Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - 10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion (Blog)

Intrawebs · 05-28-2008, 08:58 PM

1. Noone "subscribes" to Buddhism.
And for starters it's a Philosophy not a Religion. Buddhism attempts to get to the "root" and start from there vs. the surface layer that you speak of. And Buddha himself never "told you what to believe" as you say Religion does, but rather he said "this is the path I took, use parts of it if you like, it worked for me, you can walk your own path".

2. A Buddhist wouldn't actually call themselves Buddhist as that would be labeling and or attachment, It's hard to understand at first and I won't go in depth here on that. Where you say "real truth is perspective-independent" blows my mind as that what's Buddhism is all about, proving you know very little if anything about Buddhism.

3. "Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will",
yes many are, not Buddhism, once again...who taught you Buddhism?

4. No comment on that one other than what side of the bed did you wake up on today? Was it, "lets sensationalize religion for some good re-occurring referral traffic to my blog" day?

5. Yes, many religions have a very bad history here. I challenge the ranks of all the world's religions to live like Buddhist monks and nuns....100% funded by the PEOPLE of the church and spend ZERO on material items for themselves or others (and I use "material" broadly).

6. "Try making friends with conscious, free-thinking people for a change"
exactly! Surround yourself with likeminded individuals, those with an open mind...a good practice of any human!

8. "Inherited falsehood",
exactly what Siddhattha Gotama (Buddha) thought when he sought the middle way. He bucked the trends of Hinduism and showed people that with an open mind there is much more to learn.

9. "Those who preach nonviolence as a rule or law tend to be the most violent of all.",
this is where I really take offense. How many Buddhist do you encounter in your life or the news that are violent people, start or partake in wars, and support violent measures of any kind as a solution to a problem? You don't solve violence with violence just as much as you don't solve a weight problem with a bigger belt or a traffic problem with bigger freeways!

10. "Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker"
HOLY COW DUDE! You know nothing about Buddhism as it teaches the polar opposite....please educate yourself. I have found Tibetan Buddhism to be the most accessible in the USA, if you are in a Rural area it might be tough, but do some online research first.

It seems you honed in and the weakness's of Christianity, which is fine, just don't lump Buddhism in there as well because while they do share many of the same benefits one may get from them, the downsides you highlighted are not synonymous between the two.

And, with your January Raw Food diet and now this I've unsubscribe from your RSS, I was duped into thinking you were a bit more educated/read than I thought. Good Luck, you don't need it thought as you seem to be successful already.

05-28-2008, 08:58 PM	#144 (permalink)
Intrawebs Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 2	Even Buddhism? You are so wrong Steve..... 1. Noone "subscribes" to Buddhism. And for starters it's a Philosophy not a Religion. Buddhism attempts to get to the "root" and start from there vs. the surface layer that you speak of. And Buddha himself never "told you what to believe" as you say Religion does, but rather he said "this is the path I took, use parts of it if you like, it worked for me, you can walk your own path". 2. A Buddhist wouldn't actually call themselves Buddhist as that would be labeling and or attachment, It's hard to understand at first and I won't go in depth here on that. Where you say "real truth is perspective-independent" blows my mind as that what's Buddhism is all about, proving you know very little if anything about Buddhism. 3. "Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will", yes many are, not Buddhism, once again...who taught you Buddhism? 4. No comment on that one other than what side of the bed did you wake up on today? Was it, "lets sensationalize religion for some good re-occurring referral traffic to my blog" day? 5. Yes, many religions have a very bad history here. I challenge the ranks of all the world's religions to live like Buddhist monks and nuns....100% funded by the PEOPLE of the church and spend ZERO on material items for themselves or others (and I use "material" broadly). 6. "Try making friends with conscious, free-thinking people for a change" exactly! Surround yourself with likeminded individuals, those with an open mind...a good practice of any human! 8. "Inherited falsehood", exactly what Siddhattha Gotama (Buddha) thought when he sought the middle way. He bucked the trends of Hinduism and showed people that with an open mind there is much more to learn. 9. "Those who preach nonviolence as a rule or law tend to be the most violent of all.", this is where I really take offense. How many Buddhist do you encounter in your life or the news that are violent people, start or partake in wars, and support violent measures of any kind as a solution to a problem? You don't solve violence with violence just as much as you don't solve a weight problem with a bigger belt or a traffic problem with bigger freeways! 10. "Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker" HOLY COW DUDE! You know nothing about Buddhism as it teaches the polar opposite....please educate yourself. I have found Tibetan Buddhism to be the most accessible in the USA, if you are in a Rural area it might be tough, but do some online research first. It seems you honed in and the weakness's of Christianity, which is fine, just don't lump Buddhism in there as well because while they do share many of the same benefits one may get from them, the downsides you highlighted are not synonymous between the two. And, with your January Raw Food diet and now this I've unsubscribe from your RSS, I was duped into thinking you were a bit more educated/read than I thought. Good Luck, you don't need it thought as you seem to be successful already.