Atheism vs India

The modern "atheist discourse" seems to be aimed nearly exclusively against one religious tradition in a world where there are many. The Abrahamic or "benign creator and intervener" conception of god is by no means the only one, and I believe that this fundamentally taints the debate before it even begins.

This is a response to OukaKisa's video to be found here
watch?v=thV_YKUURuo

His channel is here
http://www.youtube.com/user/OukaKisa

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[statickk14]

Science definitely does not claim to know the answer, it looks for it by a process or heuristics called Science. I have Indian background and I am an atheist. I went to a religious school ran by Monks. But all that salvation and moksha, in the end is not backed up any evidence, it is someone's wishful thinking. True that a lot need to be known, but what we don't know, simply means we do not know. And Hinduism, monkey gods, elephant Gods? And these Gods hear prayers? Ridiculous.

[danmeast]

@wbraddell2 Impersonal realities do not manifest anything personal. Impersonal and personal have eternally existed, and given contrast to each other. We are not meant to be an "it." We are persons. Persons can only arise from pre existing persons, no exception to this has ever been observed. Impersonal systems are law based, while a person has free will. You cannot make a free willed person from an impersonal reality.

[tomtomttom]

That is why Yoga and meditation is such an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist practices. Prove what Krishna or Buddha did for themselves by achieving that knowledge of God for ourselves without Krishna or Buddha. Just like learning Newton's laws, we don't need to know about Newton or the details about him to understand his laws. If we lose the history of Newton and even his physics someone else can rediscover it because it is always there for us to discover and use. That is the Dharmic way.

[tomtomttom]

As stated in previous post, Dharmic religions believe each human has the potential and even ability to meditate and download God's message, if you can call it that, by divine inspiration. Even if only one in a million or billion or more does this it, it is possible and should be strived for so the sole knowledge of God is not controlled by some institution that claims it received it from a saint or godman or son of god or whatever centuries ago. Should be achievable right now.

[tomtomttom]

Thank you for this video. The clear distinction between the Dharmic (Indic) faiths and Abrahamic views is history centrism. The Dharmic religions are not solely dependent on a set of historical event to state this is our religion. While Abrahamic religions are like that. Even bigger difference is how the knowledge is transferred. Dharmic religions believe that everyone of us, through meditation can download the knowledge directly from God while Abrahamic religions rely on prophets from long ago.

[Anekantavad]

@danmeast "A personal God can communicate with us, can reveal the truth. An impersonal God cannot."

Why not?

[danmeast]

@Anekantavad Of course they are, man is made to worship someone, in the absence of God one will simply be invented. They key is to look at how much evidence is present for each deity. A personal God can communicate with us, can reveal the truth. An impersonal God cannot. It is just that simple.

[Anekantavad]

@danmeast So Artemis, Huitzilopochtli, Horus and Loki aren't gods?

Not all religions deal with eternal life. For example, the Ancient Hebrew Yachveh didn't promise anything of the sort.

[danmeast]

@Anekantavad The reason why we theists believe so strongly in God is that we have evidence. He has revealed HimSelf and told us who He is, we have not relied on our opinions and assumptions, that is the key. What evidence would you have that an impersonal reality is "God?" An impersonal reality cannot tell you what it really is, what it wills for you, and what your own destiny is, God can. Why would you settle for a "God" which is mindless and can offer no truth at all? Explain your viewpoint.