Sunday, September 11, 2005

The best religion is?

There are many religions, created by many prophets and split into many sects. Which ones is the best? It is most likely not possible to derive a single conclusion as the best religion depends on the person and their circumstance.

By numbers one would have to say Christianity, then Islam, then Agnosticism (perhaps lack of religion is one as well), Hinduism, Buddhism or Chinese polytheistism of Buddhism / Confucianism / Taoism.

But numbers is probably not the best way to go. It may be better to look at the prophets of each religion, if they all had a chance to discuss and figure out amongst themselves whose philosophy was right, who would win? Of coarse many religions do not have a prophet, so that wouldn’t work, but would be an interesting discussion none the less.

I have studied various religions enough to know that Buddha’s philosophy probably makes the most sense to a plain agnostic atheist like myself. A religion with no God, a prophet claiming to just be a mortal man, with his own humble thoughts, describing his own religion as a boat that can help guide one across the river to enlightenment, and once across should be thrown away as then one can think for themselves. Seems pretty reasonable, but didn’t seem to take off as well as the more popular religions that tell people exactly what to think. I think Buddha’s main fault was that he had too much confidence in people’s ability to be able to think for themselves.

Mohammad, Mosses and Jesus seemed to have much more success in controlling people’s thoughts. Quite the opposite side of the spectrum, their teachings were the word of God, not to be questioned and followed exactly. Mohammad’s Koran details exactly how one should behave dictating the law and even basic hygiene. I think Mohammad probably had a little more knowledge of humanity having been raised in less of a secluded lifestyle, having fought wars, having been a businessman, and political leader. He had less confidence in people’s ability to come to their own humane conclusions and knew what the average person was capable of if left to their own reasoning.

So, I not sure I can pick an ideal or best religion, all religions have their good and bad points, what beliefs they have in common is probably the best religion of all.