I'm an atheist but I quite like Buddism...

[thesummerqueen]

Ya know, I don't really know shit about the religion either, but it's always seemed more like a peaceful spirituality to me rather than a dogmatic organized religion. I don't really understand some of the hatred I've seen a few hear give it, but if it works for you then go for it.

I'm sure it's both.

If you want to be the peaceful spiritual type, then fuck it, do it. I know atheist wiccans too, if that makes any sense. They like hanging out with other wiccans, they enjoy participating in the holidays and rituals, they enjoy finding their spirituality in nature, etc. I've thought of joining a local wiccan group myself in order to escape some of the intolerant bullshit I deal with in my atheist group, even - I've been assured that the wiccans won't care if I don't believe in a deity.

The problem is that any sufficiently large group of humans is going to have cohesion problems - if that's even the right descriptor. As soon as the group gets large enough, assholes begin to emerge - people who want to tell you that you're not doing *this* properly, or you fucked *that* up, and not because they have a legit problem with it and also a solution, but just because they like to bitch about things and sound important. There are those in my group who have a personal view on what it means to be a proper atheist, and for some reason they can't understand that it's perfectly acceptable for them to go do those things, and perfectly acceptable for others to go be the sort of atheist they want to be - including a buddhist atheist. I'm not required to hate religion in all its forms and denounce anything that vaguely smells like religion in order to be an atheist. I just have to not believe in god. The rest is up to me. Same goes for the OP. Wanna be an atheist buddhist? Knock yourself out. When you start breaking civic laws or hurting others in a significant manner (and I don't include "butt-hurt" in this), then you reconsider. Until then, follow whatever path leads you to being a whole, happy, healthy, and productive human being.