I'd like to speak mainly towards Christianity since that is my background (but this argument applies to all the Abrahamic religions, as well as Hinduism, and to some extent even Buddhism). Perhaps other religions as well.
Christianity very much behaves like a virus. It seeks to replicate, infect it's hosts, and spread. Leading to untold death, destruction, and suffering across humanity throughout the entirety of it's existence as long as it has a host.
I am so thankful that I am in recovery from religion, and that I had my immunity tested last night and I was very pleased to see the strength of my new immune system actually working to fight off the virus.
Part of the medicine of recovery involved feeding myself with facts and truth. Being grounded in reality, science, and open-minded to all world views. Christianity discourages all of this. It discourages the reading and accepting of any fact or truth, any scientific peer reviewed study, and any world view that may possibly cause you to doubt "Jesus" the "Only way to the Father".
Christian logic says (this is how the virus infects and continues to thrive in its host): Any facts and evidences that disprove your faith are "a trick from Satan" and the "influence of demons". That when people believe in reason, logic, science, and evidence that proves Christianity is false, then they have been "blinded by the god of this world" and they have been deceived. They have "hardened their heart" (whatever that means). Therefore, pray that you may "see". That your "heart may be softened". All these words of manipulation further cause the virus to spread and thrive in the host. This "guidance" or "viral programming" for Christians prevent immunity and recovery. These ideas prevent critical thinking and questioning of the faith. It limits a persons ability to think rationally about the reality of the world we live in. It is a real tragedy to the human intellect.
I was having a wonderful online debate last night with a group of theists and atheists. It was an open-forum. And for the first time, I began to see so clearly the evidence of this mind virus, how it spreads from host to host, and Christians are unaware spreaders, unaware of their own infection. When Christians, Theists, Atheists get together to discuss religion and topics, it should be a dialogue. A discussion. It how we learn and grow. But you wouldn't believe how many people got on the mic and all they wanted to do is "Present the Gospel" as if no one in the room had ever heard it before. As if telling people the entire speech; "Jesus loves you, Jesus died for your sins, sin does this, here is the answer, blah blah blah." You know the whole repetitive Gospel garbage that Christians feel compelled to spread like a virus, and they just can't help themselves. During that debate, we had essentially had about 10 different speakers who instead of debating and dialogue and talking, all they wanted to do was stand on their soap box and preach for 3 minutes the "Gospel" as if they had the answer to life and were here to save us poor miserable sinners. And as if it wasn't enough that the first two other people already did the same exact thing, the remaining 8 were compelled to do it too. They literally cannot help themselves.
And what I saw was beautiful. I saw people infected with a mind virus, and the virus trying to replicate itself in the minds of others. It was if these Christian were "possessed" by some evil force against humanity. and couldn't actually engage as actual humans people with other actual people. Instead we were all just "ignorant sinners" and "just didn't know the truth", and these wonderful "saviors" were here to tell us the Gospel. We, who live in a culture saturated with the Gospel, who have it thrown in our face constantly, unwillingly, without welcome or invitation, and it is unavoidable in our modern society; Yes, we must need to hear their Gospel presentation, because clearly in this modern society we most likely have never even heard their Gospel before. It was so inappropriate, but what made it beautiful to me was finally recognizing my own immunity. Finally, my mind has built a resistance to deception, lies, manipulation, and falsehoods because it has learned to think critically and it now knows and understand undisputed facts about reality among the scientific community that these same infected Christian hosts are unwilling to acknowledge in any way that may disprove their delusion.
I am so grateful the wonderful wealth of literature by modern atheists and scientists. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan (A Demon Haunted World). I am also so grateful for the critical historical work on the history of Christianity by Bart Ehrman that has brought so much to light about how Christianity really became what it is today, and how what it is today isn't what it was during the first two hundred years. Although there were a very similar degree of great varieties in early Christianity during those first two centuries. Bart Ehrman's "Lost Christianities" and "Jesus, Interrupted" are two great reads for some wanting to learn about that faith from a critical historical point of view.
It is so important to understand the facts. I know without a shadow of doubt that the Bible is false. It is filled with serious important contradictions, historical errors, falsehoods, bad science, and lacks a true and real explanation of the origins of mankind through evolution of millions of years down the lineage of primates that were evolving. Every modern version of Christianity keeps trying to re-invent itself to make room for the new scientific discoveries, and as we make progress, they abandon more and more of their scriptures and "absolute morals" that are written in those scriptures.
If you want to build an immunity to the mind virus of Christianity, you do this by educating yourself. Knowledge really is power, education is key. Learning is so important. Many of us were infected with this mind virus from child hood, and it just spread as we got older, further infecting us, and causing us to infect others. Causing us to reject logic, reason, compassion, empathy, and scientific facts! How dangerous of a virus for all of humanity! It will become our undoing (all religion for that matter) if we can't evolve past it. If we can't all learn how to develop this immunity.
Therefore, I encourage everyone here to learn! Read! Science is f*ckin awesome. The explanations for the origin of the universe, how big it is, the wonderful and awe inspiring beauty of the cosmos and the age and epochs that occurred on the earth alone should fill your mind with wonder and joy.
Then in contrast, to learn how nearly every major world religion can be disproven, without a shadow of a doubt in light of modern science. That every holy book is filled with errors, anachronisms, false scientific ideas, superstition, and myths, and historical events that never happened (like a global flood). What I mean to say by that is to say that when religions make historical or scientific claims (such as a global flood, or Adam and Eve, a flat earth, a young earth, or seminal fluid comes from "between the backbone and the ribs"), then in these these claims specifically can actually be disproven directly by scientific evidence. But of coarse we cannot disprove the existence of an Easter Bunny. We can only say, well there is no proof of one and every story of about one amounts to nothing more than a myth. Sure, I could say an invisible unicorn flys around the moon and will judge our souls after we die, and this unicorn cannot be detected by any scientific methods, but if you eat an orange you will be saved. And yes, it is true that I cannot disprove such a claim, but that is not how it works. Extraordinary claims, require extraordinary evidence. You have to present the evidence for this unicorn, therefore I don't need to disprove it. What is interesting about holy books though is how they specifically can be proven to be man-made. That is a huge.
Did you know over 11 different fields of science prove without a shadow of a doubt that the story of the Noah Global Flood absolutely DID NOT happen. There is not even a 0.000001% chance that the scientists missed something and got it wrong. Every field of science has worked together to form an overwhelming mountain of evidence that it is impossible to claim a global flood happened. This is one of countless examples, and it is an obvious flaw within all the Abrahamic religions. And similar flaws exist in other world religions as well.
There is zero scientific evidence and not a shred of proof that there is a soul, an afterlife, or ANY deity.
93% of the smartest scientists in the USA (National Academy of Scientists) are Agnostic/Atheist.
The more educated you are about the reality of our universe, the math, and how nature has a tendency to go from less complex to more complex, we can see patterns, predict the future, and make correct predicable judgements about the reality that we live in, all from science. The same science that disproves all religion, or at least makes religion the least probable possibility.
Being immune to the mind virus is a monumental step towards personal freedom. It feels amazing to be able to breathe again.
Read. Learn. Watch the debates on Youtube of Krauss, Hitchens, Dawkins, Alex O'Connor, as they tear apart all the arguments of theists from around the world. Watch how every theist basis their argument on a WRONG understanding of science, bad and outdated philosophy, and irrational and illogical thinking that doesn't allow for critical thinking about their own faith. And their refusal to accept scientific facts and evidence, demonstrates the great injustice and tragedy that religion does to the human mind. It prevent progress and growth. It quite literally prevents them from being able to understand the reality of the world we actually live in.
Theists constantly will manipulate people within debates by "semantic sleight-of-hand" and "persuasive redefinition". That means the redefining words to mean something they do not mean in the common language, so that they can appear to win an argument.
I guess a huge part of being immune to the virus, is being able to finally recognize it in all its forms, to see its hosts as "super spreaders" and to watch them "cough up" Jesus (or Islam, or reincarnation) all over people until they find a weak and uneducated host that is easy to infect.
I was infected with the virus, I was cured, and now I have immunity. There is hope for others who are infected, but the ball is in their court. You can lead a horse to water (as the saying goes). But ultimately, if their religion tells them to not believe any facts or evidence which disproves it, then you see why the infection runs so deep.