Faith divides people

Many atrocities are being perpetrated by believers, even on others who believe in the same god, just because they are different.

There are always mad people, but religions give them one more excuse, one more trigger to go crazy.


Politics and religion is a lethal mix.  Faith based politicians are above history, therefore probably above the law, the constitution.  Those who denounce history are bound to repeat the same mistakes.  Poor us, we are being dragged along. 


Politics is itself a faith.  It's always about protecting your own interest, and "hopefully" your policies turn up right for others too.  It's not about proof, right or wrong.


Religions are always being criticized.  The differences are, evil ones try to destroy you by all means within the law, try to cover up atrocities to protect their survival, or simply issue an order to kill you.

Governors like religion, making it easier to govern.  People are less likely to revolt or protest against economic hardships.  There's always the next life or after life.


Just as many religions claim, science is a faith and philosophy.  If you don't understand it, you believe you will find the answer in due course.  And science has historically been a branch of philosophy, focusing on how the world works. 


The difference is, science welcomes criticism.  If you have a better explanation, thank you very much, and sure I can make use of it.  There are always arguments, but they will be settled on facts, not your life.  Losers get recognition as pioneers too.


The only thing religious about Buddhism seems to be the involuntary cycle of suffering and rebirth.  People may rebirth as humans, animals, ghosts, in heaven or hell.  But because of the believe of constant change, I doubt very much the concept of thetans applies to rebirth.  I bet the DNA that your descendants carry are more constant than a Buddhism rebirth.


Religion is a natural product of evolution.  When you become good in survival, you want to live forever.  When you are confronted with things you don't understand all day long, the answer is faith.


In the early Buddhism, desires or cravings is central.  You suffer because you have unfulfilled desires.  And desires know no bounds.  Therefore you will be liberated (the god like state of Nirvana), forever happy in the extreme, if you improve yourself by getting rid of all your desires.


But if you are liberated, do you still have the desire to live forever, and does it matter?


In later Buddhism, emptiness become central.  Matter, senses, perceptions, are all unreal.  The world exists as causes and effects of minds.  Did LRH copied this?


The difference is, Buddhism does not try to control MEST (because it's not real anyway?).  To liberate yourself, you need to achieve the state of emptiness, and see that everything out there is not real, not there, meaningless.


Now what does this says to eternal life and the answer to everything?