Image a man runs up to you and says 'I know that we've been invaded by aliens and in 3 years they will destroy the world'. You think 'Hrm, weird guy there. This kook is making some pretty outrageous statements but heck, everyone can believe whatever they want, its a free country. He can't really do anything that would impact my life. '. Time goes by and a couple of months later you are linked to a website AliensWillKillUs.com by a friend. Reading the website is like looking at a blended up version of Communion and The Turner Diaries. Stories like 'How powerful are death rays really?' and 'How to bleed a cow for a dandy bloodrutini' are on the front page. You think 'Well, they do seem to be pretty violent and man, thier rantings are just incomprehensable, but really we have enough rational people that it shouldn't be a problem.' And then a building is blown up to 'erase an alien stronghold'. The groups charismatic leader denounces skeptics as anti-earth and alien-conspirators. This seems pretty troubling but the perpitrators are caught and convicted and are kicked out of the group. 'We don't condone violence against humans, we must prepare for a greater enemy'.
The day of the invasion arrives, the once small group has swollen from its humble beginings to a large majority of the population. The teachings have solidified and now mutated into a complex weave of militaristic dogma and promises of vast riches should the humans win and take the alien technology of the would-be overlords. 'Man.' you think, ' I don't understand how so many can believe this.' And yet there you are, in a sea of beleivers, waiting for an invasion. A comet crosses the sky and nothing happens. Soon the foretold 'invasion' has become a thing of memory as you go about your daily buisness. To you and your friends its obvious that nothing happened, no change at all, infact it has soundly refuted the premise that there would be an alien invasion. You are satisfied that it was never real.
Later in life you are recounting the story to a group of friends and one of them, wearing a small earth pendant, says to you 'Well of course the aliens didn't just land and kill everyone, they knew we had prepared. It'd be silly to expect them to just be so OBVIOUS about it. No, the invasion happened, I've talked with dozens of people that have seen them. You ever wonder why so many homeless people go missing?' and you sit there unsure of what to think. 'They are just quiet about it, getting into position to undermine us all. In fact, spreading these false rumors about the Invasion is exactly what I'd expect from a sympathizer'.
This is the progression:
A Kook: Mostly harmless in their ideas but unchecked without criticism can spread the delusion to others. Society tends to just ignore the kooks.
A Cult: The ideas spread, usually mutated with new insights or additional wackyness as more people join the herd. The feelings of safety and validation create an atmosphere of absolute faith in the truth of the teachings and isolate any dissent. In this enviroment the original core beliefs are applied to everything making any leap needed to make them fit. Society can mostly control a cult, preventing most major damage.
A Religion: Once the cult grows to pose a real danger to the society it becomes a religion.
Today is another anniversary of 9/11. To some this day is seen as one of the worst days in American history, with good reason. It highlights the extreme actions that people can take when they feel justified, in this case, religiously justified. I think that this is one of the most dangerous things about a world filled with religion, any sort of action can be justified. I think it woke a lot of america up to the fact that people out there want to kill us. Not personally, just generally, for being an affront to allah. America for the most part, hasn't had to deal with this like Israel or now Iraq, Pakistan, India and countless other countries have for the longest time. The religious worldview that discards all reason for flawed logic and emotional satisfaction is what leads to these attacks. In American, since then, theres been a rapid growth of christian fundamentalism while also having a little bit of growth in atheism. I think the confrontation that americans feel with such a deeply hostile religion like fundamentalist islam has caused many to question thier faith. For some it has led to a breakdown in the twisted logic it takes to continue to beleive without evidense and they have jettisoned thier dogma, for others though, it was caused them to beleive that the fervor shown by muslims must be matched by christian fervor.
In a real sense I think we have entered into a holy war. The attacks against evolution and science in general, the overall fundamentalist visibility since 9/11, a general feeling that not going to a church makes you suspect. And just imagine, without religion it would just be another rainy day.
I think a lot of people are only religious because they have been for so long and are afraid to admit they could have been wrong for so much of their lives.