America growing increasingly Atheist

Patt Morrison (KPCC, SCPR.org)

Smile, there may be many hells and heavens yet no "God" due to workings of  karma.

  

Stephen Batchelor - atheist

The belief in God, or gods, is changing and some new research shows that the practice is on the decline worldwide. 

According to a new poll by WIN-Gallup International, the percentage of Americans who identify as “religious” dropped 13 points -- from 73 to 60 percent since 2005. The number of Americans who identify as atheists jumped from 1 percent to 5 percent in the same period. 

  

The poll posed the same question to 50,000 people in 57 countries and five continents: “Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person, or a convinced atheist?”
  

“When we say religious, the definition of religious and religiosity has changed, especially for Americans. And so you ask the question, ‘Are you more religious?’ The answer may be that I’m not religious or as religious or more religious but I’m spiritual,” Dr. Carolyn Gordon, associate professor of communication and preaching at Fuller Seminary, told Patt Morrison. More

Was the Buddha an atheist?

Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha surrounded by humans and devas

If theism is defined as a belief, faith, or reliance on a creator/controller "God," the Buddha certainly was an atheist. But the issue is not that straightforward. The Buddha spoke of (and to) many "gods" (brahmas and devas).
  
Therefore, if theism includes the belief in "gods" (devas or "shining light beings" superior to humans in happiness, beauty, longevity, and other qualities), then the Buddha was no atheist.

The Buddha pointed out the wrong-view of relying on an all-powerful God as an explanation for the universe, karma, or as a means to enlightenment and final liberation from suffering.
  

Buddha in Thailand (Dongissel/flickr.com)

Buddhism is non-theistic. That is not at all the same as atheistic. It means that whether there are or are not gods or a God makes no difference to the need to exert oneself to develop compassion, insight-wisdom, and "salvation" (liberation from ignorance and samsara, the wheel of rebirth and suffering).
  
There are worlds in space, "heavenly" planes, some subtle (rupa), some immaterial (arupa). But even in this Sensual Sphere (kama loka), there are better planes/worlds to be reborn in.

Therefore, there is sex after death, sex in lower "heavenly worlds." In the world of Brahma -- which transcends sex, sensuality, and sexual dimorphism (Great Brahma and the other Gods being neither male nor female) -- is peaceful and sublime. But it is no final end of suffering, no escape from the round of rebirth or karmic results. It is no solution to the problem of ignorance and the suffering it brings about.

Enlightenment is a solution.

The Buddha was not a god, prophet, avatar, or an advocate for the gods/God. Instead, he demonstrated what an ordinary human being can attain in terms of wisdom, compassion, and most importantly a liberation surpassing that of God/the gods. He is therefore regarded as a teacher of devas, brahmas, and human beings.

Read More

Nepal, My Nepal

Arun Shrivastava, South Asia Correspondent (Salem-News.com)

(Hscindia) The Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre (MIMC) is a great example of one person's vision: Ven. Sanghasena established the MIMC in 1986 to offer both spiritual instructions as well as desperately needed humanitarian services to impoverished people in the remote Buddhist land of Ladakh, India, which neighbors Nepal in the Himalayas. A dedicated team of social workers, teachers, doctors, monks, nuns, community leaders, and care-providers have created an integrated community at Devachan, Ladakh. More

Nepal Privatized and Sororized

...The Communists, led by two closet-Christians, Prachanda and Bhattrai, perhaps supported by the Catholic Queen in Delhi, declared that Nepal is a "secular state." The Vatican declared its secular credentials too, long ago, so long as one was Christian and paid rent to the Pope.

  

The Mafia is slightly different: they guarantee respectable jobs; modern day Marxists and the Vatican do not, not even to their diehard slaves. Nepal’s so called NGO brigade should learn this unpalatable truth.

During the ten year long armed rebellion against the monarchy (1996-2006), the majority of the rural population and many in urban areas supported the Maoists. However, when the Maoists captured nearly 40% of the 602-member Constituent Assembly, they wanted democratic centralism akin to the former Soviet Union. 

  

The other 60% opposed it for all sorts of reasons. The State Restructuring Commission came up with two options. But they seem to be unacceptable to various ethnic groups for various reasons... 

  

The Maoists received foreign support, funds as well as arms such as M56 assault rifles and Heckler and Koch G3. Rebels were caught by the army and released again. The legitimate government’s forces received M249 light machine-guns, widely used by US armed forces. The death toll from the peaceniks’ arms was 4,500 [government side] and 8,200 [rebel side]. This was much less than the relatively young Madeleine Albright’s “price-worth-it” 500,000 Iraqi infants, and later 1.5 million Iraqi dead, and over 100,000 Libyans killed.

Nepalese civil society

Who cares that civil society is out there to defend people’s rights when the price is always worth it? Dead folks do not complain. NGOs, modern-day vultures, complain only when their folks are dead or done in, in every sense -- culturally, socially, economically, politically.

During classical imperialist forays mercenaries went in to kill. But after WW II, empire was built by economic hit men (EHM). Post-1990 has been the golden period of sociocultural hit men (SHM) spearheaded by cash-rich INGOs and floor-sweeper local NGOs and Christian fundamentalists.

  

These are ably supported by the insidious, drug peddling, racist, “indoctrination centers [of] the Chabad cult that teaches children that the Chabad Rebbe is the Moshiach and that they have to do what the Rebbe tells them to do.” [4] Young Israelis are as much ensnared into cocaine snorting as the young Nepalese. That’s modern-day civil society. Hard drugs, sex, cult following, music, and democratic free-thinking are the opiates of the masses.

  

Behind this façade lies the globalist-corporatist agenda of enslavement and that is beyond the comprehension of the civil society morons. Nepal’s youth is done in. More

• Are Jewish "Chabad" schools funded by drug money?

Read More

Society Without God: A Book Review.

I was recently sent a copy of "Society Without God" by Phil Zuckerman to review. The author lived in Denmark and Sweden for 14 months and discovered through personal interviews with average Danes and Swedes that Scandinavia is quite Atheist/Agnostic.

It has been a falsehood heard in many religious circles (especially within the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions) for years that society can not succeed without a belief in a creator god. However, Zuckerman presents his thesis that despite their lack of belief Scandinavians are some of the most socially well adjusted and successful people on Earth.

Some give the examples of the former USSR, North Korea, Cuba and China to try and argue that nontheist societies breed oppression and are not good examples of healthy societal life. However, Zuckerman deftly responds saying that those were/are governments who force everyone to be Atheist/Agnostic:

In each case, religion wasn't abandoned by the people themselves in a natural process over several generations [James: Like Scandinavia]. Rather, the "abandonment" of religion was decreed by vicious dictators who imposed their faithlessness on an unwilling, decidedly un-free citizenry.

He gives several interesting reasons for why secular societies are so stable and successful one of which is education. He found that a high level of Scandinavians are educated and that the higher level of education one achieves the less one believes in a god. And while being an nontheist, Zuckerman makes sure to say that not everything about monotheism is negative. He does list positives of believing in a god/supernatualism. Overall though he paints a very convincing picture that belief in a creator god is not necessary to a moral and ethical society.

It is fascinating in that his argument is built directly from primary sources by interviewing average citizens. This strength, however, does become a bit of a weakness for this book because the interviews become too many and the answers become repetitive. That would be my one criticism of this book.

As a nontheist Buddhist I found myself agreeing quite often with the sentiments expressed by these Danes and Swedes. I have read many books on Atheist thinking and I find it noteworthy that most don't even mention/cover Buddhism in their critiques of religion. In my mind that is because Buddhism falls inbetween religion and Atheism. It's kind of in its own category that seems to have more in common with philosophy and psychology than with strict religious dogma.

~Peace to all beings~

Read More