[HoneyBadger]

I think Christianity has done quite a lot of good things, either as a force-the Salvation Army, for example-or as individuals (Martin Luther King). But religion can be a dangerous tool that can be used to exploit people and their faith. Whether it's tv evangelists taking money from people who can't afford to live, or anti-semitics who used Christianity as an excuse to persecute Jews.

Religion-and by this I mean the People of the Book (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) is like a virus of ideas and ideals. It occupies a host, changing the host to suit it's needs, and then it spreads itself by various means, infecting people more or less strongly, depending on their ability/willingness to fight the infection (or catch the "Spirit"). It's not necessarily a disease-as in, harmful, because the ways in which it seeks to change it's host are often very beneficial-but it often operates with the methods of one, and Christianity is especially virulent, predisposing it's hosts (Missionaries) to seeking out, and then converting, any segments of the population that haven't built up a tolerance for it yet. It mutates, taking on more exotic forms: Mormons, born-again Christians, Rastafarians, Voodoo, even exotic strains, like the deadly Ebola cults of David Coresh and Jonestown, etc.

Viruses by themselves aren't evil. We may think of them superstitiously in those terms, from time to time, but we don't really attach sentience and will to do harm to microscopic (or thought) organisms. They're out to perpetuate themselves, just like we are. And at times, they can be harmful to other life-forms, just like we can. That also doesn't mean they can't do a lot of good too-some have speculated that some form of virus is what caused us to evolve in such a way as to develope speech and language-but if they're introduced into an unprotected, susceptible host, then they can potentially do damage.

They can also mutate over time into more benevolent forms, which are more compatable-more symbiotic and less parasitic-with their hosts than the original form. And I think that's what's happening with religion today. It can still be a force for harm and destruction at times, if the infection is extreme and uncontrolled, but it can also benefit, and take advantage from, peaceful co-existence with the people who actually live by it's ideals, and the people those come into contact with.