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I've already posted a reply in the original thread, but only to say that Buddhism can only be taken lightly by those who don't understand how the emotions, and happiness work (there is a certain amount of cause and effect), or just haven't studied Buddhism at all.

This is one of the reasons why I have joined this guild. I was raised as a Christian, mostly because this is the belief system my parents have followed, but I never really felt... connected to it. A few years ago I decided to do a little bit of research into religions to see if there was one out there that was more agreeable to my beliefs. That's when I learned about Buddhism. Unfortunately, I live in a -VERY- stricly Christian based town. As far as I know, there aren't any places for me to go to learn about this newly adopted belief, other than to go to the local book store and attempt to find some books on Buddhist beliefs, which I can almost guarentee they will rarely ever carry anything other than Bibles. There is absolutely no place or person for me to go to for information or guidance. It's frustrating as hell. So I hoped maybe I can learn a few things about Buddhism by joining some guilds and forums and hopefully learn more from the posters.

I don't feel Buddhism is taken very seriously, especially in the U.S. because of all of these celebrity religion fads. I remember when it was all hyped over the news about some celebrity converting to Buddhism or Scientology. Tom Cruise being the perfect example. I mean... it's hard for most of the public to take something so seriously when most celebrities who have "converted" don't take it seriously themselves. I think it's also due to the intolerance that a lot of religious leaders teach their followers. It's also due to the fact that most people don't even want to bother to learn about someone else's beliefs and actually be RESPECTFUL about it. They don't seem to realize that just because they don't believe in it, that no one else does either. People don't have to agree with what someone believes in or even really understand it, but the least they can do is respect that others do have beliefs different from theirs and not try to push theirs on someone and prove their ignorance and intolerance.

That sounds like my Girlfriend. Although, I better not make any kind of allusion to an off color Catholic comment... stare

/sigh

Ignorance...

I've encountered this, too... but I often can't help but laugh. People are ignorant, and their ignorance is not usually because they CHOOSE to be ignorant, but because no one has had the patience or the information to teach them better. As with other things that people may tend to not understand about me, I tend to develop a small speech, using fairly simple language and taking under a minute giving the basics of what Buddhism is actually about. "It is about relieving personal suffering through conscious actions and meditation. The buddha is more of a role-model and a person who we respect than a diety, he was a prince in India a long time ago, and when he first saw how the poor were living, he decided that he had to do something about it." Then give some reference materials and answer any other questions to the best of your ability.

It takes patience and the ability to grind your teeth without appearing to, sometimes... but it's important.

It is all rooted at ignorance, people need to actually try and figure something out before they critisize things that they don't really know about.

Whenever I tell people that I'm Buddhist and vegan, they accuse me of being a Lisa Simpson impersonator confused .

Actually, there are definitely more Christians than Buddhists, you can see the statistics here:

http://adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

In Asia, of course, there may be more Buddhists than Christians. But this isn't a fight about size.