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Post by Lex on Oct 10, 2010 13:58:41 GMT -5
No. The Buddha is not a God in Buddhism. In fact, most Buddhists do not believe in a God. The Buddhist belief system does not necessitate a God, but revolves around the idea of Karma, good works and reincarnation as taught by the Buddha. But believing in Karma makes it a religion, even if they don't have a God. I understand that, I was simply saying that one could argue that it is a spiritual philosophy -- which it is, but it is also a very popular religious belief.
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Post by SwimFellow on Oct 12, 2010 16:47:31 GMT -5
Well, frankly, some people have the need to believe in something. I think they would be very depressed without anything to believe in. I'm not saying I believe in something, I'm actually not religious, nor an atheist.. I'm not really part of an organized religion, more like I have my own beliefs. Frankly, I would prefer to just find out later, rather than now.
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Post by Rogers91 on Oct 18, 2010 3:38:26 GMT -5
there would be no religious wars... yey.. however man is much like an animal instinctual and territorial.. even if we didnt have a religion backing our wars we would still have land money and sheer greed.
so your question for this what would a world with out religion be like. uhh actualy really different of you condsider our odd history.
first off going way back you would have stuck with the old tribal ways much longer but science would have been given a much better chance. the chinease would have not gone inward and would have been the first to colinize the americas. the greek and romans would have developed much faster and would have conquered all of europe due to not being held back by there heliocentric belifes. there was an odd good bad thing with the crusade yes death due to religious belifes but at the same time it promoted trade between europe and asia so not all bad there actualy started the renaissance. the middle east would still be messed up but mostly due to oil which religion is not responsible for. humanity would have slowly developed more logic and less compasion.. in theory we would be vulcans.... but i digress there are many odd things that with out religion would have never happened and there for we would be totaly diferent.
i wonder if this makes sence.
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21centrev
Meteor
the generation of the 21st century will have to make the change from hate to love in the world
Posts: 58
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Post by 21centrev on Oct 24, 2010 0:19:52 GMT -5
well, honestly in my opinion, i think religion is a good thing. im a unitarian universalist, and in studying different religions, i find that many western religions are more about god and the afterlife, which i dont necessarily agree with, but i accept and tolerate it, only because it motivates people to do good. eastern religions on the other hand, are generally more about life right now, and how we should live with nature, and be respectful, and try to know more about life itself, which is also a good message. so, in all, i beleive that a world without religion would actually have a bad effect on us in terms of respecting the earth, and having inscentive to do good.
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Post by Lex on Oct 24, 2010 11:26:55 GMT -5
I was actually looking into Unitarian Universalism.
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21centrev
Meteor
the generation of the 21st century will have to make the change from hate to love in the world
Posts: 58
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Post by 21centrev on Oct 24, 2010 18:47:47 GMT -5
lol, cool, i love being a UU its one of my favorite things
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Post by Flags_Forever on Oct 24, 2010 19:16:57 GMT -5
lol, cool, i love being a UU its one of my favorite things Unitarian Universalism is a great thing. It's proof that religious tolerance is something that can help unite people. As a Naturalistic Pantheist, the concept of religious tolerance is of utmost importance to me, as is the way we treat our world. So I feel a strong kinship with Unitarian Universalism. Religion can be very destructive, there's no denying that, but it can also unite people, and give them hope. Discarding it outright is not the answer, moving the destructive tendencies towards something more positive should be our goal.
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21centrev
Meteor
the generation of the 21st century will have to make the change from hate to love in the world
Posts: 58
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Post by 21centrev on Oct 24, 2010 20:17:45 GMT -5
i agree entirely. there have been many sermons made about acceptance and tolerance, and even just about things in generally. like acceptance and tolerance of political parties, or race, gender, sexual prefrence, and even being accepting towards the mean and hateful. im glad we see eye to eye on this, cause most people i meet don't. its all about hating these people, and those people, its always us and them, and it just doesnt help at all in a sense of world peace to have that attitude, even if you believe in world peace.
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Post by Ryan on Oct 24, 2010 22:18:30 GMT -5
@ the last 5 posts
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Post by grevgnu on Oct 26, 2010 5:33:55 GMT -5
it may be better, but criminality still exsist tho
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21centrev
Meteor
the generation of the 21st century will have to make the change from hate to love in the world
Posts: 58
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Post by 21centrev on Oct 29, 2010 1:08:06 GMT -5
im glad that you both really do understand the point of religion as unification, and that its only determined for better or forse worse by its leaders, but i have to say, isnt religion also a unified way of escaping fear, and finding answers to un-answerable questions? and dont get me wrong, i dont disagree with you, but dont forget to mention that religion, in most cases, is more than politics, and many people (but certainly not the majority) consider religion to be primarily a spiritual experience, useful for finding answers when lost.
it just seemed to me like you two started talking more politics than religion.
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Post by Ryan on Oct 29, 2010 14:43:49 GMT -5
Religion is not a way to find answers to un-answerable questions. Un-answerable questions, by nature have no answer, and many religions give them answers. This is one of the reasons many people dislike religion as a concept, because most religions do this. There's also no such thing as an un-answerable question, but rather a currently un-answerable question. By saying that the answer to so-and-so question is blah, you prevent any other possible solutions that might arise in future times from being true (the earth is the center of the universe, god created the earth, etc.)
Religion is good in that in unifies and allows societies and groups to overcome fears and trials, but not so in the fact that it answers these 'un-answerable' (currently un-answerable) questions.
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Post by newschooled on Oct 31, 2010 20:00:53 GMT -5
A world without religion may not actually be that different. I say this because it just dawned on me that religion and spirituality CAN be separate and distinct. I know MANY people who fancy themselves atheists, but are very deeply spiritual people.
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Post by Spot Moon Cool on Oct 31, 2010 20:08:15 GMT -5
A world without religion may not actually be that different. I say this because it just dawned on me that religion and spirituality CAN be separate and distinct. I know MANY people who fancy themselves atheists, but are very deeply spiritual people. Religion =Belief in a higher power Spirituality =Belief in the supernatural not always a higher power.
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Post by Lex on Oct 31, 2010 20:14:18 GMT -5
No. Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, OR a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe.
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Post by Spot Moon Cool on Oct 31, 2010 20:37:20 GMT -5
No. Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, OR a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe. So belief in the Big Bang is a religion or I am misinterpreting what you said.
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Post by Lex on Oct 31, 2010 20:58:03 GMT -5
No. Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, OR a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe. So belief in the Big Bang is a religion or I am misinterpreting what you said. Oh, it should have said something about lack of evidence and faith in unprovable principles in there as well.
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Post by Ryan on Nov 1, 2010 2:25:22 GMT -5
There's nothing in the dictionary.com or wikipedia definition of religion about faith in unprovable principles, and most certainly nothing about lack of evidence.
There is something in the merriam-websters about it though.
But - in the definition that you were seemingly referencing, there's nothing about it.
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TsukikoSuoh
Meteor
Slytherin. And proud of it.
Posts: 50
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Post by TsukikoSuoh on Dec 6, 2010 7:36:54 GMT -5
Well, if there was no religion to begin with then there would already be something else in place to fight over. On top of which, as curious creatures, we would probably make up something akin to religion in about a month- it doesn't matter, the world would be just as messed up as it is now, but we can keep dreaming.
This is all a matter of us imagining a perfect world, but the issue is that everyone's view of perfection is different. But no religion would be a step in the right direction, for now.
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Post by SwimFellow on Dec 12, 2010 23:19:44 GMT -5
It depends on what you mean by religion. If you mean organized religion, I would agree, the work would be fine without it, but a world without spirituality is a different story..
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