We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32306035.
> It feels as though our society has collectively forgotten that mental illness can be socially transmissible.
How is this not relevant?
A generic "religion is superstition" flamewar is the most textbook case in the genre, and also easily avoidable. We don't want that here, so please don't post like that.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules, we'd appreciate it. Note this one: "Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."
Fiction can deliver truth. But presenting fiction as fact ruins the whole game.
Another somewhat more cynical take on the utilitarian argument is that religious believers are conditioned to accept rule by a small elite (aka the feudal aristocracy) and can be more easily manipulated by propaganda.
Religion's negatives get a lot more press than it's positives.
For example, to avoid physical danger, to avoid social ostracization, to benefit from the social network, to gain power and influence, etc. The delusion (or at least it's theatrics) is part of a bigger social package. It's a bit like product bundling, or subprime mortgage securitization, or suspiciously large wooden gifts.
The good parts are good, and the bad parts benefit from the aggregate value function.