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

[Whateverist]

I'm all for self discovery but I don't go in for guided tours. I figure everyone ever born had the same opportunity to notice stuff and decide what mattered most to them. They got to do so for themselves and that should be enough. Instruction should not be necessary and I have to question the motivations of anyone who attempts get followers. No enlightenment pyramid schemes for me, thankyouverymuch.

[archangle]

As the thread subject states, I am an atheist but there are lots of things about Buddism I like - meditation, self discovery, presence of mind, the idea of a higher state of consciousness etc.

Do you guys think I am mad for this? I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of the atheist community on this topic.

anybody that would slam you for this is the problem, not you. Follow ur heart

when we learn a little about the world the less theist we become,
The more we know about life the less atheist we become.

reincarnation, How many different states can people be in? Can a person be made so closely to a previous person that they are essentially the same? The answer is yes. I don't think reincarnation is like the diety type god at all. It is not like a bearded guy in the sky that is for sure.

[vorlon13]

I find it tough shaking some of the stuff from my Midwestern protestant Sunday schoolin' in regards to degrees of falsity of other religions/faiths/beliefs.

Our church would have combined services in the summer with a nearby similar protestant church, (they were just fine!!) but we were also drilled a bit about how wrong the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, (for instance) and anything Asian were.

I've been chided a bit as an adult for still finding LDS especially false, (along with RLDS) but not having near the indigestion with FLDS that I probably should have.

Don't get me started on Scientology . . .

[psychoslice]

I have no beliefs in a god, I don't call myself an atheist, and yes I do also like Buddhism.

[Kayenneh]

I practice yoga, and find I get a lot out of it, but other than that, I think it's woo for the most part, and have a hard time taking it seriously.

Me too. I like the physical part of yoga, but I pay no attention whatsoever to the 'spiritual' part of it.

I'm all for self discovery but I don't go in for guided tours. I figure everyone ever born had the same opportunity to notice stuff and decide what mattered most to them. They got to do so for themselves and that should be enough.

Yeah, imagine my surprise when I took my first psychology class in high school, and our first assignment was to write down who we are. I scribbled down a small list of attributes and descriptions of myself and volunteered to read mine aloud. After I was done the teacher looked astonished, blinked a couple of times, asked a couple of friends if it seemed accurate and then said: "You seem to know yourself really well!" like it was a novelty to find anyone able to do so. '-_-

[CapnAwesome]

I think it's pretty funny that the thread starter likes Buddhism so much that he doesn't even know how to spell it right. Very knowledgeable about the subject matter.

[truthBtold]

I just like to rub his belly.....

[ThePinsir]

Christopher Hitchens' "God Is Not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything" has a nice chapter called "There Is No Eastern Solution".

Just like Christianity and Islam, Hitchens argues, Buddhism is used as a means of extortion, political corruption, and other bad joojoo.

Do I agree with him? Lol, idk. I honestly don't know the first damn thing about Buddhism :p

[sven]

As the thread subject states, I am an atheist but there are lots of things about Buddism I like - meditation, self discovery, presence of mind, the idea of a higher state of consciousness etc.

You can do or obtain all those things without being a buddhist. Real meditation, for example, is basically breathing technique and thinking about nothing. A method to achieve this 'presence of mind' that you speak of. I used to do this a lot for many years, although I no longer feel the need to.
I think the mysticism of Buddhism is an obstacle rather than a help when it comes to obtaining the things you like about it.

[BlackSwordsman]

Buddhism as just a lifestyle, the eightfold path, compassion, meditation, is all well and good. However, Buddhism is more than that. It is a set of beliefs about the ultimate nature of human reality, and how to behave based on those base realities. The lifestyle can be fine, friendly, and healthy. The religion, that which wants to impose that view of reality on its followers and others, that's something else. If Buddhists had good reasons to believe these things, that would be one thing; then it would be the science of Buddhism. But they really don't, and so it becomes the dogma of Buddhism: "Believe this because I'm telling you to believe it."

Westerners are typically introduced to Buddhism as "just a lifestyle," and it only hardens into dogma as they get deeper into it. And it happens slowly enough that western Buddhists don't see the change, and will deny it. But after a while in Buddhism, even western Buddhists come to an unflappable belief that their Buddhist notions are truth with a capital 'T', and the social and psychological mechanisms necessary to maintain that belief, are, to me, unhealthy, and oppressive to those around them.

Sorry to necropost but that is completely untrue, Buddhism asks that you question everything and even Buddha Himself said

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

-Buddha