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Old 2012-06-30, 23:30   Link #3316
tkdtiger
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: In Florida
Quote:
Originally Posted by Urzu 7 View Post
You ever read up on Buddhism and Hinduism? Their belief systems say all beings and all reality is interconnected with the whole of reality. All connected with what is called 'Ultimate Reality'. To Buddhists, this is Nirvana. To Hindus, like the last part of your quoted text, Ultimate Reality to them is God (Hinduism believes in one God, it isn't actually polytheistic, that is a popular misconception with westerners, and probably Muslims, too).

The Abrahamic religions...yeah, Christianity has had a lot of problems over the centuries. It has mellowed out a lot in the past 100-200 years and over the last several decades. Early Christianity had some great things about it. When Rome made Christianity its religion, well, it let a lot of negative things seep in. A lot of Christians feel that way. It more or less led to things like the Crusades and using force to convert non-believers. Early Christianity wasn't about spreading by force or waging war with non-believers. A lot of modern Christians feel a bit conflicted about it, because Rome making Christianity its official religion led to a lot of bad things, but it also made Christianity really take off, allowing it to spread and thrive very much. But things could have been different, and maybe the religion would have spread well without Rome. Buddhism has spread almost entirely by peaceful means. It has over 400 million followers today, and then there are millions who aren't followers of the religion but benefit from and take inspiration from the religion.
It should be noted though that Christianity is not the only religion to have this problem. As organizations (even non-religious organizations) grow there is a higher chance of abuse. It also should be noted that Buddhism and Hinduism has also had periods of violence. In fact there was a recent clash between Buddhists and Muslims maybe a couple weeks ago from what I read... I think all religions in some form warns about this, but as humans maybe it is a part of our nature that we have to fight with everyday. It should be noted though that most wars in modern times have been wars on ideology not religion. In fact the 1900s is considred the most violent century.

I'm a Christian, but I enjoy studying all religions.
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