That's a problem with today's "religion". God was never meant to be a scapegoat. The entire purpose of the bible's history - Noah, Moses, Jesus - was to make Mankind responsible for their actions. Being cast out of the garden for eating the forbidden fruit, the flood, the plagues, wandering the desert for 40 years, etc. But not of this was religion - it was education, direction, inspiration. Then we end up with doctrines that totally missed the point. Confession and communion were not supposed to be free cards. Just a way to ease your guilt and give you some ease of mind. Your life is the real test, and too often I see christians forget this - so many people so misled... Jesus was meant to be a mentor, not a Santa Claus you ask for presents from once a year.
That may be true, but the reality is that you are a Christian as defined by belief and not behavior. That fundamental principle sets the tone for "cookbooking" religion in the Western context - people think that if they believe, then action becomes irrelevant. The result is what we see today.
Buddhism's whole point is to shy away from ritual and belief. Though, there is some circularity with a religion that says that belief is not necessary, as Buddhism does, the man points I believe are valid:
1. That life is suffering. Not in the pessimistic since of that sentence, but rather, that life consists of pain interspersed throughout.
2. That our pain comes from our attachment to things, our unwillingness to accept that transient nature of everything around us. No matter what we say, our pain comes from the fact that we fear change, crave stability and reassurance, and dread being alone or without.
3. That once we internalize the transient nature of things, and truly see things as they are and not as we want them and hope them to be, what buddhists call "looking through defiled lenses", or insecurity and fear, and desire for peak experience goes away, leaving a stable contentment and peace of true awareness. (This is called "enlightenment").
Why I am drawn to this:
1. There's no doctrinal demand, like in western religion: The Buddha himself said not to believe what he says because he says it, but to observe life and you'll begin to see, even despite the warped view we have, that the above makes sense.
2. That our position is defined by our behavior and NOT our belief: there's no attempt or temptation to pay lip-service to the religion by just wearing a pendant and going to a church on sunday. Either you are being buddhist or you are not. Its a way of life. I remember growing up and watching my mother say things like "Mother Theresa was an amazing Buddhist". To me, that perfectly demonstrates what Buddhism truly is.
3. That is makes sense with prevailing science: The concept of karma is simply Newton's law. Engaging in meritoriosu behavior precipitates its return upon you, and the same with bad behavior. While our meritorious or bad action may not be the same as a rock falling to the ground, it is action nonetheless and it is interesting to see that it obeys the same laws.
4. It's sensible: placing this against religions that speak of earth being created in six days, and angels and demons and all that, it isn't really much of a choice for me.
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5. Its completely passive: Not one DROP of blood has been spilled in the name of Buddhism. The only death I can think of has been monks who went on hunger strikes or set fire to themselves to protest.
