Free The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture by Darrel Ray Page A

35% on fundraising and administration. In general, a dollar given to a religious organization will result in 5 cents going to some functional activity. A dollar given to the Red Cross, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, or many other non-religious organizations will result in a 65 cent functional benefit if they follow the Better Business Bureau guidelines. By comparison, church giving is a 95% investment in the virus and 5% in people.
    Taking this analysis to other religious organizations like the 700 Club, the Moral Majority or Focus on the Family, hundreds of millions of dollars are given to these organizations with little or no accountability. The moneyoffers almost no functional good. It is channeled into activities that include a good deal of political activity in the service of the new civil religion. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family spends vast amounts getting a thinly veiled political message out to legislators and politicians. Dobson sent out an email to his entire flock in August 2008 asking them to pray for rain over Invesco Field to force Barack Obama to cancel his Democratic Party acceptance speech. His prayers were not answered, but it was a clear use of his organization as a political entity in promotion of the virus. Ironically, the next week hurricane Gustav disrupted the Republican Convention. Dobson did not seem to see his god’s hand in that.
    Church financial scandals over the years have also shown how easily money can be misused. Headlines like these seem to populate the news media on a regular basis:
• Money Scandal in Florida Diocese Adds to Church Woes
• Church Corruption, Questionable Gifts Live On, Long After Bakker Scandal
• Raising Financial Integrity Amid Money Scandals 25
    With no financial accountability or oversight, many churches and ministries are free of any real constraints unlike non-religious charitable organizations.
    The civil religion has developed very successful ways to fund its propagation through these organizations. Most have loose or no affiliation with long-established denominations. Neither Dobson’s Focus on the Family Falwell’s Moral Majority, Pat Robertson’s 700 Club or the Christian Coalition have effective financial oversight and seem exempt to tax law that disallows religious organizations to engage in political activity. These groups are the treasury of the new civil religion.

CHAPTER 4:
GOD LOVES YOU – THE GUILT THAT BINDS
     
“You are digging for the answers, Until your fingers bleed, To satisfy the hunger, To satiate the need. They feed you on the guilt, To keep you humble and low, Some man and myth they made up, A thousand years ago.”
-Melissa Etheridge, “Silent Legacy” song on the Yes, I Am album

Overview
    Now that we have looked at the social and political aspects of the god virus, we can examine the more personal and psychological components. We will start with the role guilt plays in propagation of many religions. How does it drive behavior? How is it used to bind people to the god virus?

Father Joseph
    When I was in private clinical practice, a 48-year-old Catholic priest came to me for counseling (I’ll call him Father Joseph although that was not his real name). He was very concerned that things be kept quiet and confidential. He was concerned that he masturbated and used pornography. He had enormous guilt over this but could not stop himself. He showed signs of depression. After several sessions, he admitted that he had self-destructive thoughts. “I think it would be better if I were dead than to have these terrible thoughts and urges. I have them even as I am saying Mass or counseling a couple.”
    He felt there was no one in the Church to talk to, so he sought me out. As I listened to him, he sounded like a normal human male. A male with no approved sexual outlet. All his training and education had taught him that masturbation and pornography were deadly sins. It pained me to listen to his anxiety and guilt. The best I could