Aradia

Please be more careful when reading what I write. My happiness is not conditional on external things. It is purely internal. The *ability* to bring out that happiness, however, requires effort over the mind for all but the most enlightened of people, which I most certainly am not. It doesn't surprise me, though, that you don't (or won't) see the difference. Buddhism is much closer to psychology than it is to religion. But you wouldn't know that, since without any knowledge of it, you simply assume it's like every other religion in the world.

Some christians don't see how we could evolve from single-celled organisms. That you do not understand does not make it any less true.

Again, your lack of knowledge and understanding is taking away any credibility you might otherwise have.

1) Since you don't know anything about buddhism, you are not able to properly judge whether it is or is not fantasy.

2) My religion is nothing more than a tool. It cannot *give* me freedom any more than a hammer can give me a house.

Honestly... do you really think you should be debating me about my religion when you don't know anything about it?

BadBadBad

It wasn't my intention to debate your personal beliefs on buddism, and I'm only questioning what you've said here. Also remember, you were the one who started questioning my beliefs not the other way around.

Happiness is a pretty simple word. You seem to see it is complicated. It's not, and I keep saying that you don't need religion to find it. If you're alive and suffering, you're not happy. If you're with your family, and life is good, you can be happy. It's still only human if you're not, and unhappiness is not necessarily a bad thing to be avoided at all costs. If you're dead, happiness is absolutely meaningless. I can surely debate you on happiness. That's not really the topic here though is it?

I'll agree that I know nothing about your religion so I'll give you that I can't defend my assertions that it's fantasy. I believe it is. I believe it can be and is commonly lumped in along with all other religions. Perhaps I'll do some reading on it. Fair enough?

My interests here have always been to discuss christianity. That's what my first post and my first response to you referred to. In my original post, I stated "Religion is false hope, and it is a weak weapon against reality. Reality is what it is and nothing can shield you from it. " Strike religion and insert christianity if you like, but despite your efforts, I don't even think you have made a single argument to challenge those statements. Perhaps you'd like to start another thread to convince all us atheists differently? I'll be happy to come and lurk.

Aradia

Actually, I questioned your beliefs solely on the basis that you started spewing garbage about a religion you know nothing about.

Fair enough, except that you're already biased. If you sincerely want to read, I would suggest starting with the pali canon (tripitaka/tipitaka), and/or some theravadin books. Those will give you the most straightforward, basic idea of what the Buddha taught. You can get some flavour of the different schools by reading about mahayana (ch'an, zen, pure land, etc) or vajrayana (tibetan) buddhism, which add more mysticism to the mix. But if you want to get a closer understanding of what *I* believe, you'll want to stick to theravada.

I made a perfectly valid argument in my initial response to your "false hope/weak weapon" post. You, however, didn't seem to like it or understand it. Doesn't really surprise me, though, since you seem just as closeminded as the fundie christians. Most antitheists are. Religion isn't about shielding oneself from reality...it's about coping with reality. And if any given religion, even christianity, can *honestly* help just one person cope with reality, more power to it. That religion doesn't help you in no way proves that it is *inherently* weak. The hope it gives some people is very, very real, and that is something which you cannot disprove.

I didn't bring up happiness, since I'd like to get back on topic just as much as you would.

BadBadBad

This is what you meant about respecting other people's beliefs?

A valid argument is to claim my comments are garbage? Did you really want to assert that Buddism is a strong hope and strong weapon? If you did, you haven't defended that assertion. If you want to, let's move that discussion to another thread.

Aradia

You seem to have no clue of what you're speaking.

My initial reply to you was that "False practice is false hope, weak practice is weak defense". You need to pay more attention.