As an atheist, which religion do you admire?

As a Muslim I have high respect for Judaism. Many Jews are very hardworking and scincere, unlike most Muslims today. And Judaism is very similar to Islam. How about you guys?

As a Muslim I have high respect for Judaism. Many Jews are very hardworking and scincere, unlike most Muslims today. And Judaism is very similar to Islam. How about you guys?

ghoklebutter

I very much admire Hinduism, as probably is quite obvious. What I admire about it most is probably the concept of Brahman and the aspect of Hindu belief that accepts all religions, beliefs, dogmas and ideas all as a "route" to the truth (some would claim it to be "God," but I think it would be better to refer it to as "truth," being the truth for every individual person and not some "universal" truth, or at least a universal truth that manifests in many ways for many people).

However, I only admire Hinduism for its philosophy, and approach to understanding life and the universe. I remain in the same position regarding ritual practices in Hinduism as I do other religions. I respect that people might believe that these rituals may carry some benefit for them, but I don't believe they carry benefit for me or really anyone else. It obviously, for me at least, seems to be a placebo effect in most cases... and there really isn't anything wrong with that.
foxhound_fox

I think Hinduism is very interesting too. Even though I normally don't like polythiestic religions Hinduism has some very good teachings.

I dont know much about many religions so the only existing religion that I respect is Christianity because I was once a Christian.

As for non-existing "religions", I admire Tolkien's fictional world theory. I am not joking. If one reads the first chapters of the Silmarillion, the messages the cosmology of Tolkien can convey through its allegory are very beautiful and the motifs are very interesting. But thats just about its approach to certain issues. In Tolkien's works there is no real dogma or other basic elements of a religion so I dont know if one could count it as a religion. Anyway...

I think Hinduism is very interesting too. Even though I normally don't like polythiestic religions Hinduism has some very good teachings.ghoklebutter

It is like a pyramid scheme. Everything decends from Brahman; Purusha, Atman, Prana, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesha, etc. Every single god and goddess and other function in the mythology is an incarnation of Brahman (aka the 'Godhead"). However (according to Advaita Vedanta), Brahman is not a conscious being (like the God of other monotheistic traditions), cannot be given any "attributes" (omnipotence, omniscience, etc.) and is the same "thing" as Atman (or the Self within all beings; other traditions hold opposing positions, but Advaita is the most common and well-supported position). Brahman is just "is." It is what was, it is what will be and is what everything in the universe is "made" of. It is really fascinating.

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I think Hinduism is very interesting too. Even though I normally don't like polythiestic religions Hinduism has some very good teachings.foxhound_fox

It is like a pyramid scheme. Everything decends from Brahman; Purusha, Atman, Prana, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesha, etc. Every single god and goddess and other function in the mythology is an incarnation of Brahman (aka the 'Godhead"). However (according to Advaita Vedanta), Brahman is not a conscious being (like the God of other monotheistic traditions), cannot be given any "attributes" (omnipotence, omniscience, etc.) and is the same "thing" as Atman (or the Self within all beings; other traditions hold opposing positions, but Advaita is the most common and well-supported position). Brahman is just "is." It is what was, it is what will be and is what everything in the universe is "made" of. It is really fascinating.

Scientology, FSM and the bahai faith has put that argument to shame though. The bahai faith is obviously strictly monotheistic but it is man made from an islamic point of view.

Ya there have been muslim arguments that ALL major religions are actually monothestic at the core. They try to prove with that that all religions are basically created by the same one God and arent man made.

Scientology, FSM and the bahai faith has put that argument to shame though. The bahai faith is obviously strictly monotheistic but it is man made from an islamic point of view.

Gambler_3

Sounds like a silly argument. :P

I dont admire any religion. The scientific claims of religion have never been proven(yes claiming the existence of the supernatural IS a scientific claim).

I am not sure how much morality humanity acquired through religion and how much "good" is done because of religion and how much wouldnt be done without it. So basically I am not sure if an atheistic world would be morally superior to today's world or not.

However what we do know is how much harm has been done exclusively in the name of religion, if there was only one religion in the world then I think religion would be a good thing but as it is I really doubt that the world is better off with religion especially the educated countries arent.

The europeans have forgiven the germans and italians for WW2 but seems like religious bitterness never goes away.

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

Ya there have been muslim arguments that ALL major religions are actually monothestic at the core. They try to prove with that that all religions are basically created by the same one God and arent man made.

Scientology, FSM and the bahai faith has put that argument to shame though. The bahai faith is obviously strictly monotheistic but it is man made from an islamic point of view.

ghoklebutter

Sounds like a silly argument. :P

Basically this topic is about what do you like about which religion.ghoklebutter

This:

A religosity detector! 

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]Basically this topic is about what do you like about which religion.RationalAtheist

This:

A religosity detector! 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

At least it's at 0. :P

It comes with probes - I think you insert them somewhere.

I've always wanted to get one and convert it into a clock-radio! 

As a Muslim I have high respect for Judaism. Many Jews are very hardworking and scincere, unlike most Muslims today. And Judaism is very similar to Islam. How about you guys?

ghoklebutter

Ghokle, you as a Muslim may have respect for Jews but Islam and Muhammad themselves? The less said the better. Here are a few examples:

And ye know of those of you who broke the Sabbath, how We said unto them: Be ye apes, despised and hated! Qur'an 2:65

Narrated 'Aisha and 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas: When the last moment of the life of Allah's Apostle came he started putting his 'Khamisa' on his face and when he felt hot and short of breath he took it off his face and said, "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." The Prophet was warning (Muslims) of what those had done.
Sahih Bukhari 1:8:427

The Final Hour will not come until Muslims slaughter Jews, and even the rocks and trees will betray the Jews hiding behind them.
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
Sahih Muslim 41:6985, see also Sahih Muslim 41:6981, Sahih Muslim 41:6982, Sahih Muslim 41:6983, Sahih Muslim 41:6984, Sahih Bukhari 4:56:791

Muslims should not greet Jews before the Jews greet them, and Muslims should force Jews to go to the narrowest part of the road.
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it.
Sahih Muslim 26:5389

 900 defenseless Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe were beheaded on the orders of Muhammad and their women and childrenwere enslaved.

Learn more at:

http://www.wikiislam.com/wiki/The_Genocide_of_Banu_Qurayza

i admire buddhism and the philosophy of hinduism

just to give you some background info, in many sects of hindu religion, it is well known that religion is figurative.

when i reached high school level of my hindu religion class, it was revealed to us that gods are metaphors, used as stepping stools for understanding the self.

it was revealed to us that the masses will use gods to dictate their morality simply because they are easy to use. however higher thinkers can realize these gods only should serve as metaphors for what they represent.

which makes some sense, but still i see no point whatsoever to all the meaningless rituals.

I respect Satanism for its acknowledgment that humans are largely selfish creatures by nature, and that making yourself happy/proud is important. Its doctrine is very much in line with my values in life, but the reason I don't think I could ever get into it is because of the black mass ritual; which I find to be silly. I understand that it's optional, but it contradicts the notion that Satanism is rebellious. You can't borrow Pagan-esque practices and then claim that your religion is rebellious. dracula_16

+1 for brutal honesty. Awesome. Sounds legit to me too.

I agree with Foxhound as well.