Help me out here, Ex Buddhists.

[Brian37]

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Buddhism is NOT a philosophy, it is a religion. It has hero figures, prayers, rituals, monks, holy places. Just like every other religion.

That's a little bit like saying atheism is not a philosophy, but a religion, because many self professed atheists have had heros, rituals, holy places, and for all practical purposes prayers and monks.

The Buddhism philosophy is not explicitly antitheist. But in itself, while not rational by contempoary standards, is not theistic either. So the fact that buddhism can easily alloy with other social currents to menifest overtly theistic or religious characteristics does not make buddhist input into the resulting alloy a religion in itself.

Nope, "atheist" only says "off" on god claims. It says nothing about that individuals education level, class, or political affiliation.

You would be wrong to claim there are no atheists that stop at "that makes no sense", without educating themselves to say the deep level as say a Dawkins or Tyson.

You'd also be wrong to say all atheists agree on economics or social views. I know atheists who value Ayn Rand whom I don't like. I know others who stupidly think a world without private business is possible and worship Che.

"Atheist" is a position on one claim only. It is the "off" position on god claims. It is not a philosophy, it is not a religion, it is not a political party, it is not an economic view.

Outside the common "off" position all atheists share, we are diverse. Atheists forming clubs only means they form clubs, but there are many like any other and those clubs do not always agree.

Now if you want to claim some atheists treat that mere position as a philosophy some do. I am no fan of treating any club as something dogmatic.

Buddhism is a religion, it is only "atheist" in that it does not have a sky hero in the personal monochromatic sense. But if you read the history of it, it is still rooted in myth and superstition.

This is brief, but again read the history of it. It did not start in a vacuum anymore than any other religion.

http://www.truthbeknown.com/buddhism.htm