kanelli wrote: Atheism is one way to break down the barrier of religion between people, as there are no different sects of Atheism...
Atheism is not about human ego.
To me this sounds exactly what a Theist would say...
eg
"[My religion] is one way to break down the barrier between people, as my religion teaches that there should be harmony between all people... my religion is not about human ego"
To which people would reply - but yes, but you DO have disputes amongst people of 'your religion' and between those of your religion and others.
And when we look at Atheism, you do have fundamentalists such as Richard Dawkins who are evangelical about their atheism and attack other beliefs - to the point of calling religious instruction of children child abuse (for example). I see a LOT of human ego in Dawkin's brand of evangelical atheism.
Also, I'd argue that Communism is atheistic, and indeed by some definitions so is Buddhism. Communist atheists aren't my idea of role models of religious tolerance..
When even Buddhist monks can find reasons to kill each other (as happened amongst followers of the Dalai Lama over a theological dispute) - we see that even a doctrine of pacificism isn't enough to overcome human ego.
I'd just point out that a belief that there is no God or deity is not, in of itself, any guarantee that the holder that belief will be more tolerant of others. To an outsider - atheists are just another group of people with beliefs about 'religion' and are made up of tolerant and intolerant people from amongst them. Atheists have killed others and have gone to war - and other atheists will argue 'yes, but they killed others not because of their belief in atheism as that is not what atheism teaches'.. and that argument will have a familiar ring to the impartial listener.
To me, the problem with atheism is that it is really just a label for the belief that there is no God. There isn't an code for atheists which says that this means they have to be tolerant of others, lawful etc. Any self control or arguments that atheists will do what is right etc can equally also apply to theists.
Just my 2 fils.
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Cheers,
Shafique