------------------------------------------------------------------------ On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, Rick Adams wrote: > > On the other hand, Buddhism has significantly more adherents > than does Islam, and thus if the term "most widely practiced religions" > is to be taken that literally, it is Christianity and Buddhism that > should be considered--and Buddhism does NOT believe in an afterlife (and > DOES believe in scientific examination of ANY subject including its own > tenets and beliefs, of course).
I was surprised by Rick's statements. To check on his claim that Buddhists outnumber Moslems, I checked the stats at my original posted website against another excellent one, at http://www.adherents.com/. This one also gives stats from other sources. I used their presentation of Encyclopedia Britannica stats for 1995 as a further source. Here they are: % of world population (1) (2) (3) Christians 33.7 33 33 Muslims 19.2 22 20 Nonreligious 14 14 19 (inc atheists) Hindus 13.7 15 13 Buddhists 5.7 6 6 Jews 0.2 <1% <1% (1) Encyclopedia Britannica, mid 1955 from www.adherents.com (2) Adherents.com's own compilation (3) ReligiousTolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm) They're all pretty much in agreement and show that Buddhists definitely do not have more adherents than Moslems (6 % vs 20%). Second, I question the statement that Buddhists do not believe in an afterlife. Reincarnation--rebirth in another form--is fundamental to their beliefs, and surely that is a form of afterlife. And although rash (I know I'm just asking for grief here), I feel obligated to respond to the implication of Linda Woolf's post that comments made about religions on this thread do not apply to Judaism. As it's been prominent in our discussion, one of the claims she objects to might be belief in the afterlife, which would be absent from Jewish belief. Yet my understanding is that while Jews do not emphasize the afterlife, preferring to believe that it is conduct in this world that's of primary importance, Jewish scholars do find some basis for a belief in the afterlife in Judaism. For example, there are references to an afterlife in the Torah, and there is a belief in resurrection when the Messiah comes. And to be complete, as Hindus believe in the transmigration of the soul into other bodies after death, they believe in an afterlife as well. In summary, all of the most widely practiced religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) believe as a central concept in an afterlife in some form, and even Judaism allows some acceptance of this belief (although not as a central concern). That leaves non-believers as the only major group that does not believe in an afterlife. So, I wonder, are there any religions at all that explicitly reject the concept as part of their basic teachings? Finally, returning to the issue of prayer improving IVF pregnancy rate, this just in (from "News of the Weird"): Two former faculty members at the University of South Florida medical school settled religious discrimination lawsuits with the school in August, lawsuits based on acts by their department's former chairman, Dr. James Rowsey, an eye surgeon of some note. Rowsey had practiced such faith-based governance as denying researchers equipment based on religious admonitions from his wife, whom he considered a prophet, and then pressuring complaining faculty members to actually pray that the university administration will increase the department's budget. [Tampa Tribune, 9-1-01] Perhaps if Dr. Rowsey had known about the IVF study and cited it, he might have been in a stronger position to defend the suit against him. If it works for IVF, why not for university budgets? -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
