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.