Belief in God(s)?

[dann]

Yes, Buddhism, as well as Confucianism and Taoism are largely atheistic. They're fine philosophies for the most part IMO, although as with anything, it would be nice if they could demonstrate their claims.

I'm not sure where you get that from. Traditional Taoism is more polytheistic, Buddhism also has it's gods and spirits. Both ascribe to their being an ultimate being/non-being (e.g.; Tao, Atman). Confucianism is more a philosophy than a religion anyway and makes little reference to spirits or gods but does not denounce their existence.

[Tsuroerusu]

Buddhism also has it's gods and spirits. Both ascribe to their being an ultimate being/non-being (e.g.; Tao, Atman).

I did a little looking around and found this really nice article: Is Buddhism Atheistic?

From the article:

According to BuddhaNet, a major Buddhist website:

There is no almighty God in Buddhism. There is no one to hand out rewards or punishments on a supposedly Judgement Day. Buddhism is strictly not a religion in the context of being a faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being.

[Simulcra]

Interesting topic. I was Christian but now I am a Diest. I find that Religion is the greatest enemy of man and is the root cause of so much turmoil in the world. Note that I say Religion and not Faith, as Religion is an imposed , singular, belief system, i.e. Islam & Christianity. I had my falling out when I came to discover the canonization of the Bible. That really sealed it for me as a great historical document, but not the "Truth and Light" that it has been portrayed for the past 1700 years or so.

Evolution is as flawed as the Bible, and besides there is way to much that truly points to Intelligent Design rather than happenstance.

My $0.02

Norm

[allix]

Evolution is as flawed as the Bible, and besides there is way to much that truly points to Intelligent Design rather than happenstance.

Creationism vocalised through a secular point of view is still against everything science has learned, where would Aids and cancer research be ?
Phillip E. Johnson idea that HIV does not cause AIDS is nothing short of a joke.

Thankfully in Europe its not getting anyway.

http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/ ... C11297.htm
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2 ... 5_2007.asp

[Simulcra]

I'll leave it at that as I don't want to debate the issue as much as see how others think on it as well. To each his own.

Along the same topic, has anyone seen this http://www.thechurchofgoogle.org/ I got a chuckle out of it.

[dann]

Buddhism also has it's gods and spirits. Both ascribe to their being an ultimate being/non-being (e.g.; Tao, Atman).

I did a little looking around and found this really nice article: Is Buddhism Atheistic?

From the article:

According to BuddhaNet, a major Buddhist website:

There is no almighty God in Buddhism. There is no one to hand out rewards or punishments on a supposedly Judgement Day. Buddhism is strictly not a religion in the context of being a faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being.

Let me clarify a bit better. I should not have used being in the sense of a seperate, Being or God. The concept of the Atman, the unmoved mover is not so the absence or presence of God, but encompassing all and nothing. I think it goes a bit more spiritual than the absence of a God.

[Tsuroerusu]

Buddhism also has it's gods and spirits. Both ascribe to their being an ultimate being/non-being (e.g.; Tao, Atman).

I did a little looking around and found this really nice article: Is Buddhism Atheistic?

From the article:

According to BuddhaNet, a major Buddhist website:

There is no almighty God in Buddhism. There is no one to hand out rewards or punishments on a supposedly Judgement Day. Buddhism is strictly not a religion in the context of being a faith and worship owing allegiance to a supernatural being.

Let me clarify a bit better. I should not have used being in the sense of a seperate, Being or God. The concept of the Atman, the unmoved mover is not so the absence or presence of God, but encompassing all and nothing. I think it goes a bit more spiritual than the absence of a God.

Dann, I think you are confusing Buddhism with Hinduism. Take a look at this: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/beliefs/human.htm

Also, Wikipedia has a description of atman from a Buddhist perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atman_(Bud ... n_Buddhism

Even though Buddhism is somewhat related to some Indian traditions (Although it's very different from Hinduism), the two should not be mistaken for each other, because they each teach very different things. Also, classical Buddhism is more of a set of spiritual teachings, than a religion, and then you have more sophisticated forms, like the ones you see in Japan, that are more of a religion (In Japan's case, this is especially then case when Buddhism intermixes with Shinto).

Also, take a look here: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/deities.htm
The interesting bits is this:

The Buddha's teachings and Theravada Buddhism are essentially atheistic, although neither deny the existence of beings that might be called "gods." (See Is Buddhism Atheistic? for more information.)

In Mahayana Buddhism, however, the universe is populated with celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas who are worshipped as gods and goddesses. The historical Buddha is honored in this way, but most other Buddhist deities are adapted from the cultures Buddhism has encountered — from the pantheon of Hinduism to the indigenous religions of Tibet, China and Thailand.

If we keep that in mind, if we compare Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/f ... hayana.htm
Then we run into an interesting one in the point of Non-Buddhist Influences, where it says "Mainly pre-Buddhist Indian influences like concepts of karma, sangha, etc." for Theravada, and "Heavily influenced by local religious ideas as transmitted to new cultures (China, Japan, Tibet)." for Mahayana.

I think Japan is a fairly interesting place, so I'll use that as the example. Japan's native religion is Shinto, however as Buddhism came to Japan, Shinto and Buddhism started to intermix in terms of religious beliefs of the people. Some modern Japanese don't actually know exactly that certain rituals are specific to Buddhism or Shinto, which of course can have something to do with the fact that modern Japanese society generally aren't that religious. So if you mix Shinto (Which is a VERY polytheistic religion with many Gods or deities, the central one being the sun goddess) with Buddhism, you essentially get something, which seems like Buddhism maybe in terms of meditation and such, but also has deities.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are many many forms and schools of Buddhism, and some of them can vary quite a bit, however I would still say that what one might refer to as "baseline Buddhism" is still somewhat atheistic in terms of deities, and the reason is that it's not a religion in that sense, it's more a set of spiritual teachings with the goal of "ending suffering" and attaining enlightenment as they say.