Any particular reason that you think we need more religion?
I don’t think we need more religion, no. I think people would like options with less archaic ideas, and that they would like the community and activity that religious groups can offer if the strange belief requirements can be left behind.
I think it’s just a thought exercise
It would have two tenets:
- Be excellent to each other
- Party on, dudes
The Satanic Temple and Buddhism both fill that niche for me. So, I would make it like them.
I would suggest that you reconsider TST in light of recent actions. At the very least, look into all of the people that have been summarily kicked out solely by Doug Mesner AKA Lucien Greaves, been stripped of their ministerial titles, and how many chapters/congregations have separated from the org. If you use Reddit at all, you can find some of it there. I’m friends on Facebook with some of the higher-up people that either left or were kicked out, and… It ain’t pretty.
The long and short of it is that Doug Mesner and Cevin Soling (AKA Malcom Jarry) entirely own all of the intellectual property that is The Satanic Temple, and so they have complete control over everything that goes on. It’s fundamentally authoritarian, even though they officially espouse more anarchistic, freedom-loving principles. The most recent schism is because Doug is exercising his authoritarian tendencies and throwing people out that disagree with him.
In order to make it wholesome and helpful I would not create one.
Not completely safe there with Buddhism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_violence
I don’t have anything to back this up, but I wonder if there’s a strong correlation between a religion being minority in a region and how “peaceful” it is, because my suspicion is that majority/power of any kind will always come at the risk of attracting chuds or corrupting the fearful into protecting themselves by attacking others. Literally “others” I guess.
Pet hypothesis just held up by vibes though so
And a sect of the TST was removed because they started pushing for violence. Every religion is vulnerable to corruption by people’s pride and other hindrances. Buddhism is no exception. Nor is any imaginary one folks come up with in this thread.
Anyway, power corrupts. We’ve always known that. The ‘devil’ in Buddhism is the lust or will to power. Lies and manipulation are simply a tool it uses. And, like Buddha Nature, we all have it.
No, it’s the satanic temple. Buddhism as practiced in Buddhist countries is the same shit different god, they dgaf, and have not read any scripture.
The western perception of Buddhism versus what Buddhists believe is totally different.
You kill a dog for meat? You drown it so it experiences terror and fights for its life, then you take its strength when you eat it.
It’s just like any other religion, you adhere when it suits you, and you probably know nothing about its precepts.
That’s a gross over generalization. I get it, I was a militant atheist at one point in my life too and still have a lot of similar biases in my religious views.
There are sincere Christians and ones that pay lip service. Same with Buddhism. There are many Christian sects, some dogmatic, some not. Same with Buddhism.
Half the TST principles are Buddhist. Either being path factors (Right View, Right Action) or expressions of the four immeasurables (compassion, justice).
And I just watched a documentary on TST. They’ve had issues with members too. Militant sects forming that forgot about compassion as a principle. Etc.
My point was that Buddhism is religion, they are all the same.
First, they’re all bullshit.
Second, a tiny percentage actually adhere to scripture.
So if you say ‘I believe in X’, but your actions are contrary to that scripture should I really think you believe in ‘X’?
And the TST is also a religion.
Anyway, your ‘they’re all bullshit’ comment makes it clear you didn’t join this thread to have a good faith discussion, but rather to shit on views different from your own.
So, I’ll leave you to it. Enjoy.
That’s rather simplistic and dismissive.
I would love it if there was some kind of unifying force to make the world better.
Religion does not seem to be it though.
Religion/Community. In a brighter world those words would be interchangeable.
I am an atheist at heart, but you still have to acknowledge that the core values of a lot of religions are for the betterment of others.
People don’t seem to be capable of being uncorruptable. You can have a perfect religion, or one that only adheres to goodness (like tst) and it will be PEOPLE who abuse it. Not the religion itself, just people cherry picking what they want.
It could be laws, it could be a cult, it could be a religion, it could be a government. Some people just fucking suck, end of story.
I’d make it atheistic, include meditation and be proactive with volunteering or useful projects.
Isn’t this basically Buddhism? Apart from the atheistic bit, of course.
Ha true, good point. Buddhism can be a little atheistic, I believe, the Buddha isn’t an actual deity for most adherents. (I think…?)
Buddhism isn’t dogmatic about cosmology/theology, but there’s a lot of it there. Most likely as a hold over from Hinduism, as teaching using the ancient Indian conventional worldview would have been a skillful means for the Buddha and his disciples.
That said, in that cosmology, the Hindu gods live in the Deva realm. Time there is much slower but they still do age (impermanence) and die, and cycle into lower realms if they don’t awaken. A being can be both a Buddha and a Deva. Just as Siddhartha was a Buddha and a Human.
An example of this is Amitabha, the Buddha of the Pure Lands (a Deva realm). This is a Buddha that many east Asian Mahayana Buddhists take refuge in, as Amitabha made a vow to hold space for people to practice and achieve enlightenment.
Amitabha isn’t worshiped the same way Western religions worship gods. The outward customs look similar. Offering incense and stuff like that. But the goal is gifting. It’s giving something to someone you value or love, similar to taking care of the monks and nuns. And gifting is considered a spiritual practice (because it is, giving something with no strings attached or expectation of reward nurtures joy, compassion, etc.)
Amitabha doesn’t get mad and kill all the firstborns if people don’t give him gifts in other words. That’s the difference between worship and devotion.
Reading your above comment you might like Burning Man too. The principles provide similar guidance to religion. A lot of Burners are into meditation and stuff like that. A lot of us are also into drugs, loud music that goes all night, and carnival level art spectacles. Which isn’t everyone’s jam, but it’s a very loving community based on anarchism and making art.
Wow thank you for the info, very insightful. I’ve always been interested in Burning Man but live to far away!
I go to regionals. They’re smaller, cheaper, less of a time commitment, and they help me form a sense of community in my area with like-minded people.
If you google Burning Man, your area, regional, you might be able to find something.
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Just worship cats.
Didn’t this exist already?
Bast is best
