A Black Agnostic Criticizes the Black Church in America
This is not a criticism of the black church but a question that I address that I wonder if others ponder too. What’s in History I have read a lot …
Madalyn Murray O’Hair – The reason behind the hate
Arguably the most notorious atheist of the 20th century, Madalyn Murray O’Hair built a life on boldly challenging any overlapping in church and state. She not only challenged any perceived …
Great Books that Criticize Religion
Why I Am Not a Christian is a book of essays which includes a copy of a speech by Bertrand Russell, the Welsh-born philosopher and mathematician, who delivered it to …
Has Religion become Obsolete
In today’s relentlessly progressing society, there lies a general consensus that science is slowly but enviably stripping away the functions of religion one by one. Previously unexplainable phenomenons thought to …
Understanding why Theists need to Deny Atheism
Just as many atheists feel the need to deny the probability of a divine creator, even more theists are compelled to spread the word of God and thereby denounce atheism. …
Questioning whether the Concept of God – Acceptance on God’s existence
Can God be disproved? Can God be proved? Can we fully understand God (or the lack thereof) sufficiently to answer those questions? One might just as well ask an ant …
Exploring the Question of Freedom Offered by Atheism
Atheism offers freedom in the relationship to the God theories of the world today. Atheism being the denial of the existence of God and presuming the theory is that no …
Humanists Heaven on Earth
HEAVEN ON EARTH: IS IT POSSIBLE? Heaven can be defined several ways. Out of the six entries offered by the “American Heritage Dictionary,” there are only two that the humanist …
10 Sources of Inspiration for Atheists
Atheists are no different than anyone else with the sole exception that they don’t believe in God or any form of higher being. With that in mind they have to …
Dangerous Myths Reward after Death what a Reward
WHAT A REWARD! Where to begin if you are still alive? Yet, there’s no escaping the question of death. But dangerous myths: reward after death? That’s quite another story. All …
Einstein Atheism Agnostic Humanist Scientist God Religion
By common definition, an atheist rejects all forms of religion and denies outright the existence of God. If this definition is used to weigh Albert Einstein’s belief in God or …
Why Atheism and Morality are not Incompatible
It’s said that religion is the opiate of the masses. People tend to lump morality in with spirituality. Religious people will say that you can’t be moral if your not …
Is Atheism Compatible With Morality?
This question’s answer must begin with a categorical study of the two concepts. To briefly examine them for the sake of time, atheism is a belief that denies the existence …
Five Precepts to remember in Buddhism
To understand Buddhists morality, one must understand one of the principles that Buddha laid out: the Five Precepts. They are the social and moral code that prevents people from destroying …
Introduction to the Karma – Buddhism
Centuries before becoming a major Buddhist concept Karma was a central theme in what we now call Hinduism. The word “karma” translates to “action” or “deed”. Thus, simply put, Karma …
The Buddhist Attitude to other Religions
Buddhists have a non-attitude towards other religions, they recognise, unlike most of the dominant religions in the world today, that there are many overlapping paths to the same goal. If …
Buddhism – Introduction to Mudras
Mudras have been used in the East for thousands of years, mostly in relationship with meditation. You notice Buddhist statues and artwork have the hands placed in significant poses. Mudras …
3 Main Schools of Buddhism
Buddhism doesn’t have one set of particular rules. There are three main schools of Buddhism and many branches of those trees have their own customs and beliefs as well. The …
Social Welfare – A Buddhist Concept
Without social welfare Siddhartha Gautama would never have become Shakyamuni Buddha. It was through the ingrained, but not enforced it must be noted, social welfare structures of his time that …
Siddhartha Gautama – Who was he?
We know him better in the West as the Buddha, but his name was Siddhartha Gautama. Like many Hindus of his time he was born into a particular station in …
Nirvana – Buddhism Introduction
Nirvana is what you call “ultimate enlightenment” which is the equivalent to Heaven in Christianity. In a sense, this is the ultimate goal for all practitioners of Buddhism. That was …
Mudras – A Buddhism Introduction
Buddhism art and imagery are rich with symbolism. In particular, specific hand gestures or mudras are found throughout Buddhist art and are used by individuals during meditation and other Buddhist …
Buddhist Funeral Rites
Buddhist funeral rites are an interesting thing. No funeral rites are the as they could apply from one country to another. There are plenty of Buddhists in China, Hong Kong, …
The Symbols of Buddhism
There were offerings made to Shakyamuni Buddha immediately after attaining his enlightenment. These were the eight symbols of good fortune. The Two Golden Fishes The two fish in the design …
Understanding Buddist Funeral Rites
There are many schools of Buddhism. Each school has a different version of truths and rites. All the sects seem to believe that the monks hold an essential part in …
The Buddhist Outlook on the Individual
Buddhism is a belief system tailored for the individual on a “vision quest”; the individual who identifies with being “a work in progress”; the individual who yearns to be self-sufficient …
Nirvana the Ultimate
Samsara is the cycle of reincarnation It is recognized in both Hinduism and Buddhism. This cycle takes place as a soul learns to end suffering by participating in wholesome Karma. …
Friendship – A Buddhist’s Concept
“Metta”, translated as “loving kindness” or “wishing happiness for others”, is the Buddhist concept of good friendship. The term implies expectations and individual responsibility, in line with the essence of …
Mind and Body – A Buddhist View
The focus point of the Buddhist teachings are the mind and body, which involves the human mind as the steering wheel. The Buddhism belief system teaches that the mind controls …
An Introduction to Buddhism
Enlightenment: One Way or Another Buddism or Buddha Dhamma has little to do with the cute and sexy hippie chic Dharma and her lawyer husband, Greg. A poor-man’s translation would …
Rebel Buddhist Lama – Chogyam Trungpa
In 1970, a Tibetan Buddhist Lama who once endured extreme thirst rather than drink fermented spirits came to America. Chogyam Trungpa never turned down a drink again. His defying the …
Important Terms and Words in Buddhism
Many of the words and terms essential to Buddhism are in the Pali or Sanskrit languages and have remained common derivatives from the original for centuries, even when speaking in …