Buđhism vs Christianity esp. Catholicism, any bridges to the old divide .

No one doubts that Christianity and especially Catholicism is the most rich and powerful religion in the world. It seems to be in almost every major conflicts dating from the great Crusade to Vietnam War and this Iraq and terrorism wars , directly or indirectlỵ They say it fosters intolerance because it simply says everyone elsés is not the true religion and because for some reasons it just happens to be the richest, what it says and thinks have a lot of pull.

It is not the oldest but certainly the richest compared to Buđhism which has the whole aim to be non-materialistic in order to find the ultimate truth. So is there any comparison!

One point that is quite distinct and that is good and clever people for some reasons want to keep religion, and we are talking about Christianity, out of the statẹ But for Buđhism it has been shown and very clearly in Viet Nam that no one really calls or tries for the separation of state and Buđhism. In fact, regimes that did or do not follow Buđhism teachings have proven to be very corrupt.

But it’s strange that Communism especially Viet Nam communism does not want any religions but itself and it seems to don’t want Christianity even though there have been a lot of incentives being offered, materiallỵ !!!!

yeah, there is: shut the phuck up. religion is poison, the communist is demn right about that.

Anyone got something intelligent to say !!! Or what I say it so obvious there is nothing left to add or contradict.

Most Catholics in Viet Nam were and are "BAC KY" (northerners). And they say this combination tends to corrupt more easily.

Anyone wants to comment !!!

Fact 1 Chúa Trịnh , Vua Nguyễn which one was supported by the Catholic Church and thus should have more Catholic followers .

Fact 2 which part of the country has more Buddhists .

Fact 3 which part of the country is well known for the lay back attitude and for materialistic attitude .

Fact 4 which recent Thuy Nga’s play talks about the materialistic view of certain religion and the problems it inevitably causes.

To talk about the above subject you ultimately need to touch on these facts. It is a very well know subject , but very difficult to defend without offending or come across as stereotyping . No one wants to talk about it publicly for fear of being viewed as a redneck . Thus I choose to talk about the obvious facts as usual and there seems to be no taker .

double

qtba, the Pope spoke out in public against the war in Iraq, as he has of others in the past.

Materialistic attitude??

Then give up your computer, and whatever else you deem materialistic, and move to the woods and dig a hole with your hands to live in.

Get a grip, boy.

What do you find so appauling about folks who want a roof over their heads, food on their table, clothes on their backs, a car to get around in, a TV for information and entertainment, a phone to communicate with, and maybe some toys and a restaurant and movie now and then, or maybe to take the family on a vacation??

Are people to be like dumb animals with nothing to show for their intellect and labor??

What is wrong with enjoying the good things life has to offer??

If you tried enjoying some of the good things in life yourself you might not be so bored with your life to the point that you are irritated with it which makes you always complain about something.

meavulgar, show me a state with communism and I will show you a sad state.

Why do you suppose the founding fathers of communism, the Russians, have dropped it??

If that doesn't give you a heads-up on it, I don't know what could.

Life IS better for Russia without it.
Russia is prospering like never before right now because they did drop it.
And I say, good for them, and good for anyone else who prospers.
The world needs more prosperity.
Prosperity in a society makes that society healthy. The healthier all societies are the more sound our world is; the more peace we have in it.
It's a world economy now, and has been for quite some time.
We all need to prosper; we are all in this together.
If a country isn't doing good economically the folks there can't buy goods from other countries and vice versa.
People need to work, spend their money for goods and services, and keep others working in the process so they can do the same. Without it we'd be no better off than dumb animals.

qtba, in America everyone practices their choice of religion freely, and those who do not practice religion also do so freely.
The government here governs the nation and provides for the freedom of religion; religion does not govern the nation, freedom does.

And freedom is the key to a good way of life for everyone, because the highest and best form of efficiency is the spontaneous cooperation of a free people.

They say one way to lose friends quickly is to talk about religion and politics. Religion is a very personal topic and each to their own opinion. However in analysis of religion, if we extrapolate the theology constructed by humans to the original theology and intentions of each religion, it is very different. Over time, humans have drastically changed many principles of religion to suit the world and time that they live in and hence in the process has changed religion and faith itself.

However, all religions have very similar teachings because most originated from a single source(Christianity started from Judaism and so too did Islam.. Budhism once was apart of Hinduism..) so they are all inter-related. Stop trying to target one single religion!!!!!!! All religions teach us to be a good person, to love and respect life. It is humans who tarnish religion.

Religion .. Say, a "successful" religion -- How do they keep themselves strong and continuous? An undeniable fact is that they have to fill their worshipers' heads with beliefs ... One of the ways to keep the religion survive is to encourage [or force] their worshipers' children to get involve w/ the religion. You see that a lot w/ the Catholics. They have their own system .. just like a powerful market --With the Vietnamese back home, they pretty much careless about the importance of religion, but rather more focus on their own personal lives - With the communist, anything that could make a strike is double the danger-load to them ... and why are you thinking about this topic ? couldn't ease your mind w/ something lighter eh ?

All religions are philosophies that have the same goal: Guiding and leading people to their goodness.
The only difference is how they lead or guide people to the goal.
-Christianity is more forceful in their way of leading and guiding their followers - active.
-Buddhism is more self realization - passive.

If you're more confident about yourself or like to question or find out things by yourself, you tend to like buddhism better. If you don't want to think or lazy and want to rely on something already there, then you would like to be with Christianity. With Christianity, either you follow or you don't, no questions ask. The bible and the rules were set by the vaticant. It is more like a business.
Buddhism doesn't recognize devils, just the goodness and the lack of well being.
Christianity created an opposite entity called devil for god to have war with. Creating a fear into their followers, it's good in a way and also not so positive in another way.
All roads lead to Rome as they say, goodness in our heart and way of life is the ultimate goal. Understanding more, make our decisions in life easier and more correct.
I know Christianity and I know they're very strict and unreasonable sometimes. Try to just mix and match inter-religion marriage and you'll know. My family is Christian, but my princess is not, she will make her own decision when she grows older. I don't follow the rules religiously because some of them are very unreasonable and controlling. I do not want anyone to control my life even the pope.
I do believe what goes around, comes around-Karma-Phu'c Ddu*'c creation. If I live correctly and don't go to church on Sunday, I'm sure Jesus would not mind. He only minds if I live immorally and go to church to ask him for forgiveness every Sunday. I'm sure he would be tired of listening to me ... hehehehe.

"One point that is quite distinct and that is good and clever people for some reasons want to keep religion, and we are talking about Christianity, out of the state."

Do you mean keep religion out of the laws and proceedings of the government? Or keeping religion out of the society that is governed?

((Fact 4 which recent Thuy Nga’s play talks about the materialistic view of certain religion and the problems it inevitably causes.))

May be it should be phrased as:

Which recent Thuy Nga’s play talks about the materialistic view of certain people who tend to attract more to certain religion than other and the problems these people inevitably cause once attracted to such power of absolute .

Still as effective ? :)

(((Do you mean keep religion out of the laws and proceedings of the government? Or keeping religion out of the society that is governed?)))

Actually, I have not thought of it, but perhaps they tried, however, can only succeed with the lesser one. Now which one do you think ???

As to others, I think I will give you guys some more time to come up with something that can stand up.

Are you guys old enough to know the expression: “talk is cheap”. How true is this for those who are brave and powerful . Anyone can talk ; murderers and rapists can talk and very well too . What is the difference then . Join the queue and take your turn to chant or sing along a few hymns, but it should be more than this.

Or this is all that we can expect ??

I thought everyone was supporting Viet Nam war, even the Pope and even the dumping of 3 times WWII bombs and 80 million litres of poisons, or the thousands of atrocities of rapes and murders well archived .

Keeping religion out of the laws and the proceedings of government is good (separation of church and state). Keeping religion out of the society is bad (communism).

I am just stating the obvious.

((Keeping religion out of the laws and the proceedings of government is good (separation of church and state).))

As I have stated, the question is whỵ

And if you compare these religions with communism , you may find a something quite similar . The one main difference is that good people have separated out state and church whereas communism is marrying the twọ In the olden days not that long ago, these religions were very intolerant to other people with different views; they call heretics, infidels or witches and burned them at the stakes .

The question is why do good people separate it out.

And also I was making a joke about which is the lesser onẹ Yes good people know we need religion, but why if it is so good, people want to keep it out.

Maybe I'm completing misunderstanding something here.

Separation of church and state means religious freedom. The Pilgrims left England because they were tired of the religious persecution. So the writers of the constitution separated out church and state to ensure that religion does not get entangle with the creation of laws, regulations, and how the govt is run.

BTW, true communism means no religion, period. Not in the laws, govt proceedings, nor society. Everyone is the same. Everyone works toward the same goal. Everyone reaps the same benefit. And no one worships anything.

Atheism is the religion whose belief about God is that there is no God.

Some Atheists, for their own political reasons, assert that Atheism is not a religion but instead is the total absence of religion. This allows them to spread their Atheistic beliefs freely in societies which insist on "separation of church and state."

But this is like saying that "black," (which physicists define as the total absence of color) is not a color. The car I drive is a big Chevrolet, whose color is black. In common practice throughout the world, "black" is understood to be a color, despite the technical definition of the physicists. Likewise, "Atheism" is a religion, despite any technical definitions to the contrary.

If black is a color, then Atheism is a religion.

If Atheism is a religion, then it must be subject to the same legal restrictions imposed by governments on all other religions. In particular, in the United States, the teaching of Atheism must be prohibited wherever the teaching of any religion is prohibited.

And, any religion should be accepted wherever the practice of Atheism is accepted.

Live and let live :-)