Coding Viruses for the Mind If as some have suggested religions are viruses of the mind, then it might make sense to separate the components of any given religion into two parts. The first part being those things which are necessary to maintain viral infection and which assist in the infection of new hosts. The second part is the payload: Those instructions which the virus writer wishes those who have been infected to carry out or execute.     My hope is that this method of analysis will assist others in understanding the structure of existing religions as well as those who aim to write one from scratch