Y’know, from the day I bought my 9.6 k modem, I think the rejoinder I’ve typed most often is “Buddhists do not believe in God, or gods. Buddhism is an atheist religion”. This is apparently unfathomable to some people. But clinging to the idea of God, or to the idea that the universe is amenable to what one decides about it, just increases suffering.
And the idea that Buddhists “want to be reincarnated” is a fourth-grader’s mistake.
Don’t mean to make too much of something which is just trying to be funny, but this perception, which comes from atheists as well as Christians, frequently (mis)informs our First Amendment debate, especially with the idea that “God” can be a sort of pan-human symbol of spirituality when it is anything but. (There are more Hindu gods than Hindus, but educated Hindus, at least, don’t believe in them, in that all such tales are expressly metaphorical, the reality being far beyond the human’s ability to grasp.)
Doghouse, I agree that polytheistic “gods” really can’t be compared to monotheistic ones. When you are talking about polytheistic religions, I think anything that you consider an object of meditation or spiritual significance is a “god”, hence the misunderstanding.
I would say that Wiccans AND Buddhists would find issue with saying they worship many (or any) gods, but it IS a belief in the supernatural.
I F*cking LOVE bacon! Guess I’m pretty boring.
That was easy.
interesting that it starts with “want to worship”…
Y’know, from the day I bought my 9.6 k modem, I think the rejoinder I’ve typed most often is “Buddhists do not believe in God, or gods. Buddhism is an atheist religion”. This is apparently unfathomable to some people. But clinging to the idea of God, or to the idea that the universe is amenable to what one decides about it, just increases suffering.
And the idea that Buddhists “want to be reincarnated” is a fourth-grader’s mistake.
Don’t mean to make too much of something which is just trying to be funny, but this perception, which comes from atheists as well as Christians, frequently (mis)informs our First Amendment debate, especially with the idea that “God” can be a sort of pan-human symbol of spirituality when it is anything but. (There are more Hindu gods than Hindus, but educated Hindus, at least, don’t believe in them, in that all such tales are expressly metaphorical, the reality being far beyond the human’s ability to grasp.)
Doghouse, I agree that polytheistic “gods” really can’t be compared to monotheistic ones. When you are talking about polytheistic religions, I think anything that you consider an object of meditation or spiritual significance is a “god”, hence the misunderstanding.
I would say that Wiccans AND Buddhists would find issue with saying they worship many (or any) gods, but it IS a belief in the supernatural.