The Purpose of the religion

What is the purpose of a religion? Is it to encourage its followers to kill those who are not followers? Is it to make humankind intellectually blind? Is it to be used as a tool to judge others according to an individual’s point of view and condemn them because they are not like you? It is fair to assume that the purpose of a religion is the opposite of the above and its true purpose is to promote peace not war, love not hatred. However the current interpretation and application of a variety of religions is resulting in hatred, condemnation, slaughter and war.

The application and interpretation of religions has been attacked as promoting the opposite of its stated objectives. Religion has also been attacked from scientific and logic perspectives. Religions Inability to stand before and defend itself against science and simple logic are interoperated as a weakness within the religion as a concept regardless the massive destruction it causes.

While the above may be true of a variety of religions, the same cannot be said of Buddhism. The logical and scientific community have not been instrumental in attacking Buddhism, further Buddhism and science may not be entirely incompatible. The renowned scientist Albert Einstein respected Buddhism and stated that were he to choose a religion to follow, it would have been that of Buddhism.

Why are Buddhism and science compatible, as opposed to the majority of religions? The main reason for this uncommon compatibility is that in the truest sense, Buddhism is not entirely a complete religion in the conventional form, rather it is a philosophy. Buddhist scholars have debated the religious versus philosophic nature of Buddhism and have come to the conclusion that Buddhism is neither as it contains elements and qualities of both religion and philosophy.

The failure of conventional religions to achieve its stated purpose, its weakness in defending itself in the face of science / logic and inability to answer questions of life and nature are the main reasons for the rise in interest in Buddhism among the educated 16 to 30 age group in the western world.

Buddhism and the idea of a God

Essentially Buddhism does not believe in the idea of a god and there are several reasons for this. Buddha, like many psychologists and theologians saw that many religions and the belief in a god has its origins in human anxiety and fear. Primitive beings found themselves in a dangerous and hostile world with many natural phenomena such as volcanoes and thunder. Without the knowledge of how to explain these incidents, primitive beings created the idea of a god to provide them with some understanding and security. To this day we still find that people become more religious in times of crisis and stress. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears and accept the things we cannot change; he replaced fear with rational understanding not with irrational belief.

The second reason that Buddha did not believe in a god is because ether does not seem to be much evidence to support the idea. There are many religions that claim to have the words of god preserved in their scripts. The various religions are satisfied that there is ample evidence to support the idea that their individual god exists. Despite so many religions using so much ingenuity over the centuries there is still no substantial, irrefutable or concrete evidence for such an existence. Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence exists.

The third reason that the Buddha did not believe in the existence was because he felt that such a belief was not necessary. Some claim that a belief in a god is necessary to explain the origins of the universe, but scientists have convincingly explained how the universe came into being without having to introduce a god. Buddha’s explanation for the origins of the universe correspond closely to the scientific view and describes the universe as being destroyed and revolved over millions of years and that all processes were without beginning or end and set in motion by natural causes.

Some claim that it is necessary to believe on a god in order to have a meaningful and happy life. However there are billions of atheists, free thinkers and Buddhists who live happy meaningful lives without believing in a god. Some claim that because human beings are weak they need a god to assist them to overcome difficulties. However the evidence suggests the opposite and many people manage to overcome handicaps and difficulties through their own efforts without resorting to a god belief. Some claim that god is necessary in order to give salvation, but this idea only holds true if you accept the idea of salvation which Buddhism does not. Buddha said that each individual has the capacity to purify their own mind shifting attention from the heavens to the mind and encouraged us to find solutions through self understanding.

Many people claim that miracles prove the existence of a god. But we never get independent scientific or medical confirmation of these miracles. Wild claims and second hand reports of miraculous recovery are no substitute for solid evidence of miracles and such evidence is very rare. While unnatural and unexplained happenings do occur, our inability to explain them does not prove the existence of a god, it only serves to show that our knowledge is incomplete. Before the advance of modern medicine many believed that god sent disease and cure, however advanced modern scientific knowledge has provided rational and natural causes for these events. And the future of science may very be able to explain scientifically what is currently unexplainable.

The fact that so many millions of people believe in a god is often put forward as proof of its existence, however the amount of people who believe in something id no measure of its truth or falsehood. For example, there was a time when the vast majority of people believed that the earth was flat but the reality was nowhere the belief. The only way we can determine truth from falsehood is by looking at the facts and examining the evidence.

Instead of believing in a god, Buddhists believe in humanity and that; each human being is important and precious and all have the potential to develop into a Buddha and a perfect human being. Human beings can outgrow ignorance and irrationality and see things as they truly are. Hatred, anger, spite and jealousy can be replaced by love, patience, generosity and kindness. Everything is within the grasp of every person if we make the effort guided and supported by their fellow Buddhists and inspired by the example of the Buddha, as he himself said

“No one saves us but ourselves

No one can and no one may

We ourselves must walk the path

But Buddha’s clearly show the way”