Religion and Chain Letters

There are various aspects to religion - some positive and many negative. The aspect that I wish to discuss here is the common doctrine or teaching that can be paraphrased as:

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Faith or belief in [fill in the blank] is essential to your personal salvation and eternal bliss; failure of faith will result in your personal eternal punishment in the fiery pit of hell

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This feature which is common in several major religions and denominations has the same psychological underpinnings of a chain letter or email. Perhaps this is why many chain letters incorporate religious ideas and references to enhance credibility and acceptance.The intention of a chain letter is to create some psychological distress through a threat and to entice with potential reward, as a means to motivate the recipient to propagate the letter or idea. The net effect is negative, wasteful and harmful.The question for discussion: Is this aspect of religion equivalent to a chain letter? Edited by iceage, : No reason given.Edited by iceage, : No reason given.

Not quite...I just realized that Christianity maybe the original, most successful and longest running chain letter in history.The psychology of the central core doctrine of Christianity is identical to that of a chain letter. Both promise good things if have faith and believe in things without seeing or other confirmation of the senses; and threatens bad things if you don't.It is a psychology designed to manipulate the subject to get them to help propagate the message. The psychology preys on fear, the human condition and uncertainty.One has to ask why would God deem believing without seeing as so vitally important?It is obvious why a mind virus requires such blind faith, but God? It just does not make sense why a being who obviously deals with the material world (creation, flood, stopping sun, miracles, etc) would withhold any real tangible evidence of God existence. Edited by iceage, : No reason given.

Some people also comply and send chain letters because they think they are giving others the chance at blessings.However you are right, most comply to chain letters because of the manipulation.Actually thinking about this a little further, most comply to chain letters using the same reasoning for religious faith - Pascal's Wager!Many users here have provided the essence of Pascal's Wager in defense of there faith such as:

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"If I am right I win big but if you are right I lose nothing"

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This is often the same justification that is used when people comply to a chain letter - oh well I am not out much and just maybe it works.This fact that the human response to the sales pitch is often similar strengthens the comparison between to two. Edited by iceage, : No reason given.

Not quite. Ancient Judaism did not have that same alluring mix of ingredients. The reward/risk feature was not well defined and submission was not easy to implement.Christianity however hit upon just the right mix of ingredients, which maybe why it is so successful. That is.. These are the exact same ingredients as a chain letter.I recently came to this conclusion when the user ICANT, if you remember him, would often exclaim "All you have to do is believe on Jesus to be saved and excuse yourself from hell". And he also frequently used Pascal's wager as a defense which i noticed that a variation of Pascal's wager is often used by people when they replicate a chain letter.I was annoyed and irritated by this constant refrain. Suddenly I realized that the annoyance that I experienced was the same annoyance that I experience when I receive a chain letter. With such a promise and dire threat one has to take some time and energy to consider such a proposal (at least at first when encountering the proposal). But then I realized that they both work on the same psychological principle and prey upon fear, the human condition and the residual superstition that is in each of us to some measure.I wish some Christian or theist would point out where I am wrong here. Edited by iceage, : No reason given.Edited by iceage, : No reason given.

I came across this Chain Letter Nullification Certificate.
A Printable Certificate for Breaking Chain Letters – DSri SeahI thought the this quote was apropos even in this context....

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There are times when the forces of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt conspire to coerce Good People to aid the propogation of Certain Letters of Ambiguous Benefit or Misfortune. Such Letters are conceived to Frighten people into serving the Ego of a Master Jerk. We can not, as free men and women, allow such Threats to bound our Happiness.

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By signing and dating this certificate, you declare that you are a Creator of Positive Energies. Together, we break the Tyranny of the Chain. We declare that we are defined by our Actions, not our Fears.

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