by Mrs Smith 67 Replies latest jw friends
I think I could ba a buddhist or a wiccan - though the solitary idea puts me off cuz I have been for too long!
I could be a few things along those lines but have no passion for any in this moment! I do feel they are superb beliefs like nature itself almost!!
I agree with what the other posters said. I think funnyderek gave a very good and concise explanation. There is a rather prominent atheist that deals largely with muslem issues named Ibn Warraq - http://www.challenging-islam.org/articles/warraq-debate-muslims.htm
could Buddists be considered Athiest?
There are indeed many atheists that are also Buddhists. I think even Sam Harris is. If he doesn't consider himself such, he has at least adopted a great many of their practices and speaks very highly of their philosophy.
Why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards Christians? Why not direct your argument towards Buddists or Muslims or even New-agers? I mean they also believe in a higher power so why is it that only Christains seem to get knocked? Is it because your only point of reference is JWs and the bible and therefore easier to reference?
Why would you believe in Allah once you have rejected the Christian God? One answer could be that you have become a monotheist. Most JWD discussions, however, don't deal with the Trinity problem but the notion of God in general.
Thanks for enlightening me about Buddhism. But really - do you believe in a god or gods who created everything? Or could Buddists be considered Athiest?
Not to hijack the topic, but I think the way someone interprets Buddhism in their lives depends on the type of Buddhism they study and their personal perception. I found this great discussion on about.com, so I am going to include it here, as it sums up what I want to say:
Lots of people in the West misunderstand Buddhism, especially it's general lack of any divine figures. They don't realize that, for many, Buddhism is essentially an atheistic religion. People in the West are accustomed to religions all being theistic, so the idea of an atheistic religion is almost incomprehensible. 3. Buddhist are Godless, aethists, and nihilistic
No we aren’t. Just because Buddhism teaches that there is no God or Gods, doesn’t mean that a Buddhist is directionless in life! True, we do not aspire to do good in this life so that we are qualified to spend our afterlife in a blissful Heaven, like what Christians, Muslims and the Jews believe. However, instead of that aim, all Buddhist should try to attain Nirvana, through understanding what causes their suffering in life.
And just because Buddhists do not believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell, that doesn’t mean that Buddhists do not believe in the existence of an afterlife. We do, we believe in the Karmic Law and reincarnation. To me personally, this Karmic Law can be regarded like one of the scientific laws of nature, such as the law of gravity, or the law of preservation of energy, etc.
The Karmic Law is a ‘cause and effect’ law in which determines what form of being one would be reborn into (ie happy person, suffering person, animals, deities, etc) based on the the accumulated karmic points of each person, not only in his this present life, but also based on all of this past lives. One accumulates good karma when one does a good deed, and a bad one when one does otherwise. So this is our system for the afterlife. Cyrix also doesn’t mention the fact that some Buddhists are theists. Traditional Buddhism has taught that either there are no gods or, if there are, they aren’t worth bothering with — but people being people, gods have been added to Buddhist practice over the centuries. They aren’t creator gods like we find in Western religion, but they are gods nonetheless. Not all Buddhists are atheists, but there are quite a few. __________________________________________ As for my personal feelings, I believe in a spiritual realm, but I believe that it is completely and totally misunderstood today. So I would say that I don't believe in Gods in the way that most people interpret God to mean.
Why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards Christians? Why not direct your argument towards Buddists or Muslims or even New-agers?
I don't find this true. "The End Of Faith" deals heavily and harshly with Islam (far
more so than Christianity), Dennent has a scoffing chapter of ridicule for eastern
religions and the twisted practices of some orthodox Jews, and Sagan in his book
"demon haunted world" spends more time on superstitious myths and alien abduction
/new age type religion.
Atheists have plenty of scorn for absurdity to go around. Of course, a writer is most likely
going to write about the types of faith that are impacting the part of the world he is a part
of, so Christian faith will be a popular topic, as will Islam in this "post 9/11" world.
Why do christians think everyone is picking on them?
It's like they have a deep-seated need to be oppressed as some some sort of validatation.[inkling]
True atheists such as myself deny the existence of any kind of spiritual being of any variation,
Since most people here are english speaking , with Christian back grounds, Christianity gets analytically aliased.
If we spoke Arabic , the Muslim faith would most likely be aliased, and so on
To the original post-
Are you referring to xianty vs. atheism on this board? Or in general life?
For the threads-I'd say that most people who post were once christians or have people in their life who are. In general life, though,Christians, Muslims and Jews outnumber anyone else, therefore winning "battles" so to speak. Battles that don't even exist.
Why do christians think everyone is picking on them?
That's what I'd like to know. I used to think everyone around was picking on me when I studied w/jw's. Everyone else were (still are) Christians! Deep down, I knew they were right and my beliefs had no legs to stand on.
Most people posting here are from countries where Christianity is the main set of superstitions people believe in. Muslims, Buddhists and tribal people and even non religious people have superstitions of some kind. As an atheist, I consider myself to be a realist. There is no logical reason to belief in the supernatural or superstitions. Reality is tough. Life is hard. I understand why 90% of people need to create some form of hope that things in their life will get better magically or that their next life will be better.
If someone wishes to be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, Satanist, JW, Moonie, etc, etc. I am more than happy to practice non-interference with their wishes.
I only get annoyed with believers who insist on trying to convert me to their belief system, and those who insist on bashing my lack of belief in the hopes that it will somehow win me over to their side. That's when I feel compelled to rebut.
If they want me to respect their fundamental right to believe as they wish to believe, then that same right must be accorded to me by believers. I'm perfectly content to let them quietly go about their business as long as they do not insist on announcing that they will pray for me or bestow a "God bless you" on me.
I'm perfectly content to let them quietly go about their business as long as they do not insist on announcing that they will pray for me or bestow a "God bless you" on me.
Scully - I say fight fire with fire! If they say they'll pray for you, tell them you'll send a prayer to the great purple monster lizard in the sky for them too! If they say "God bless you", tell them "may the Easter bunny bless you too". I wonder what kind of look you'd get.
