Is Buddhism An Atheistic Religion
REL 2011 REL 2011
MIDTERM EXAM
Essay 1
Buddhism is essentially an atheistic religion. And yet it is one of the major religions in the world today. How can Buddhism be used to illustrate Durkheim’s and Geertz’s point that religion is really not about “God,” but about “us,” that is, about human society and culture. In order words, in what sense would it be true to say that religion will not go away or disappear (as the radical Enlightenment and Marx believed it should and eventually would) because it is an inalienable aspect or dimension of the human?
Buddhism, or any religion for that matter has been said by Durkheim and Geertz’s to stand for, ironically, not God; but …show more content…
Not only does it take credit for a huge portion of our societies and cultures, despite the religion or the beliefs, it presents us with the assurance of the existence of something bigger than us all. Similar to the government, Religion gives us a sense of organization, structure, and control. Religion has justified plenty of conflicts we’ve faced in the past years of history, the crusades, terrorism, and so on. Though religion is and for ever will be manipulated by people themselves, those same people won’t let it just fade into another page in a history text book, it’s only as important as any other essential function to our every day lives. Besides this, emotionally and spiritually, it inspires a lot of people and gives them hope, it serves to plenty of us as a foundation, something to always rely on whether or not it makes sense to us. Religion saves plenty of us from depression, hopelessness, and gives so many of us comfort as well as purpose and a sort of salvation in which is rare to find in any other “aspect or dimension.” All in all, it’s impossible to begin to even imagine the destruction of Religion when so many humans live for it or depend on it to …show more content…
They contain all the main concepts of Hinduism, but they are written in poetic and symbolic form, rather than direct language which we practice today. They consisted of four texts; Rg veda, Yajur veda, Sama veda, Atharva veda. On the other hand, the Upanishads are texts that were created a while after the Vedas, more philosophical texts. They include more of the philosophical meaning of hinduism, rather than the more poetic tone.
Basically, we can conclude that over time the Vedas were the poetical and symbolic expression of the spiritual truths of Hinduism who’s meaning later had an evolution to the Upanishads; the expression of the philosophical truths of the
MIDTERM EXAM
Essay 1
Buddhism is essentially an atheistic religion. And yet it is one of the major religions in the world today. How can Buddhism be used to illustrate Durkheim’s and Geertz’s point that religion is really not about “God,” but about “us,” that is, about human society and culture. In order words, in what sense would it be true to say that religion will not go away or disappear (as the radical Enlightenment and Marx believed it should and eventually would) because it is an inalienable aspect or dimension of the human?
Buddhism, or any religion for that matter has been said by Durkheim and Geertz’s to stand for, ironically, not God; but …show more content…
Not only does it take credit for a huge portion of our societies and cultures, despite the religion or the beliefs, it presents us with the assurance of the existence of something bigger than us all. Similar to the government, Religion gives us a sense of organization, structure, and control. Religion has justified plenty of conflicts we’ve faced in the past years of history, the crusades, terrorism, and so on. Though religion is and for ever will be manipulated by people themselves, those same people won’t let it just fade into another page in a history text book, it’s only as important as any other essential function to our every day lives. Besides this, emotionally and spiritually, it inspires a lot of people and gives them hope, it serves to plenty of us as a foundation, something to always rely on whether or not it makes sense to us. Religion saves plenty of us from depression, hopelessness, and gives so many of us comfort as well as purpose and a sort of salvation in which is rare to find in any other “aspect or dimension.” All in all, it’s impossible to begin to even imagine the destruction of Religion when so many humans live for it or depend on it to …show more content…
They contain all the main concepts of Hinduism, but they are written in poetic and symbolic form, rather than direct language which we practice today. They consisted of four texts; Rg veda, Yajur veda, Sama veda, Atharva veda. On the other hand, the Upanishads are texts that were created a while after the Vedas, more philosophical texts. They include more of the philosophical meaning of hinduism, rather than the more poetic tone.
Basically, we can conclude that over time the Vedas were the poetical and symbolic expression of the spiritual truths of Hinduism who’s meaning later had an evolution to the Upanishads; the expression of the philosophical truths of the