Kamran wrote:Many Buddhists do not believe in God. Some do.
Buddhism is atheist friendly
Very true, but you could just have friendly
My understanding is that Buddhism is not a belief system, you don't have to believe in gods (or anything else).
Just to accept as a working hypothesis that you can develop the skills to end suffering, which is not hard to do once you see the benefits of meditation.[/quote]
It is not a belief system where a god or gods are the focus, but there certainly are beliefs such as right views "mundane" expression of
there is what is given, there is mother, father & spontaneously born beings, there are results for skilled & unskilled action....
these were in contrast to certain beliefs expounded by other teachers.
This is Unlike theistic religions where you will be sent to hell if you don't believe in god and his prophet(s).
there is a theology (theory of god/s) but not all theistic religions have a theology in the catholic/christian way which produces theologians, or in the related term where theology is derived meaning message of god/s, and why it is sometime seen being called Buddhology, although there are arguments to stick with it being a peculiar christian term and others used for other faiths; although some of the areas studied are the same/similar, god/s are not necessarily included in the program in the way a theology course would have them.
Prophets were a unique feature of Israelite religion, although there are similarities with other types of messengers such as oracles, shamans... their scope and "job" isn't the same, and the Greeks believed they went to hell (hades) regardless (although only one of the areas were like the hell in christian belief, and one like the heaven, the heaven was reserved not for believers but those who had done some some sort of heroic task, the other areas were more like the later inclusion of purgatory.
One thing I see here (in the tread) is a black and white view of the idea of divinity "this and only this is a god/theism and the lack of belief in that criterion of a god is atheism" when there are gray areas, and a range of colours.
it is easy for Buddhists to apply the Buddhist conception of god/s to theistic beliefs other than the Abrahamic, yet instead many limit the actual scope that exists to suit a narrow understanding. it is like the God of the gaps theory, only works if every thing is a gap.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill