, then what else do you believe in?
Only religion can help our society get back on track.
The only reasonable explication for the decadence in our society is the decline in religiousness.
Our religion is the only guarantee for morality in our society.
What could be the sense of life, if not following God?
What else can provide hope other than Heaven?

Such hypotheses play on the fact that the question is easy, but the reply is complex. You cannot answer the above questions with a single word or a single sentence. However, since the religion typically provides a comprehensive moral framework and model of the universe and society, it can provide such a one-word answer. This makes the religion an attractive kill-it-all solution. This effect is reinforced if people know only one religion. In such settings, the religion can claim a monopoly on the solution of problems or on the meaning of words (“sense of life”). Unfortunately, this trick can also be played with any other ideology. It has been played, e.g., with Nazism as well (“Who else could help us now, if not Hitler?”).

In a variant of this scheme, religion is presented as the guarantor of moral decency. Apostasy is seen as a slippery slope towards drug consumption, pre-marital relationships, and moral hazard in general. Religious ideologues do their best to portray “the outside” as immoral and dangerous.

Applies to: most major religions: Most major religions have variously been presented as the only solution to the problems of life and society.

Those who don’t read good books have no advantage over those who can’t read at all.
Mark Twain

God’s glory

In our life, there will be bad things and good things. If a religion promises that there will be only good things, then it will lose those people who experience bad things. A religion will be more convincing if it can explain and justify both good things and bad things. One particularly successful strategy is to say that the good things come from the main deity, while the bad things happen with a deeper purpose. This way, the glory of the deity can only increase: If something good happens, it shows the power and benevolence of the deity. If something bad happens, it shows that the deity is so smart that it can do things whose positive effect we cannot see. Thus, reality works like a double-acting reciprocating pump: both bad things and good things (forward and backward movements) increase the belief in the deity. Such a theory is, of course, unfalsifiable, because it just reconciles a posteriori whatever happened with the supposed intention of the deity. It can never be used to predict what will happen.

Applies to: Christianity: [anonymous]

In popular interpretations of this religion, good things are ascribed to God or Jesus. When a bad thing happens, this is either (1) a punishment from God, thus showing the justness of God, or (2) a necessary condition to make something good happen, thus showing the ultimate benevolence of God, or (3) the fault of the human. It is never the fault of the god (Bible / John 9). This way, the name of the god is kept clear of all reproaches. The idea goes further: A popular belief goes that before heaven comes, we must experience disaster. Since we do, this is interpreted as evidence of the truth of Christianity. Believers will view any deterioration of the situation as confirmation of the prophecy, and any improvement as a gift from God [Ralf Dobelli: The Art of Clear Thinking / Chapter 12]. We discuss God’s benevolence in detail in the Chapter on the Abrahamic God.
Applies to: Islam: The Quran tells us that whatever good comes to us, is from God. Whatever bad happens to us comes from ourselves (Quran / 4:79). This way, God takes the glory for all positive things, while rejecting the responsibility for the negative things. Problems in life also have their purpose: they are a test of one’s belief (Quran / 2:155-157). Thus, everything that happens, good or bad, can be seen as a proof for God. We discuss other psychological factors of Islam later in this book.
Applies to: Buddhism and Hinduism: These religions believe in Karma, i.e., the idea that good deeds will entail good things in life, and bad deeds will entail bad things — either in this life or in the next. This is assured by a supra-system, which issues these rewards and punishments either in this life or in the next. Thus, whatever happens can be interpreted as a proof for the existence of this supra-system: If something good happens, this shows that the supra-system rewards good people. If something bad happens, this shows that you must have done something bad in the past, and that this is your punishment.
Applies to: Spiritism: In this religion, earthly life is a trial 6. “If a righteous man undergoes misfortune, it is a trial from which, being bravely borne, he will reap a rich reward” [ibid / § 926] — most likely in the afterlife or a different incarnation. Thus, either God bestows happiness upon us (in which case he is evidently a good god), or he bestows sorrows upon us (in which case we will reap a rich reward, and God is also a good god). Hence, no matter what happens, God is always good.

In the United Kingdom, the adjectives “Royal” and “National” are often used synonymously. Note, however, that we talk about the “Royal Mint” (giving glory to the King), but about the “National Debt” (diverting blame from him).
William Cobbett, paraphrased

Flexibility

“Through deep study of ancient [Hindu] religious literature, they found that all such practices [oppression of women, child marriage, and caste rigidity] were contrary to true religion.”
in the Palace Museum in New Delhi/India; click to enlarge

Religions typically present themselves as eternal value systems. However, the values of society change. For example, slavery was accepted during much of humanity’s history. Today, it is shunned. If a religion prohibits slavery, it would never have gained popularity in ancient times. If it allows slavery, it risks being abandoned in modern times. Therefore, only those religions that are sufficiently vague in their moral tenets can survive through the ages.

This book does not say that the current interpretations of these religions would be false, or that the previous interpretation would be correct. The book just says that major religions have had different interpretations over time.

Applies to: Christianity: The Bible contains both the loving God (in the Old Testament) and the punishing God (in the Old Testament). Therefore, Christians could find support for different theses in their book. For example, slavery was once completely accepted, and defended as the normal state of affairs, based on Bible verses. Today, slavery is shunned — also based on Bible verses. We discuss other cases where Christianity changed its mind in the Chapter on Christianity.
Applies to: Catholicism: This denomination of Christianity has a harder time to adapt its tenets, because the Catholic Faith is defined explicitly and exhaustively in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Still, also this leaves some leeway. For example, abortion is considered a sin. However, in 2015, the Pope declared that, for one year, priests would be allowed to forgive abortion. Thus, even though abortion remains forbidden, it became de facto easier for believers to perform it.
Applies to: Islam: The religion has seen different interpretations based on the translations of the Quran, the abrogation of verses, the dependence on context, the choice of Hadiths, the schools, and the interpretation of the Quranic verses. Followers of Islam had and have different opinions on slavery, the role of women, or apostasy.
Applies to: Judaism: The Hebrew Bible abounds with instructions to execute criminals — by stoning, hanging, burning, stabbing, and crushing. Judaism traditionally used stoning, burning, beheading, and strangulation . However, Reform Judaism has declared retro-actively that “Both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant” 75.
Applies to: Hinduism: This religion is based on ancient books that have led to different view points. For example, the Laws of Manu present the caste system as the natural order of things (Laws of Manu / 1 / 87-91, Laws of Manu / 3 / 13). However, newer readings of ancient texts say that the caste system was never a part of Hinduism (see picture).
Applies to: Spiritism: While God’s laws are considered eternal, man’s laws change.

Vox populi, vox dei.
(The voice of the people is the voice of god.)
anonymous

The Atheist Bible, next chapter: The Abrahamic Religions

Memes

Hoax Mails

Memes

Meme Selection

Meme Design

Meme Theories

The story of Hank

Population control

Fertility

Prohibit Interfaith Marriage

Shunning Homosexuality

Sex only for procreation

Child Marriage

Conscience

Heaven

Heaven for Martyrs

Hell

Guilt

Push for Perfection

Thankfulness

Heavy punishment

Recruitment

Religious education

Target the weak

Punish apostasy

Shun apostasy

Proselytism

Keep the masses stupid

Rituals

Intellectual Strategies

Unfalsifiability

Assume equivalence

Claim an illusion

Give a sense of life

The only solution

God’s glory

Flexibility

References