What is the best religion?

[K. A. Pital]

Okay, here's the question.

Which religion is the best?

I don't define "best", because everyone has his own opinion what criteria makes the religion best.

But anyway, my pick is good old Confucius.
Reasons?
One of the least violent and least violence-inspiring religions. No witch-hunts, slaughter of infidels, intolerance and hate are prohibited in Confucius' religion.
One of the highly moral and tolerant religions, also a lot of humanism. "Love for humans" is one of the ground concepts of this religion.
One of the least irrational religions. No "heavenly jihad", no "heavenly Konzentrationslager (Hell)", no mass murder. No heavenly retribution, no sin. Essentially - no blah.
One of the highly social religions. Confucius was a government man and his religion is a socialist one - it essentially is about healthy relations in the socium, much is spoken about government and justice, and not some sort of "die infidel" justice, but justice by law of man.

So, that's my pick.

If I meet a Christian who is liberal enough to say the Bible is not "literal truth", I always tell him to read "Lun yuy" which is essentially all the humanism and good of Christianity without all the hatemongering.

[SirNitram]

Okay, here's the question.

Which religion is the best?

Gonna have to go with good ol' Deism. Screw all the morality, stories, and suchlike; just enjoy the beauty of the universe and the divinity inherent in a place where you can look in one way and see a new star being born, and another to see the beauty of a dead star's nebulae remnants.

[Gil Hamilton]

Confucian philosophy also had people being executed for rediculous things. There is a story about Confucius furiously (but politely!) demanded that the Duke of a Chinese province execute his musical director because he made the social gaffe of playing palace music in a pastoral area, because only a barbarian would do so. The Duke carried this out.

And Confucianism definately did have a heaven and hell and sin and all of that. However, it's a but more humanist because deep down, Master Kung didn't care about religion, he just hated to see anything done wrong or without his stamp of approval.

[Zero]

I like buddhism, myself. It's primary concerns are with the real world.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

In my view, the only reallly good religion is no religion. No invisible sky-man to be a person's best buddy, or Ultimate Father Figure, no invisible sky-boogeymen to blame one's trouble on. No pointless rituals and mindless dismissal of science and reasoning. No outdated notions of "sin" and skewed views on "morality." In this, one is responsible for their own actions, and is held accountable by secular systems which mete out real, tangible rewards and consequences.

[K. A. Pital]

Well, as far as I know Master Kung didn't tell people to slaughter each other in Lun Yuy, which is the "holy book" of all Confucians. Whatever he himself did is irrelevant. As for slaughters of the time - duh, that was 500 years ago. But certainly what he said is close to modern humanism, that's why I chose him.

SirNitram
Good pick. The question is - can deism be called a religion at all?

[K. A. Pital]

GrandMasterTerwynn
The products of secular systems can arguably be called religions or substitues for religion. The only true no-religion is atheism, but the funny thing is that atheism can be a part of a religion - if that religion denies deities. And we've seen such religions.

In any case, a certain human tradition sets values of morality, because pure logic is definetely out of the realms of morality.

[Darth Wong]

Humanism is the best religion. It's the only one which does not require entities whose existence cannot be scientifically established. All but the most asinine objectors must admit that humans exist.

[Dalton]

I've always liked Buddhism, because a religion that promotes chilling out is always cool with me.

[General Zod]

Another vote for Buddhism. Primarily because if you take away the supernatural stuff, its core tenets are still applicable to a good deal of real life situations, and rather similar to humanism in ways.

[Guardsman Bass]

A sort of limited deism wouldn't be too bad, since it would allow you to believe that there is a kind of grand, underlying design to the universe, without all the sort of marginalized, ethnocentric bullshit that lies beneath many of the world's religions.

[wolveraptor]

I hate that Confucianism makes up huge sections of bullshit rules and manners. "A gentlemen shows neither joy at reward nor sorrow at punishment." What the fuck is that? I suppose the core is good, but then, you can say that about almost every religion.

I'd have to say the best religion is Asatru, the Norse religion, because their gods kick ass. Of course, the best religion to practice would be Buddhism, even though it is unnatural to deny desires (and potentially unhealthy).

[salm]

I like Scientology. Even the dullest tool in the box knows that Scientology will fuck them up and steal their money but the morons still join.
It´s kind of like the cell phone ring tone companies who rip off idiot teenagers.

[Captain Cyran]

I'm gonna have to side with deism. The problem you're going to have with ANY religion (or even anti-religion/lack of religion) is that there are always the fucking nut cases who use the religion for their own purposes or get something out of it that no one else sees. I personally am under the impression that many religions ahve started out meaning the best, but as time passed new people looking to gain power or to suppress someone else came to power and subverted the religion.

[K. A. Pital]

No, all religions are not good at the core - the core of many religions is rotted due to egalitarianism and groundlaying xenophobia ("we are chosen people, the rest of the scum die, this way or other"). So there' s a huge difference between archaic hateful religions which have only become "good" since pushed to change by modern humanism (Islam, Christianity) and those religions which were close to humanism from the beginning, thus playing a large role in forming a humane worldview.

I can be wrong, but if a religion denies a deity and tells a man that his morality proceeds from himself that is surely a big step forward.

[SyntaxVorlon]

Confucianism is about structuring human relationships toward the purpose of not pissing off your dead relatives.

[SyntaxVorlon]

Ghetto edit: Damn posted too soon and can't edit.

At any rate it's not that flexible for a religion. Take up Buddhism if you want spirituality, Taoism if you want mysticism or Humanism if you want...humanism.

[Elheru Aran]

Not so much a religion as it is a way of life-- Coism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coism

Basic precepts:

* The existence of God can never be proved or disproved, and is thus inconsequential.

* Any theory that cannot be tested is philosophy, not science.

* Religion deserves to be treated with respect, but not reverence.

* Science does not know everything, but that does not mean it knows nothing.

* Faith does not constitute proof.

* Everybody deserves to be respected from conception, until they prove otherwise.

* Everybody deserves empathy, but not necessarily sympathy or condonation.

* It is evil to kill somebody if they want to live.

* It is evil to keep somebody alive if they want to die.

* Everybody has a right not to be hurt, deceived, insulted, defamed or harmed.

* Discrimination on grounds of age, sex, race, religion, sexuality or appearance is wrong.

* Testing cosmetics on animals, and animal cruelty for pleasure is evil.

* People are entitled to be carnivorous, vegetarian or vegan, but should respect the choice of others. Cannibalism is evil.

* The interests of human medical knowledge take precedence over animal rights, but vivisection should minimalize suffering to as great a degree as possible without reducing the effectiveness of the science.

* Wearing fur is only acceptable where essential due to cold climates.

* The ability to forgive is a virtue to be desired, but nobody has a right to expect forgiveness for an evil act.

* People must not be punished for acts committed due to mental incapacity, insanity, intense distress or fear.

* Religious belief does not excuse evil.

* Enforcers of law and keepers of peace must be respected.

* It is an honourable position to oppose a war but support its soldiers.

The article above has more, but this, overall, I consider pretty much the best.

[Patrick Degan]

The Church Of The SubGenius.

Also:


The Church Of Reality: "If it's Real, we believe in it".

[Noble Ire]

Personally, I am a Humanist, I suppose you could say, but Deism and Buddhism also seem alright. Not so much recently, but occasionally even I have an urge to believe in something supernatural, although it isn't permenant enough for me to actually "believe" in anything.

Coism sounds pretty good too, now that it's been mentioned.

[Vendetta]

Ancient Egyptian polytheism.

Any belief system that starts with the creator god getting a handjob off his wife and making the earth from his fresh, gleaming, spunk is good enough for me.

[Losonti Tokash]

Of course, the best religion to practice would be Buddhism, even though it is unnatural to deny desires (and potentially unhealthy).

You misunderstand. It's not about denying yourself pleasure in life, it's about striking a balance between hedonism and asceticism. You seem to be confusing it with Jainism or something else entirely.

[OmegaGuy]

Deism IMO

[General Zod]

Of course, the best religion to practice would be Buddhism, even though it is unnatural to deny desires (and potentially unhealthy).

You misunderstand. It's not about denying yourself pleasure in life, it's about striking a balance between hedonism and asceticism. You seem to be confusing it with Jainism or something else entirely.

Which version of Buddhism are you basing this off? I don't recall reading anything like that with regards to what I've seen on the religion.

[Losonti Tokash]

Of course, the best religion to practice would be Buddhism, even though it is unnatural to deny desires (and potentially unhealthy).

You misunderstand. It's not about denying yourself pleasure in life, it's about striking a balance between hedonism and asceticism. You seem to be confusing it with Jainism or something else entirely.

Which version of Buddhism are you basing this off? I don't recall reading anything like that with regards to what I've seen on the religion.

Straight from the horse's mouth (or at least as close as I can get). Not any particular sect.