Terrified of becoming an atheist again

ADigitalArtist · Apr 23, 2017

ChristineM said:
Buddhism is not a religion but a way of life. Hinduism has belief in about 30 million gods, therefore not atheist. Satanist worship the god satan, you may not consider satan a god but satanist do. Yu-huang is the great High God of the Taoists, there are several other god of the faith. There are are course groups of individual's who gather to discuss their atheism, some even sarcastically call these gathering places temples or chuches.

You seem to think that there is just one version of each religion and that is just simply not the case. Some Buddhists are atheistic but religious, with a ritual belief about the universe and afterlife, especially Buddhism which fused with other beliefs such as Zen Buddhism and Shinto Buddhism (which is not only religious but theistic.)
Similarly there are Hindu who don't believe the pantheon are literal beings but qualities of humanity and the natural world. We have a Hindu atheist here on RF even.
LaVey Satanism does not believe Satan is a real being but an icon representing their belief. They call themselves atheist.
Same thing with Taoist. Jade Emporor belief is only present with Chinese traditional religion, and not all Taoists.

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

Saint Frankenstein said:
I don't know if he did or didn't. I'm not that knowledgeable about Buddhism to say. But Buddhism can be combined with other religions.

Even if Buddha had not liked to bow before a statue or an idol or worship one?
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

Pudding said:
My definition for 'atheist' is that:
A person who don't have the belief that at least one monotheistic god exists, and also don't have the belief that at least one non-monotheistic god exists.

Is one's stance just out of superstition or on the basis of a positive reason on the position/non-position of Atheism?
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

wicketkeeper said:
It may be time to step out from all religious movements and to spend time in simple meditation, which will calm the mind. When doing simple tasks be at one with what it is your doing and keep your focus on your doing; sounds like mindfulness, and the good thing about this doing meditation it calms the mind(with practise !).

Finally, when I asked what is my religion I tell them it is 'to live from the heart'. When I fail, I go over why I failed and try to not make thhat mistake again.

Is one's belief in meditation on the basis of Revelation from God or on the basis of science? Please
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

ChristineM said:
Buddhism in its truest sense is not a religion, no worship involved. So the question is moot.

Did Buddha or Buddhism people say that it is not a religion? Please
Regards

wicketkeeper · Apr 23, 2017

paarsurrey said:
Is one's belief in meditation on the basis of Revelation from God or on the basis of science? Please
Regards

I don't have a belief in God etc. I am an experienced meditator, it was through Buddhism I came to know meditation. I would recommend Direct Knowledge over belief - because in the middle of the word belief there is a lie.

ChristineM · Apr 23, 2017

ADigitalArtist said:
You seem to think that there is just one version of each religion and that is just simply not the case. Some Buddhists are atheistic but religious, with a ritual belief about the universe and afterlife, especially Buddhism which fused with other beliefs such as Zen Buddhism and Shinto Buddhism (which is not only religious but theistic.)
Similarly there are Hindu who don't believe the pantheon are literal beings but qualities of humanity and the natural world. We have a Hindu atheist here on RF even.
LaVey Satanism does not believe Satan is a real being but an icon representing their belief. They call themselves atheist.
Same thing with Taoist. Jade Emporor belief is only present with Chinese traditional religion, and not all Taoists.

Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion, that some people choose a to hold faith is nothing to do with Buddhism or Hinduism

Yet LaVey Satanists worship their deity, they can call themselves whatever they want

I dont believe that is so

ChristineM · Apr 23, 2017

paarsurrey said:
Did Buddha or Buddhism people say that it is not a religion? Please
Regards

When asked what he was teaching, Buddha said he teaches "the way things are." He said nobody should believe his teachings out of faith, but instead they should examine for themselves to see if they are true or not."

Saint Frankenstein · Apr 23, 2017

paarsurrey said:
Even if Buddha had not liked to bow before a statue or an idol or worship one?
Regards

There are many Buddhist statues around the world people bow down to and pray to. This is common in Mahayana Buddhism. They have what could be termed deities and such.

Oh, and Buddhism is a religion. I'm tired of people saying it isn't.

ADigitalArtist · Apr 23, 2017

ChristineM said:
Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion, that some people choose a to hold faith is nothing to do with Buddhism or Hinduism

Yet LaVey Satanists worship their deity, they can call themselves whatever they want

I Sony believe that is so

Some Buddhists have a deity. Some Hindu do not. LaVey Satanists do not have any deity they worship. You can say what you believe, but you can't speak for them. They speak for themselves.

ADigitalArtist · Apr 23, 2017

Saint Frankenstein said:
Oh, and Buddhism is a religion. I'm tired of people saying it isn't.

I agree.
It's like when some Christians say 'its not a religion it's a relationship' as if those two things were mutually exclusive.
Something can be a philosophy, a way of life and a religion all at once.

ChristineM · Apr 23, 2017

ADigitalArtist said:
Some Buddhists have a deity. Some Hindu do not. LaVey Satanists do not have any deity they worship. You can say what you believe, but you can't speak for them. They speak for themselves.

By Buddha's teaching having a deity does not make them Buddhist, faith is nothing to do with with Buddhism. People may be be both Buddhist and have faith in a deity but the two are not related.

By the same token, Hinduism recognises around 30 million gods, Hindus don't need to revere them all, but the gods are a part of Hinduism.

ChristineM · Apr 23, 2017

Saint Frankenstein said:
Oh, and Buddhism is a religion. I'm tired of people saying it isn't.

Tell that to Buddha.

ChristineM · Apr 23, 2017

ADigitalArtist said:
I agree.
It's like when some Christians say 'its not a religion it's a relationship' as if those two things were mutually exclusive.
Something can be a philosophy, a way of life and a religion all at once.

Nor is Buddhism a philosophy

Pudding · Apr 23, 2017

paarsurrey said:
Is one's stance just out of superstition or on the basis of a positive reason on the position/non-position of Atheism?
Regards

I don't know what do you mean by 'positive reason'.
I cannot understand why you would connect superstition with atheist lack of belief that at least one god exists.

I don't have the belief that at least one god exists because i haven't convinced to believe so. For other atheists you have to ask them yourself.

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

wicketkeeper said:
I don't have a belief in God etc. I am an experienced meditator, it was through Buddhism I came to know meditation. I would recommend Direct Knowledge over belief - because in the middle of the word belief there is a lie.

So, it was not from science. Right? Please
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

ChristineM said:
Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion, that some people choose a to hold faith is nothing to do with Buddhism or Hinduism

Yet LaVey Satanists worship their deity, they can call themselves whatever they want

I dont believe that is so

Did both Buddha and Krishna say that theirs was not a religion?Please
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

ChristineM said:
When asked what he was teaching, Buddha said he teaches "the way things are." He said nobody should believe his teachings out of faith, but instead they should examine for themselves to see if they are true or not."

That is exactly what Revelation is , of course Buddha did not write any science book and made no experiments in physics, chemistry etc.
Regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

Saint Frankenstein said:
There are many Buddhist statues around the world people bow down to and pray to. This is common in Mahayana Buddhism. They have what could be termed deities and such.

Oh, and Buddhism is a religion. I'm tired of people saying it isn't.

Humans do forget, so one needs remind them that they must correct themselves in this connection.
Thanks and regards

paarsurrey · Apr 23, 2017

Pudding said:
I don't know what do you mean by 'positive reason'.
I cannot understand why you would connect superstition with atheist lack of belief that at least one god exists.

I don't have the belief that at least one god exists because i haven't convinced to believe so. For other atheists you have to ask them yourself.

How was one got convinced with Atheism in the first place? Did one find any positive proof of the Atheism position/non-position whatever? If there was none then of course one got into it just for superstition?
Regards

Terrified of becoming an atheist again

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