RDFRS: Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

http://richarddawkins.net

This Nut is an official member. Note: the 'GolfNut' there isn't me. I should have seized this username when I first signed up years back.

“Memetics”（模因學）一詞首創於道金斯 1976 出版的“自私的基因”（The Selfish Gene），在其內道金斯博士從達爾文進化論的立場出發，構思出一種傳播於文化人間之基本思想理念組成元件或單位，稱為“模因”（Meme）。此模因之發展模式有如自然界的基因，能自行複製，受環境影響，可突變以求存活，等等。對 Meme 生存方式、行為類別、整體影響等方面的研究即為模因學。

道金斯的長文“宗教信仰：賴人類恐懼感掠食的思想病毒”（Religious Belief: A Mind Virus That Preys on Fear）對 Memetics 有深入探討，可算是“自私的基因”一書之“續篇”。下述一節來自該文某段：

“The mind virus of religious belief preys on fear, warps instinctive attributes and skews morality. It contradicts responsible behavior, reason and compassion. It retards free will and causes a lack of ability to differentiate between rational and irrational choices. It allows the religionist to exist in a perfectly rational way in many other aspects of their existence in society while the infected area of the mind is stuck in a cyclical delusion.”

有興趣者請參考：

Religious Belief: A Mind Virus That Preys on Fear

An article by Mike Aus, excerpted below, touches upon some of the reason aspect of what this foundation is all about: 

"Religion misuses the term mystery. You just can’t make up stuff and then, because you have no explanation for what you made up, chalk it up to mystery. In my experience the “mysteries of faith” often become a burden to the faithful who struggle to get their heads around things like the Trinity or the “Real Presence” of Christ in bread and wine, and then feel like they are sub-standard people because they cannot fathom the learned theologians’ supposedly profound insights. It’s nuts."

"Of course I can only speak for myself, but I have found that life is actually better without theology. For starters the issue of theodicy goes away. The problem of how a just and loving God could permit so much suffering in the world is a true source of torment for many theists. When I was working as a minister, this was always the number one theological issue on people’s minds. Reconciling belief in an omnibenevolent god with life’s inevitable tragedies is a constant and, often, exhausting challenge for many theists. Thus the continuing popularity of books such as Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People? The solution, however, is easy. Take the “theo” out of theodicy, and the dilemma disappears entirely."

Read on, it's right, and it's good. Science and Theology, Mystery and Wonder