Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys consider yourself to be an atheist (I use the term 'atheist' very loosely. It could just mean that you don't really consider yourself to be a practicing Hindu anymore and don't think you want/need to belong to any particular religion)?

On a similar note, I want to study what exactly we hindus believe. Which books would you guys recommend (it would be nice if they were online)? I, like most of you, was raised a Hindu and grew up watching Mahabharat, listening to Swosthani, going to temples, praying to god when I needed to pass exams and donating money and laddu at a temple after I got the US visa  but I never really took the time to understand what we Hindus believe in.

I am glad that ya brought this issue.We nepali have some kind of confusion about this issue and the best way to look ourselves is to understand where we come from. We were born hindus and Hinduism is an enthical religion i.e it differs in different places. more over,its the way of life. In hinduism, we arent obliged to perform any rituals on a regular basis or a weekly basis but we do have lot of religions. what ever we do revolves around our religion.I donn consider myself religious person but i realized that what ever i do is based on our religion. for an instance, tradition of tika,tradition of bowing to our elders. think we might  forget our religion once we come here but it wont be easy.

I am kinda.

1. atheists = you cant prove god doesnt exist.

2. abhrahamic theists (jews, christians, muslims) = you cant prove god does exist

3.agnotics = fagg0ts who are too lazy to think

4.secularists = the religion for communists. eg pol pot, stalin, Mao, prachanday

5.spiritualists (hindus, jains, sikh, buddhists, taoists) = They have been founded upon Ahimsa or Non-violence. Their beliefs roughly conclude that there is definitely some force in nature/space that is beyond understanding of normal humans who havent search for truth and that there is a cause behind every reaction (karma / newtons 3rd law), and also they respect the truth cause there is no higher religion than truth.


no. of people (roughly in the past 100 years) that have died in name of

1. = 1000 to 10000 maybe
2. = 20 million
4. = >150 million (holocaust, communist genocides in Soviet Russia, Ukraine, China, South america, cambodia)

secularism has been found to be most dangerous movement which is closely followed by 2.

while 5. has been found to cause enlightenment / end of cycle of re-births/suffering

I never did wholeheartedly believe in this "hindu dharma" mainly because of the way people FORCED it on you. (at least i had it that way).

I saw my family and relatives fully in the religious sway, but no one explained, or cud explain why they did particular cermonies or functions that clearly made no sense ("to please the god, we must kill this goat"). 

To keep my sanity, I renounced my religion. Don't let anyone force you what to believe in. Find out yourself.

i don't believe in religion.

 

In this issue...a lot of people ahve suggested me to read a book called Einstines God...havent had the time but i have heard that it will throw in good perspectives....

I always thought i was an atheist but this morning on my commute to work i tuned in to a christian radio station and there was a song playing by this husky deep voice about how he surrenders to god...and the effect was contagious...i felt a sudden calm....bottom line ....religion /god is comfort blanket....u need it when you are cold but when its bright and sunny...u forget about it...its only human nature....

Explote this site

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/einstein/

 

This is also interestin

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/einsteinsgod/einsteinsgod-discussionguide.pdf

 

 

yeah and people were made by god and put on earth because of the evil serpent that fed eve an apple. sure that sounds very credible.....where is the so called god that you talk about when you see a dying hungry person? when girls as young as 7-8 year old get raped? how come so called god does not rid this world of evil? what the fk is this god waiting for? that's right it's cause there is NO GOD. it's all made up

Without belief life does not exist. One believes in illusions, delusion, or a sense of self called as aathma. Over my transitions it’s come to my realization the demon and divine both exist in me. It is the matter of which I feed the most. I am learning beliefs can’t be effective if one does accept it blindly. In this existence the divine beliefs if experimented with self I sense peace. My learning adds my enemies are no more than my false ego, envy, jealousy, insecurities, greed, anxiety etc

My recommendation to read some good positive spiritual pragmatic books are:

Geeta (My favorite practical mantra)

Mantra (Instrument of thoughts)

Bichar Bigyan (Science of Thought) Khaptwad Swami

Ma ra Mero Kartavya Khapotad Swami

Companions in Solitude by Shriram Sharma

I hope this makes sense and of some help.

Jay Hosh.

Try to find the answer, Not debate for debate, if you are serious.

Go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpmu42g6mDs

or more in detail:

http://www.rzim.org/resources/watch.aspx#feminismBible

 

More links:

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9JMWbylMA

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69WVzOJaLYo&feature=related

 

Some say Buddhism is an atheistic religion.  What say you?

Buddhism is considered a religion with atheistic view in the sense that it says, even if there is a god it does not matter because it is you who have to achieve your own salvation through your own deeds.

https://www.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet?blend=1&ob=4

https://www.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/f/2/eMSwQJr-mhc

Stop preaching about jesus here!!!!1

To the one who thinks Einstein was a person of faith, that is a lie.

 [1879-1955]
German born American threoretical physicist
 From a correspondence between Ensign Guy H. Raner and Albert
Einstein in 1945 and 1949. Einstein responds to the accusation that he
was converted by a Jesuit priest:

"I have never talked to a Jesuit prest in my life. I am astonished by
the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit
priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist."

The current concept of 'religion' as an amalgamation of spirituality and ethnic traditions (as well as political affairs in case of Islam), which is in line with the ideas of Abrahmic traditions, has probably wrongly been the central idea in our approach to world belief systems. It provides a very narrow perspective on belief systems and has been the reason for so much death and destruction in the past and the present. Probably it is the most evil thing to have occured to humankind.

It's certainly difficult for many of us to approach and explain our belief patterns in that perspective and so 'athiesm' needs to be qualified as well.  I personally prefer to see spirituality and ethnic/cultural activities separately, and for me the latter are mostly  inconsequential to be associated with 'atheism/non-atheism' though most people, notably the neo-converts and proselysers, would certainly not agree. I find most of the teachings in the Bhagvad Gita etc. fascinating and think that their 'high-level' interpretations can hardly be contested.

jneutron, u should have probably checked your sources before posting. You certainly don't know anything about atheism, secularism and other.

Have you heard of Shiva Sena, Bajarang dasta, or Buddhist waging war and serving Hirohito's army????  so much for your ahimsa and non-violence.
Check your facts, everything you have posted here is questionable.

Buddhist scholars say there is no justification for war in Buddhist teaching.
Yet there is historic
documentation that in 621 CE monks from the Shaolin
Temple of China fought in a battle that helped establish the Tang Dynasty.
In centuries past, the heads of Tibetan
Buddhist schools formed strategic alliances with Mongol warlords and reaped
benefits from the warlords' victories.

The links between Zen
Buddhism and samurai warrior culture were partly responsible for the
shocking collusion of Zen and Japanese militarism in the 1930s and 1940s.

can u provide proof of any scripture (veda, upanishad, tripitaka, dhammapad) which tells its followers to incite violence?

you can though provide scripture from islamic texts  which calls for violence against non-muslims

for the secularists - mass-murder or genocide is passage to bring about thier communist state (eg. Mao's China)