Hello Rolex,
Originally posted by Rolex
Buddhism is a philosophy and not a religion, since there is no holy book written by men who claim to have spoken to, or understand God's purpose or thinking. No miracles, no supernatural, no evangelism, no recruiting, no cult-like idol worship, no interpretations, no scary threats by God, no theme parks, etc.
...
I do have a question for you, Seagoon. It's a loaded question, I'll admit. It's loaded because, quite frankly, evangalism and evangalists make me cringe. I'm sure it's not the first time you've heard that, so it's not a shock. 
When were you naturalized as an American citizen? I'll tell you why I ask it after you answer, because I may be making a wrong assumption without the answer, and I don't want to do that.
Thank you for asking, I still haven't been naturalized as a citizen of the USA. In order to submit my final paperwork I have to drive all the way to Charlotte and back to get my Biometrics done again.
I hope you won't mind if I touch on the Buddhist question, as it is another religion I dabbled with, and you'll find Buddhism listed in any listing of world religions.
Buddhism does have authoratative scriptures, and the various sects of Buddhism have their own scriptures which some of the other sects regard as non-authoratative. The greatest divide in this regard being between Theravada Buddhists and Mahayana Buddhists (the Theravadans do not accept the Mahayana suttras as authentic teachings of Buddha). In any event the main scriptures of Buddhism known collectively as the Tripitaka are the
Sutra Pitaka, the Vinaya Pitaka, and the Abhidharma Pitaka. Tibetan Buddhism is the most hybrid and distinctive of the various Buddhist faiths and has its own scriptures not generally recognized by non-Tibetan Buddhists.
In any event, Buddhism has ordained clergy (Monks and Nuns), and a path to enlightenment (Nirvana) by following the noble eightfold path spelled out by Buddha, they also believe in supernatural creatures (the devas) and have a system of ethics based on five precepts. Most countries that are majority Buddhist view it as their national religion and several such as Sri-Lanka have either passed or are working on laws attempting to disuade conversion. For instance in Sri Lanka the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU or National Heritage Party) attempted to introduce an ammendment that would prohibit converting Buddhists to other religions and which prohibited the “spreading other forms of worship among the Buddhists.” There have been several attacks on churches, many lead by Monks, in Sri Lanka over the past few years. So yes, even Buddhists are capable of "religious violence."*
It's almost like sin is a universal problem, eh?
- SEAGOON
* Although I would argue that violence is not a part of their religion or an unavoidable consequence of its practice.
