Or not.

Buddha taught that life is suffering caused by desire. Curb your desires for more more more and you begin to improve yourself and the world. The teachings of the Buddha are given to humanity to free us of living in ignorance and self created suffering.

The Buddha was born in to a culture that believed in reincarnation and that man was doomed to spend life after life trying to become worthy of heaven. Buddha gave his lessons as a 'shortcut' past those thousands of lives so that we may give up our wicked and worldly ways of serving our petty desires and move on to Nirvana faster.

That is about the best nutshell of Buddhism you are going to get and it has nothing to do with living a balance of good and evil. Where did you learn that?

You may have confused Tao for Buddhism, that is not all to uncommon for westerners to do but they are not the same... but even if you have gotten the Tao mixed up you have still failed to grasp it as well





You meant 'prophet' but I think it is funny ten times over you would get your Christ mixed up with Mammon.





First is a lack of trust or understanding. A mob full of muslims wanting to burn a christian church is no more in the right than you were when you called for violence against the people building a mosque near ground zero. I am not calling either of those groups right or correct, Both sides are wrong and you are one of those wrong sides

wow... i think i'm in love....

SPICY! Catholic High School was 3 1/2 of the worst years of my life. I could discuss their paganistic behavior such as praying to Mary and Saints but that is not pertinent to this argument.





you seem to also forget the other teachings of Buddha pertaining to the place of good and evil in our lives. he did also grasp and speak of the concept of the Yin and Yang which is a symbol of balance. Also you reflect only on Buddha's EARLY teachings when he was into self punishment. How about later when he said life was about indulging the experience while growing as a person? Buddha did change his mind about the whole concept of self denial. Why is Buddha so fat in his later period images? Also why is he seen dancing celebrating good fortune with an overflowing chalice??? I am very familiar with the teachings of Buddha. Wanna get into the concept of Kali Maa? Oh but her being the Earth Mother and the Creator Destroyer probably would lead to a whole new tangent to this argument here.




I have ripped priest to shreds philosophically just with this concept, if God created everything then that means god created good and evil and that means god had knowledge of both and the wherewithal to act evilly (Job, Noah's Arc, Ordering the Hebrews to slaughter the city of Jericho and Caanan, I mean God's evil is a long list like ORDERING HIS OWN SON TO DIE FOR OUR SINS! HOW SICK IS THAT?!?!) then how can you claim god to be good? Especially when god is good and god is evil!


I would spit in God's eye before bowing or kneeling or going prostrate to whatever God is! but then again Satan was a creation of Christianity!

Mammon was a servant of Lucifer although scholars also contend that Mammon was a Babylonian creation. Frankly the Roman Catholic Church is what ROME BECAME! Rome Became religion incarnate. Likewise like the Roman pantheon where Gods were "absorbed" into their belief which helped to "acclimate" subjugated populations through their own religion. Well, The Holy Roman Catholic Church who wrote the bible as we know it used whatever fit their dogma and using gods and demons from other religions.



When I question any and all Muslims about their faith, and I am talking about asking them the HARD questions like, "why is it justified to declare jihad on those not of Islam if they are not harming them and even promoting their livelihoods?" they suddenly do not want to talk about their faith! If you cannot question their faith something is wrong! Especially when you point out moral conflicts within their OWN teachings!

Now like I had asked you before have you been to Egypt? Have you been to Israel? How about Afghanistan? I know people from those nations. Multiple people. I learn from others. I have spoken in depth with Coptic Christians before. Their take on Christianity is only a little different even though the church and ceremonies are different.

I can compare the Quaran to Mein Kampf. And you cannot see the comparison?




Christianity is a huge hypocritical lie. The idea of letting a man die for my actions to absolve me in the name of some unseen god allowing me to be forgiven of anything I do short of rebuking God's name IS EVIL! But at least Christians for the most part are not taught to take up arms against the who don't believe. Hell, I have read the Book of Mormon too. they are some odd birds. their brand of Christianity is even more of a lie but it isn't guiding people to do bad things.

The Quaran SPELLS OUT IN BLACK AND WHITE what and who an infidel is. I do not nor will ever convert. Therefore, they (Muslims) are obliged to kill me or harm me (torture me) into converting. Again you assume too much thinking I am a Christian BY ANY STRETCH of the imagination. What I believe is a little too complicated to involve in this topic.

The only peaceful Muslim is the one that turns away from the Quaran and embraces real peace. It does not involve religious affiliation. Again Quaran = Mein Kamph

Indonesia, Egypt, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, seeing what is happening in these mostly Muslim nations and who strikes the first blow time and time again in the fight between Christians and Muslims, more often then not it is the Muslims casting the first stone.

And Tao was something Buddha was taught thank you! they are sort of contemporary faiths but they do have differences. There are ways Buddhism compares to Hindi without the animism! if I remember Buddha also studied in India too! I don't exactly remember but I know he wandered for a while in search of his truth! That is coon for profits to do. Heck even Christians are under the impression Jesus traveled to the new world too but that is just stupid and another tangent!

By the way, didn't God supposedly chase Baal from heaven? Does that not imply other Gods and some big war?

The Tao was not taught to Buddha, he likely never encountered it in his lifetime.

Buddha did not need to go to India 'to study', he was born and raised there. Buddhism does not 'Compare' with Hinduism, it sprang from it in much the same manner as Christianity sprang from Judaism


Here is some help for you. Not the best of sources but it will get you on the path to knowing, at least

The Tao-

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


Lao Tzu- The guy who is credited with giving the world the Tao, but may or may have not existed at all


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


The Buddha, an Indian philosopher and prophet.... not Chinese


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

It is not Islam but rather the large radical Islamic elements who are
advocating violence against "the West" and attacking others like the
U.S. who advocate religious tolerance and separation of church and
state. We truly have a responsibility to combat the radical Islamic
terror organizations. See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMLJJEDDDGc

In our society anyone has a right to put a church, synagogue or mosque
wherever they like. It is just that placing a large Islamic Center and
mosque at the site of one of the worst Islamic-based terrorist attacks
in the world is tasteless and needlessly provocative and abusive of
the memory of those killed there in the name of Islam.

It would be a better choice to move it a few miles away from this very
sensitive and emotionally evocative site.

Think about placing a large Christian Church and Center next to the
holy sites in Mecca for example. It would be likely viewed as needlessly
provocative by the Saudis. Of course in their non-democratic society
it would be prohibited though many might consider such an outright
prohibition somewhat bigoted.

Sad on all sides. It is not good to let these people make everyone opinion of islam

I am going to be hesitant to use the word large, as compared to the number of muslims in the world they are a tiny fraction.






I would agree if it were only christians who were attacked that day, or if there were not two mosques inside the towers when they were destroyed.

You simply can not separate christian victims from the muslims who were attacked alongside them.







A great example. We should never fall to the level of theocratic governments or monarchies like Saudi Arabia. Nor should we use them as examples of how to behave.

The mosque and the greek orthodox church should be restored and the people should go about their business praying at any of them that they want.

We say 'If you do that the terrorists win' a lot, maybe too much but in this case it really is true. If we respond to the attacks with fear or ostracism for muslims and their holy sites as so many posts in this thread have done then it becomes clear that the terrorists really have totally defeated you in the exact way they meant to. Every post rejecting New Yorks muslim population and suggesting that we become more like Saudi Arabia in our willingness to bar the mosque puts us a little further down the road the terrorists would love to see us take


Always nice when you can find someone or at least a point you can agree with on the opposite side of a serious debate. Glad you posted.





Edit- In response to the post above, you and everyone should take a look here. More people especially muslims should speak out or at least support those who do

http://www.freemuslims.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCX3I5fELhw

This is an interesting wee video. NOTE: the video is a SATIRE.

Personally I recognize the beauty of Islam and the common ethics and
teachings of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It is all the same God
after all.

I also believe it is very important to confront the truly horrible
and perverted radical Islamists as they are committing unspeakable
crimes in the name of Islam. They must not be allowed to hurt any
more people.



I can see why so many Americans find it offensive to have a large
Islamic Center and mosque so close to the WTC site.

In number terms it is certainly millions of people who follow these
radical Islamists and harbor hostile feelings towards the US and
other democratic countries. The magnitude of the threat of terrorist
attacks is proportional to the number of radical Islamists even if
the percentage of the Islamic community is not that great.




I am not separating victims. A prominent Islamic center adjacent to
the site where 3000 people were slaughter (regardless of their
religion) in the name of Islam is offensive to many people. It is
no real problem to build the center at a respectful distance from
the massacre. The only reason not to do so is to make a political
or religious statement and this is quite distasteful to many.





I am glad that you appreciate my argument. I am not suggesting that
we make the US more like Saudi Arabia. I do not think that we should
legislate when or where mosques can be built.

My point is that the Muslim community in NY should voluntarily
relocate the Center away from this site because otherwise it will
be a constant irritant, many many people will find it horribly
offensive and for obvious reasons and not without justification.
It is sad but the respectful thing would be to relocate it
and then it could be shown how sensitive and caring the NY Islamic
community is rather than how confrontational and insensitive.

They could turn it into a publicity opportunity rather than a
monument to insensitivity. That's all. I think if they did relocate
it and say explicitly it is to show caring for their fellow NYers
that it would go a long way towards rehabilitating their image.

Even though they have every right to build there....

the current estimate is 7% of population for radical muslems, and at 1.4 billion (and growing), thats 98,000,000 people, spread out over the globe. so do you really think a small fraction is nothing to worry about? (ww2 was involved about 60 million people, on all sides)

how many 'christian' soldiers do western armies have and how often do they 'invade' and 'occupy' other areas to make sure they are doing what the western world deems politicall appropriate?

ummm 4? i haven't heard of Christian soldiers lately blowing up any nightclubs, hotels, embassy's, bus or train stations, or hijacking planes and flying them into any buildings...when was the last "holy war" the Christians started? i'm not trying to get into a spitting match on what religion is better, i think all religions suck. fact is islam is made up of many different cultures and ethics, some good, some bad, it just depends on how they interpret what they read. one of the problems is the fatwas they decree.
from wiki
A fatwā (Arabic: فتوى‎; plural fatāwā Arabic: فتاوى‎) in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā is called, in that respect, a Mufti, i.e. an issuer of fatwā, from the verb أَفْتَى 'aftā = "he gave a formal legal opinion on". This is not necessarily a formal position since most Muslims argue that anyone trained in Islamic law may give an opinion (fatwā) on its teachings. If a fatwā does not break new ground, then it is simply called a ruling.

this is where the decrees to kill they people that draw a picture of allah, or publish one, what the women can or cannot do, and general terrorist activities. islam is not a bad religion, but people always say "few", which is close to a hundred million people. i guess it's what your definition of what a "few" is...

Zero. There is no Christian Holy War at this time.
Constantine has been dead a while now...

I could care less if two mosques were in the WTC. All this proves is that Islamics will also kill each other! So what now?

And the Comparison to Mein Kampf sticks! When a religion advocates violence I likewise advocate hostile return. If it were up to me I would wipe that one religion off the face of this planet. But it isn't up to me. Don't feed me that line Islam is about peace. they will not answer any questioning about their religion. Also Jesus said turn the other cheek when confronted. He never said what to do after that! Christians have a right to defend themselves and the Coptic Christians did strike back ( ) thankfully unlike Indonesia where a church was burned to the ground and Christians attacked wholesale or did you conveniently forget that?

And like I said, I am not always right. Good Buddha was Indian. I remember him being from the region but it has been a long time since I had brushed up on my religious history.

The fact is that Islam is a religion founded by a Syphilitic Pedophile Misogynist. It preaches and teaches subjugation, violence, and criminal behavior. It makes property of women and people in general. And you want to call that peaceful?

Well lets us look at facts, Both England and France have been grappling with Islamics defying their laws. So has Australia. Islam has tie and time again shown how tolerant they are of others. When they are the minority they lay low. When they get numbers they act up. When they are the majority they get violent. Likewise they rewrite history in their image every chance they get. So what now? Are you going to call these behaviors acceptable?





I usually reserve the nun for Politics!




Oh Yeah!



Hugs and kisses!

>Sad on all sides. It is not good to let these people make everyone opinion of islam



Not good to have an Opinion!?!

This is Islam, my friends.

Do not say anything bad about Islam or Mo, you'll be sorry.

This is why its called the "Muslim World" and the "Western World".

In the Free World, we think, and express.
In Islam, Peace is achieved by submission to the Imam in the Mosque.

There are WAY too many American's across this nation that see that mosque as an atrocity. It is so much of an Atrocity to me I actually advocate any means necessary to get them to either relocate away from that site or shut it down all together. Hell, if I had my way I would slaughter a pig on the site just to defile it!

The ignorant people are the new York city council for allowing this mosque/ Prayer center to exist!

Why not show me where the Quaran says to "tolerate thy neighbor" even if they are infidels.

Peace at the expense of common sense is stupid. When a religious book that a religion goes by says lie, cheat, steal, murder, anyone not believing in our ways is something to be taken VERY seriously

Yes I HATE the idea of another mosque being built on a site leveled by Islamics. How many holy sites of other religions has Islam desecrated and placed a Mosque over??

I am WAY too used to telling people a disaster is imminent and when it happens I get to say "I told you so" and I get to do that a lot!

The Muslims can have their mosque for all I care but NOT THERE.

Mightymoe, I almost missed your post in the mix, easy to get distracted by clowns on forums. I really should give attention to intelligent posts but the comical rants are so hard to let go without a response





Oh there have been a few.

This guy, really rotten example of a westerner and probably responsible for more than a handful of young arab men turning to terrorism in their rage


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6740735.ece




Let us not forget about this radical christian terrorist


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



Or these guys, staunch christians ready to defend their faith from 'godless northerners' and 'heathen negroes'. These people are still active today in many plances in America


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



It was not too long ago that people were blowing each other up with car bombs in Ireland over religion and national pride. No different than Jews and Palestinians today








Agreed! So as long as you are not trying to get in to a spitting match, there is no need for you to say you do not remember any christian terrorists when they are as easy to remember as the muslim ones.

Lets just stick to the facts, that just about all faiths have dangerous fringe idiots












A nonbinding statment and one that each individual is allowed to consider binding or not based on his opinion of the speaker are both the same thing, non binding.








Right. This means that no one muslim cleric is any more right than anyone else. This problem exists here in America too

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

This guy is the exact same as those nutty clerics calling us the great satan. There is no special problem with Islam over any other faith

>There is no special problem with Islam over any other faith

This is simply not true.

Islam has a Goal to take over the World and create a Caliphate where being a Muslim is the only (real) choice.

Islam is a Theocracy pretending to be a "Faith".

Islam is spread by the sword, this Im sure you understand why.

Hint: its about being a slave to Allah....