Which is the TRUE "religion of peace"?

[Deja Q]

Poll question: Which is the TRUE "religion of peace"?

Christians say Islam is not a religion of peace.

Islamics say Christianity is not a religion of peace.

Whoo-boy. This one ought to be easy. Actions speak decibels louder than words. If you ask me, both religions say peaceful things. Both say horrible things about nonbelievers. People do terrible things in the name of their peaceful religion. People are too stubborn to change... People are too afraid of their lifestyle to change.

How do we reach above and beyond ourselves when we clearly don't want to? Peace requires effort. Everybody I've seen in power prefers to act like animals. On both sides of the spectrum. If we fight like animals, WE DIE LIKE ANIMALS.

The choice belongs to world society. Do you think people will look beyond their personal viewpoints in the name of TRUE peace? You're right. We won't. Nobody will.

Prove me wrong.

[Aidoneus]

1. Nothing so complex can be so easily pegged in a single phrase..

[Deja Q]

3. Well, "prove me wrong" was a bit much to hope for...

By a wide margin...

[PragMantisT]

2. Hello, there are about 4 billion adherents

to religions not represented by these two abominations, I mean, religions.

[theoceansnerves]

4. well from my limited understanding of religions

my guess would be buddhism.

[riverwalker]

5. ditto Buddhism

[apnu]

35. ditto ditto buddhism n/t

[Stone_Spirits]

37. yep, Buddhism n/t

[bryant69]

47. Hey, haven't you seen any kung fu movies?

Those Buddhists can kick ass.

Actually though Buddhism does have a lot of very interesting beliefs.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bloom]

53. I believe there are many variations of Buddhism...

Are they ALL peaceful?

Just wondering.

[doni_georgia]

6. Religion + government is a bad mix no matter what the religion

I am a Christian, but my beliefs are personal. It is the basis of how I live my life. I cannot tell anyone else how to live theirs. I believe strongly in a personal spirituality (I'm rather anti-religion). Every time in human history that religion and government have married, bad things have happened. You cannot take something that is meant to between a person and his/her God/s/Goddess/es and translate that into governmental policy. It's not meant to be that way

[El Supremo]

11. I agree, but...

please don't make your personal beliefs private. That is what has been hurting the Democratic Party for a long time now.

[I_like_chicken]

7. I agree smurfs are

best topped with fudge pudding and a cherry. Does Gargamel have a cookbook, and if so where can I get it?

As for religion, well I can only hope one day they'll will get it right. As to how to reach beyond ourselves when we don't want to, well I don't have an answer, all I can say is to keep trying. Theres no point in giving up because what else are we gonna do, watch Maury Povich all day while we get fat on chocolate covered smurfs??

well on second thought that doesnt sound like too bad of an idea.

[banana republican]

8. You have been weighed in the balance and found lacking

n/t

[Deja Q]

13. You speaketh in riddles.

What am I lacking in? This is an open forum, I can handle constructive criticism. Or are you afraid, wearing a proverbial dark mask of sorts?

(oh, I'd like an answer in public too. It's a bit lame - to say the least - to make accusations, hide behind a transparent enigma, and then never press home your thoughts.)

[FlemingsGhost]

9. God gave us the truth. The Devil gave us religion.

Peace is found in one's self.

[izzie]

17. I like what you said.

-----

[devinsgram]

42. Very well said.

[elf]

49. History showes us

that most wars were fought about Religion. It's all about power and gaining power by spreading fear. Fear is the biggest factor to get people where you want them..................it was always done and it's still going on!!

In case I want to belief, I can do it quiet and alone by myself

[Walt Starr]

10. There is only one TRUE religion of peace

That is the religion that is held in the heart of the individual adherent who truly believes love is the answer. This holds true regardless of dogma and mythology surrounding the heartfelt belief. It doesn't even require a belief in a higher power.

All the rest is just bullshit.

[gulfcoastliberal]

12. Rastafari, Mon

Come worship with me at the chalice, mon.

[kodi]

14. irie, & bokonism

those who know don't.

[Bombtrack]

15. Secular humanism and Buhdism. Chritianity sucks, Islam sucks more

Christians mostly got over the major "kill the infedels" stage about 1000 years ago and most Christians don't give a fuck about the stupid arbitrary dogma of how the Pope and Protestant big wigs say they need to restrict there fun and punish "sinners". Islam on the other hand is being driven more and more by kooks in how it is understood by more and more people.

It is a clash of civilizations and nobody major in our government has the balls to say secularism and secularization are the answer. It isn't just about how much we've fucked with the middle east fringe people. Our "imperialism" in southeast Asia has been far worse and overt. But you don't see any of the family members of the 2 million people we killed over there Jihading against us.

[IronLionZion]

16. smurfs

most religions are for peace. It's the wackos in every religion that fuck it up. Even some Buddhists partake in genocide in certain parts of the world, killing off anyone who is not Buddhist.

[Suspicious]

19. "Even some Buddhists partake in genocide"...

..."in certain parts of the world, killing off anyone who is not Buddhist."

Will you expand on that statement? In what "certain parts of the world" do Buddhists kill non-Buddhists, simply because they're not Buddhist? You're saying that this is not only the case, but it's practiced on such a scale as to warrant the term "genocide"? :shrug:

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

33. Try Sri Lanka today.

Or Japan a few centuries past. Oh, and the Mongol Khan Tamerlane was a Buddhist, and converted much of Iran from Islam to Buddhism by the sword. The statues in Afghanistan that the Taliban destroyed date from this era. They didn't like the reminder. Tamerlane's grandson converted to Islam a few decades later and reversed the process.

All religions can be corrupted by those in power.

[Suspicious]

36. Wow...

Thanks for your reply. I found this as I was looking around for information on the Sinhalese (wondering how a true Buddhist could possibly rationalize this type of behavior), and it made me feel a bit better.

Anthropologist S. J. Tambiah, himself a Sri Lankan Tamil whose family includes both Hindus and converts to Christianity, argues that in both traditional and contemporary Sinhalese Buddhism the religion's original message of universalism, compassion, and nonviolence was eclipsed by a narrower appeal to nationalism and race: "the Sinhalese chronicles. . . in postulating the unity of nation and religion constitute a profound transformation of the Asokan message of dharma (rule by righteousness and nonviolence) in a multireligious society of Buddhists, Jains, adherents of Brahmanical values, and others." This was clearly evident, he argues, in the Mahavamsa, which describes King Dutthagamani's heroic defense of Buddhism against invaders from southern India in the second century B.C. as a holy war. Tambiah, a specialist in Southeast Asian Buddhism, asserts that Buddhism in contemporary Sri Lanka has lost its ethical and philosophical bearings ("the substantive contents which make Buddhism a great religion and a source of a rich civilization") and has become either a set of ritualized devotions, undertaken by believers to obtain worldly good fortune, or an aggressive political movement that attracts the poorest classes of Sinhalese.

http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/58.htm

Well, I learned something new. You're right - all religions can be corrupted by those in power.

Edited to add link.

[evil_orange_cat]

18. where's the "none of the above"?

I had to vote "other"

[Trajan]

20. Atheistic Secular Humanism .....

Buddhism without the paradox ....

[doni_georgia]

21. The Soviet Union was atheistic look at the atrocities committed there

The problem is not spirituality! Belief in God or Gods, Goddesses, etc. is not what what causes violence and wars. It's when people feel the absolute need to convert others to their way of thinking - be that thinking Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or Atheism, that causes the problems. It's the mindset of "I'm right and if you don't believe the same, you're wrong," that gets humanity in trouble. Whether or not to accept the beliefs of any religion or philosophical position is a personal matter. The problem is when a state tries to control the beliefs of a group of people. Our founding fathers knew this, which is why we have the establishment clause in the Constitution. Someone who says that "Christianity Sucks and Islam Sucks more" is just as guilty of intolerance as the Christian or Muslim who goes around telling people that their way is the only right way.

I had to write an essay in college for a class called "War and Peace in the Nuclear Age." We had to write a treatise for world peace. I failed the assignment, because I was honest. I said as long as there were humans, there would be war, because it is human nature to be territorial and to believe that they are superior to people who are different. We see this in the smallest of children when they move from crawling to toddling and one of the first words out of their mouths is "MINE!" We witness it in the animal kingdom as well. Even societies that were hunter gatherers, where there was no ownership of property or land would war over food. Instead of blaming everything on religion, maybe we need to accept the fact that human nature is in itself responsible for war. When we blame one religion, or two religions, or all religions for creating wars, we are merely contributing to the problem.

[Trajan]

29. The Soviet Union was 'atheist' in name only ....

They promoted the PARTY as a deified entity ....

Furthermore: they were not 'humanist', but were cruel dogmatic fascists ...

In many ways: the Politburo resembled the Vatican of old ...

The declared 'atheism' of the USSR was a minor trait: its deadly anti-human agenda, fueled by political dogmatism, was its MAJOR Trait ....

One might also note that since those in the USSR drank milk, that MILKDRINKERS killed millions of human beings ....

There is NOTHING about atheism that promotes death or murder, or even excommunication .....

[No2W2004]

32. Um, not really

Even though Stalin did his best to crush it, the Russian Orthodox Church still did booming bussiness through out the history of the Soviet Union. Marx said "Religion is the opate of the masses." , but the masses still went to church.

People need to find the truth for themselves. If there comfortable with what their parents indoctrinated them with, fine! If they go out and find a belief system that fits their life, fine! If they want to go and join a group of monks and spend the rest of their lives in silent contemplation, fine!

Where it goes wrong is when they try and cram their beliefs down MY throat.

[Cheswick2.0]

51. ummm wrong

there were many years when the church was so persecuted that people had to hide their bibles and rewrite the works of the great choral composers with secular words.
Try asking anyone who lived through that time. It is true that eventually the Russian Orthodox was allowed to come out from underground, but it also became a tool of the state. Other denominations were not allowed to exist at all because they were not as easily controlled.

[kayell]

22. Quakers, Mennonites, Amish - within Christianity,

these take peace seriously. Also agree with posters above who listed Buddhism.

[Astarho]

46. Mennonites and Amish?

They are not the most peaceful people in my experiance. Many I have met are very closed-minded and judgemental. The Amish can be cruel to their animals. As a kid I got into a few fights with Amish kids.

[HornBuckler]

23. Religion Is The Main Cause For War

Since The Dawn Of Man - Religion Has Spilled More Blood Than Any Other Cause.

If There Is A God, He/She/It Must Really Look Down Upon Religion - Or Is A Real Sadistic Entity.

[Cheswick2.0]

50. bullshit

people are the cause of violence, not religion.

[deutsey]

24. As Mark Twain said: it's petrified thinking in politics and religion

that lead to war and other horrible problems (that's a paraphrase). So, it's hard to say that one religion promotes peace better than another when ample examples of petrified thinking can be found in every religion.

[DemExpat]

25. Secular humanism is the only road to peace, imho.

DemEx

[Solly Mack]

26. Want peace? Avoid dogma.

[ze_dscherman]

27. Jainism

Their main doctrine is "ahimsa", meaning nonviolence - not harming anyone, including animals.

"Jainism is not only a teaching but it is primarily a practice, the practice of Ahimsa. AHIMSA means the dignity and sacredness of the human person in relation with all other living beings. Its criteria is Reverence for ALL Life."

From: http://www.jainmeditation.org/pages/message.html


On edit: To clarify my viewpoint - this is the religions that puts nonviolence foremost.

My personal view is that peace is not dependent on the practice of a particular religion or of any religion.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. Buddism...and i'm a Christian but "my karma ran over my dogma"

that's my bumper sticker :7

[Az]

30. Any system that mandates that it has the one path to peace is wrong

The error is in the very nature of the stance. Dogmatic authoratative systems will always promote conflict. Be it atheistic hardline communism, fundimentalistic christianity, or fundimentalistic islamic beliefs.

By their very nature they create an us against them arena. They may believe they are doing it in the name of peace but this is not how it is percieved by the recipients of their attention. These are social carnivores. They have evolved highly aggressive tactics for indoctrinating new members. Its like claiming a tiger is peaceful because after they eat everything there is peace.

Systems which do not claim to have the truth but are seeking truth are more likely to find a path to it. If they invite others to present their ideas on how to find peace they increase their chances of finding a path.

Unfortunately even this manner of system has its flaws. It has a great deal of difficulty dealing with the aggressive species of beliefs. Because it wishes to be inclusive it cannot squash the aggressive beliefs and thus gives them life.

It is akin to the philosophical problem of killing spiders to save butterflies (with acknowledgement to trigun). To save the butterflies you have to kill the spiders. But this is still killing something. But if you prevent the spider from killing the butterfly you still wind up killing it for it needs to consume the butterfly to live. Similarly dogmatic belief systems believe they are supposed to indoctrinate others with their belief systems. To stop them from doing this violates their nature. But to allow them to progress leads to the destruction of other systems as the prey upon them. It is a virtual gordian knot.

[camero]

31. All 3 of the Abrahamic religions have been hijacked

by Pharisees, including Judaism. All 3 of them have a message of peace at it's core and that we are not the ones to say who is going and who is not.

It's those who would twist the meaning of them for their own personal benefit who have hijacked all of the religions. Usually to attain more money and power.

All the religions need to kick out the Pharisees from their ranks.

[leftofthedial]

34. atheism is the only peaceful view

the religions all end up killing one another and suppressing free thought and inquiry

[Cheswick2.0]

52. yah, I never met a closed minded Atheist

:eyes:

[leftofthedial]

63. truth is, you probably haven't.

The minute I see convincing evidence of a deity, I'll believe it.

I'm basing my statement on the historical record.

You're basing yours on being a smart ass.

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[Mikimouse]

39. I subscribe to the Abu ben Adem school of thought...

that is...secular humanism

On edit: corrected my miserable typing errors

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

40. Very Profound posts

Definite food for thought. When asked about my "religion" I say, "It's my own and it changes as I grow and experience."

All I can say is, "Namaste"

[Astarho]

41. All and none

A religion is the people who comprise it. At its best religion tells us to look beyond what we are. At its worst it allows us to revel in what we are. A group who believes in any religion is like any other group of people, full of saints and sinners, angels and demons, selfless and selfish. Religion can be the guide that opens the door or the excuse for the hideous.

Islam gave the world both Hafiz and Bin Ladin
Christianity gave the world Mother Teresa and Torquemada

But then, that's just my semi-mystic ramblings...

[Sufi Marmot]

64. We have a winner!

What Astarho said. Religions aren't peaceful or violent, people are. And there are adherents of all religions who can be violent, just as there are adherents of all religions who can be peaceful.

-SM, eschewing the anthropomorphizing of abstract concepts...

[DrWeird]

43. We're all a bunch of hairless apes.

It doesn't really matter what tribe we belong to, we're all basically the same.

[mad_russian]

44. You can trace almost any conflict back to religion somehow.

so I don't think any religion leads to peace.

[Az]

45. It would be better to say

conflict leads back to dogmatic claims. This can include religion but it also entails other social anamolies.

[mad_russian]

56. what was wrong with how I said it...? I hope I didn't offend you. nt

[Az]

58. No offense taken

Its more of a tactical issue. Whenever such claims are made the numerous Communist conflicts get thrown back at us. It is better to simply identify the real cause and label it appropriately.

The phrasing I use addresses the social constructs created by both religions and secular institutions. It does not condescend those that are part of religions beliefs that do not involve dogmatic claims(there are some such religions and philosophies). And just makes sense to peg the right issue.

[mad_russian]

61. it's cool...we're cool...

[knight_of_the_star]

48. Smurfs are best topped with fudge pudding and a cherry

Nuf said

[TheMightyFavog]

54. Discordia!

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/

All Hail Discordia! Hail Eris!

[Spider Jerusalem]

55. It's not the religions that are the problem, it's the believers.

There are great, and wonderful, profound and beutiful things to be found in Christianity. And in Islam. And in Judaism. Yet people professing to follow these religions do things like bomb abortion clinics, engage in suicide attacks that aim to take as many innocents as possible with them, and kill children with stones in their hands in the name of "security"...no religion is a "religion of peace" as long as it is defined by its followers, I'm afraid.

[number6]

57. Zen Buddhist

O8)

[Oddman]

59. How about the religion

of kindness and respect? That you don't have to look to a "higher power" for miracle solutions. It all starts and ends with you.

[SarahB]

60. Unitarian Universalist

They know there is not necessarily ONE right answer or way.

http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html

[arwalden]

62. Neither Of The Choices You Presented Are Very Peaceful

BELIEVE OR DIE! We must save them... or kill them!
Die infidel die! God hates fags! Allah hates America!

-- Allen