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In fact, further reading of Hayes's article (http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes/atheism.pdf) shows that even Hayes is not really using this thirteenth sutta to show that Gotama Buddha questions the existence of deity altogether. Only the poster, Aupmanyav, who introduced us to this article is making...

Re: Her beauti It's obvious these postings from x8ialoiu are pure spam. It's time for the moderators to look at just what's going on with this poster right away. Sincerely, Operacast

There is a school of thought in Indian philosophy that takes the gods as powerful but not omniscient and not complicit in creation. It is this understanding of the gods that is referenced in the Rig-Veda citation above. As for the PDF article at the top of your posting, the description there...

I think that puts it very well. Thank you. Cheers, Operacast

Honestly, I continue to be surprised by the readiness with which the iteration that Gautama is an atheist gets repeated so often. Perhaps, one could argue that what he taught could well be taught without reference to any deity. I can see that. But my sense is that assertions like that, while...

I do already have the Pliny in front of me -- thanks! Internet History Sourcebooks Project Personally, I find this material fascinating, but I appreciate some others may not. Cheers, Operacast

A notion that I long subscribed to myself. But if we look at the earliest textual stratum for Mahavira, we see that he did subscribe to the idea that there were gods -- not a God -- and that these gods were the transfigured souls of the most enlightened human beings who had passed on. So he...

Actually, I was addressing those aspects of which we can be certain without at all meaning to say that other aspects are therefore ipso facto not true. I wasn't really saying anything one way or the other about the latter. The problem I'm addressing instead is that there is an unwritten --...

We are confusing the Christian model here with the historical model. The fact is that the general consensus among secular, unaffiliated, and frequently agnostic or atheist scholars today is that one Jesus of Nazareth did in fact exist as a normal human being, but a normal human bieng only, and...

My regrets: I see that I already had an exchange on some of the questions raised here, earlier in the thread. Starting at page 12 of this thread http://www.interfaith.org/forum/jesus-is-not-god-part-1176-12.html , I introduced five different passages from the three earliest textual...

One reason (among several) why the Jesus sayings appear more often historical in the Synoptics than in John is because those in the Synoptics have generally more multiple attestation. In addition, the sayings in John occasionally seem to contradict a number of the sayings found in all the...

Hi -- There's a terrific blog that's just been started pointing out all the inaccuracies in Acharya's work on the Jesus myther racket. It's here -- Some rationalism -- and I'm hoping many will get to read it and comment on it here. I wish I had half the level of scholarship shown by this...

Most of what is written in this newest is word-for-word what's found in the first half of the first response in this thread on the first page. What's the point? Operacast

Actually, it's that adaptation process where I might take a second look. To a socialized species like humanity, adaptation often entails conforming one's daily habits to a more empathic behavioral pattern than might otherwise occur. IOW, adaptation often means that one's daily existence is...

The proposition that God is goodness works, but only if one dispenses with the notion that God is interventionist/omnipotent. If God is indeed the latter, then too much horror happens on Earth to sustain the notion that God is goodness. So if one ends up ditching instead the notion that God is...

"I know you never think about earning an honest living. So you've made it into college. Big deal. Do you know how many people go to college and never get a job? What makes you so special? ............ All right, so you graduated with Honors and a Law degree. You think you're the only...

This has certainly been a lively and wide-ranging thread. In rereading it all this morning, I was surprised to see that the chief concern of the Subj.-Head. is not introduced until page 8! This may be the first thread on the Web I've ever encountered where the opening pages were more...

I believe it's no coincidence that the more colloquial the Koine Greek style in the various scriptures of the N.T., the less the given content has to do with magic and the more it has to do with ethical/social/cultural reforms/norms. I don't pretend to be conversant with Koine Greek, but as I...

It honestly seems to me now that he's never going to address that. He's simply delivering a screed from on high, and bother the very notion of "discussion". I've decided it's a waste of time. If you want to try and get him to pin all this down, go to it. But I doubt you'll get anywhere...

Since you have never once addressed the dissimilarity to scripture in Josephus's account of either Jacob/Ananus or James/Ananus -- the latter distinction doesn't really matter here at all -- it's now evident you have no intention of addressing just how much this dissimilarity discredits your...