Yes... A religion post... I know this means nothing in the face of confrontational asshole atheists, insane fundamentalist Christians, and everything in-between, but come on people. We're all adults here. Let's try to be mature and respectful of each other's beliefs. The whole reason I'm doing this post is because I think if we all knew a little more about each other's religions, we'd be less likely to go crazy at each other. And don't just start going, "Well, here's another flame war waiting to happen..." because all that's going to do is provoke.
So yeah, I just found that people tend to believe a lot of weird shit about each other's religions that isn't necessarily true. As one who has studied the teachings of the Buddha, I personally believe the only way to escape from suffering is through enlightenment. So, enlighten us about your beliefs. What do we think we know that we actually don't? This could actually be fun if people manage to control their tempers.
So, I'm a theistic Buddhist, which basically means I combined Christianity and Buddhism into something custom-tailored for me. So I'll do both.
Buddhism-
We do not worship the Buddha. He specifically said he was not a god. There is an off-shoot of Buddhism that worships him, but they're the exception, not the rule. Buddhism, in fact, does not accept or refute the existence of any god, so it's technically a philosophy, as opposed to a religion.
Buddha is not his name. It is his title. His name is Siddhartha Guatama. Buddha can actually refer to anyone who has achieved enlightenment, it just traditionally refers to the founder of the religion.
Christianity-
We do not take a large chunk of the Bible literally. Unless we're fundamentalist, which most of us aren't, we accept a lot of it, especially the stuff in Genesis and Revelations, as being figurative: a metaphor. So, Creation, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel... most of us admit that things didn't exactly happen this way.
We do not reject evolution... Let me say that again... WE DO NOT REJECT EVOLUTION!!! Except for, again, the fundamentalists. What we reject is the idea that Humans evolved out of monkies. Because, this implies that humans are not spiritual beings created in the image of God, but that we're a random accident like all the other animals.
We do not believe that animals do not have a soul. Animals have souls. What we believe is that animals do not have IMMORTAL souls. Your pet has a soul... it just disappears when he dies. Any priest, teacher, or other religious figure that told you animals don't have souls was only saying that because, for whatever reason, they didn't think it wise to make the distinction.
I left some out for the sake of any Christians and Buddhists who want to step up. If there's something people generally believe about your religion, that doesn't apply to you, it's probably a misconception. And even though a lot of them hate it when we call it such, atheism is going to be considered a religion here, strictly for the purposes of allowing them equal opportunity to defend themselves.
As a good rule of thumb, if you ever find yourself typing about a religion you don't follow, you're doing it wrong. Only type about your own religious beliefs.
So yeah, I just found that people tend to believe a lot of weird shit about each other's religions that isn't necessarily true. As one who has studied the teachings of the Buddha, I personally believe the only way to escape from suffering is through enlightenment. So, enlighten us about your beliefs. What do we think we know that we actually don't? This could actually be fun if people manage to control their tempers.
So, I'm a theistic Buddhist, which basically means I combined Christianity and Buddhism into something custom-tailored for me. So I'll do both.
Buddhism-
We do not worship the Buddha. He specifically said he was not a god. There is an off-shoot of Buddhism that worships him, but they're the exception, not the rule. Buddhism, in fact, does not accept or refute the existence of any god, so it's technically a philosophy, as opposed to a religion.
Buddha is not his name. It is his title. His name is Siddhartha Guatama. Buddha can actually refer to anyone who has achieved enlightenment, it just traditionally refers to the founder of the religion.
Christianity-
We do not take a large chunk of the Bible literally. Unless we're fundamentalist, which most of us aren't, we accept a lot of it, especially the stuff in Genesis and Revelations, as being figurative: a metaphor. So, Creation, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel... most of us admit that things didn't exactly happen this way.
We do not reject evolution... Let me say that again... WE DO NOT REJECT EVOLUTION!!! Except for, again, the fundamentalists. What we reject is the idea that Humans evolved out of monkies. Because, this implies that humans are not spiritual beings created in the image of God, but that we're a random accident like all the other animals.
We do not believe that animals do not have a soul. Animals have souls. What we believe is that animals do not have IMMORTAL souls. Your pet has a soul... it just disappears when he dies. Any priest, teacher, or other religious figure that told you animals don't have souls was only saying that because, for whatever reason, they didn't think it wise to make the distinction.
I left some out for the sake of any Christians and Buddhists who want to step up. If there's something people generally believe about your religion, that doesn't apply to you, it's probably a misconception. And even though a lot of them hate it when we call it such, atheism is going to be considered a religion here, strictly for the purposes of allowing them equal opportunity to defend themselves.
As a good rule of thumb, if you ever find yourself typing about a religion you don't follow, you're doing it wrong. Only type about your own religious beliefs.
