I have been bashing religion quite a bit over the last few days and while I personally think it is a reasonable pastime, I am aware that not everyone will agree.

As a result I tried to spend some time today looking for reasonable examples of the good and balanced aspects to the various religions. Strangely I was not massively successful but I did come across some things which made me think (a first) – and I still don’t have an answer.

Basically, is Buddhism a religion or not? I found a blog which asked if it was possible to be an atheist and a Buddhist at the same time and personally I think the short answer is yes, which in turn implies that Buddhism is not a “religion” in the normal term. The blog post debates it in much better terms than I can or will do here, and brings in the addition of Confucianism to the question (based on a sentence in the God Delusion). In a similar vein, I found another Buddhist’s blog “defending Dawkins” which largely leaves me thinking, in line with Dawkins, that Buddhism should not be described as a “religion” in the normal sense. Both these blog articles are well written and interesting, so any attempts by me to cut parts here would be doomed to failure. I strongly suggest you visit those two sites and have a look.

However, this is not something which seems to sit well with me at the moment as my instincts cry out it is a “religion.” This is a viewpoint I have been brought up to hold and while I struggle to rationalise this view now, I can’t easily dismiss it. Other points of view, more than welcomed.

Technorati tags: Richard Dawkins, religion, buddhist, Atheist, confucius