The Bible drove me out of believing in God.
I got no problem with Christians. Now, Christianity on the other hand…
Meaningless. Christianity focuses on the imaginary next world, so it can easily be used to promote and justify the massacre and torture and enslavement of your enemies ( which amount to everyone ) in this, the real world. In the name of Christian Love. You’re doing it for their own good.
So is the belief in an afterlife (Christianity) the root of the problem, or is it the church’s pressure (Christians) to “save” people from the pit?
And how did other religions avoid the path of violence? Why don’t we ever hear of people being forced to try and achieve nirvana at gunpoint? Does the Buddhist belief in enlightenment also bring with it the potential for hostility, or is that exclusive to Christianity?
Both. And the second requires the first anyway.
Buddhism has it’s bad side. That being said, it has aspects that make it less nasty than Christianity. A few that come to mind :
The concept of Hell, of infinite punishment is very dangerous; since any finite evil can be justified if it stops the infinite suffering of even a single soul going to hell, much less many. And yes, I know that there are fewer Christians who believe in Hell than there used to be; Christianity is also less rabidly aggressive than it used to be; I think that that’s not a coincidence.
And directly related to that, Buddhism doesn’t have quite the theme of “We must ram our beliefs down the throats of as many people as possible as fast as possible, or they suffer forever !” Naturally they think you are better off as a Buddhist, but there isn’t that urgency to convert you at any cost.
Monotheism; the core Christian ( and Islamic ) belief that there is only one god, and you must worship him and him alone. Buddhism doesn’t have that.
Buddha didn’t build his religion on top of the incredibly nasty Old Testament, either.
Sounds a little like Reconstructionist Judiasm. The mohel is on the right. L’chaim!
Depending on the sect, it can swing either polytheistic, or animist. The branch I practice has a simple form of animism. It is about as close to atheism as I am comfortable believing in.
That is possibly the nicest thing I have ever seen you post about a belief system. Perhaps there’s a bit of holiday sparkle in your eyes after all. Have a great and safe New Years.
Nate
They call it spiritual, it is not necessary to belong to any org. to be spiritual.
SOME people call it that, some people don’t. Since it doesn’t mention God or anything else unreal, I’d call it humanism, or just being decent.
This is insulting to atheists. You’re implying that our beliefs are formed emotionally, as a reaction to our former beliefs or other people’s beliefs, rather than a conscious decision to seek the truth on our own. You make it sound like we stopped believing in Santa Claus because we didn’t like the gifts he brought.
Ethical subjectivism. A very slippery slope.
I’d call it humanism or the occult depending on the spiritual aspects of your religion.
As a follower of Jesus (to the best of my ability), I believe that Judaism and Christianity are the story of a people seeking God. It suits me.
But where I get annoyed is when believers believe their story is “truth” and others are “not truth”.
So anyone with a few brain cells to rub together can look at the vast world with its scientific progress and diverse religious beliefs and realize that people can seek “truth” outside of our value system.
The discussion then goes as follows:
Thinker: There are things outside of Christianity that are “true”.
Fundamentalist: Are not.
Thinker: Are too.
Fundamentalist: Are not
Thinker: Are too.
Fundamentalist: Are not
Thinker: Fuck this.
Then I must have assumed wrong. I based my assumption on reading a few posts and my own experience on rejecting Christianity. My belief was initially formed emotionally, and it was a mere reaction, as I was too young to see that there’s an alternative belief system.
I’m atheist because I see religion being man made, a way to explain why we are here. Im atheist because the church used to ban people from looking into telescopes hundreds of years ago. I know religion is man made when men of the church said fossils were put on earth to test ones religious faith. I think christopher hitchens and richard dawkins should be required reading in high schools across the globe.
Years ago I used to go to a hare krsna temple and chant and dance and I tried to learn to read sanskrit. I had fun but the temple was a bit pushy and distrustful of outsiders. I remember washing dishes one day smelling of incense with tilak on my face thinking I am being indoctrinized all over again.
With all the proof that religion has done nothing less than enslave in order to further some rulers goals, or even how since day one religion has tried to stop science cold in its tracks, how can anyone still support a system in which one has to have “faith”. Its all based on faith. Nothing short of criminal and child abuse, I say, when one forces that fairy tale nonsense on children and the young.
Im atheist because religion is such a joke and thankfully I was given an option on what I could read and view in my parents home. yeah, I guess I was sick of christianity as well.
I’m Jewish, so I see the non-Christian view from the inside. Lots of religions think that non-believers are just as well off in the long run as believers. To follow up on what [b\DerTrihs** said, my understanding is that a good non-Buddhist will have a much better next life than an evil Buddhist, as opposed to the original sense of Christianity where an evil person repents will do better than a good person who rejects Jesus. Thus, we see the Pope adopt a Jewish child and forcibly convert him - and it happened in the 19th century, not in the Middle Ages.
As for me, I grew up thinking Christianity was irrelevant and foolish. I’m an atheist not because of anything wrong with Judaism, but just because I became convinced that the world makes far more sense with no god. I don’t regret a moment spent in shul.