[Buddha-l] the existence of God in Buddhism

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Ilana Maymind schreef:

> Emilio Gentile in a newly published /Politics as Religion/, (Princeton 
> University Press, 2006) in his discussion related to the term "secular 
> religion" (used interchangeably with "political religion" or "secular 
> religion") states the following: " If, for example, your definition of 
> a religion is premised on the existence of a supernatural divinity, 
> then you would be justified in denying that a belief system that 
> considers a secular entity to be sacred could be a religious 
> phenomenon.  However, if we accept this definition, we would be 
> obliged *to deny that Buddhism is a religious phenomenon, because it 
> does not allow for the existence of God,* whereas the Nazi political 
> religion could be considered a religious phenomenon, because it did 
> not deny the existence of god, even though it dressed that god up in 
> its own ideology" (3).
>  
> I wonder if anyone could comment on the highlighted?
>  
> Thank you
>  

Thank you for this splendid example of a vicious circle and academic stupidity. The term 'secular religon' is a contradictio in termine, like 'square circle'. Maybe Gentile does mean something real with it, but in any case one shouldn't take it literally. And this is precisely the case if you try to draw the absolute bouderies between the sacred and the secular. Defining an entity as secular is a religious verdict, so if you decide later on that it is sacred afterall, you simply change your mind. And if someone else decides it is sacred, this person has a different religion, or at least a different opinion on what religion should be. So if a buddhist sees a cross standing along the road, she is justified to use it as a tool to climb into a tree, while a christian is justified to use it for inducing a religious trance. What means Gentile with 'justified' here? It's just what people do, nobody is justified!

Erik


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