Atheist, if you had to pick the most rational religion which would you pick?

[leo]

Isn't that really Hinduism?  The original teachings of Buddha never said any of that, maybe the various schools that were influence by Hinduism, and later by Islamic, Christian, Judeo dogma did. It depends on what definition is used to describe religion what Buddhism is. Under one definition even atheism is a religion, but what Buddha taught was a philosophy of living and not a religion by popular definition of religion. What Buddha original taught was copied by Schopenhauer as a philosophy.   Solitary

.                                                                                                                                                   You should read the nikayas or agamas sutras ( the earliest buddhist texts) And yep buddhism is a religion.

[Solitary]

                                                                                                                                                   I like this church. In my opinion the practice of any religion if death is the end is a waste of time. I like some things about buddhism but I don't believe in life after death ( there isn't any evidence so far). I could read about buddhism but I can't claim to be a buddhist. There is a tons of elements of classical buddhism that I can't buy.

Buddha said that death is like blowing out a candle. I have gotten letters from Buddhist that say that doesn't mean non existence.  I'd sure like them to explain to me where the flame on a candle goes if it doesn't exist anymore. It is true that Buddha was raised as a Hindu, but he changed his philosophy throughout his life, but he was an atheist and never believed in reincarnation later in life. I have his original teachings that are agreed to be authentic, just after he died. It seems people just have to have super natural bull in their lives.  Solitary

[Solitary]

.                                                                                                                                                   You should read the nikayas or agamas sutras ( the earliest buddhist texts) And yep buddhism is a religion.

Those are from the various schools and not agreed upon at the time of Buddha to be his authentic teachings. I have read them. Solitary   

[Solitary]

The oldest extant copies purporting to be the teachings of Buddha are the Pitakas, or "Baskets of the Law, prepared for the Buddhist Council of 241 B.C., accepted by it as genuine, transmitted orally for four centuries from the death of Buiddha, and finally put into writing, in the Pali tongue, about 80 B.C." These Pitakas are divided into three groups: the Sutta, or tales; the Vinaya, or discipline; and the Abidhammas, or doctrine.

The Sutta-Pitaka contains dialogues of Buddha, which Rhys Davids ranks with those of Plato. Strickly speaking, however, these writings give us teaching not necessarily of Buddha himself, but only of Buddhist schools. I have the Buddhist Handbook that shows glaring examples of how his original teachings have been corrupted by modern Buddhism being influenced by Christianity. Solitary

[Solitary]

The oldest extant copies purporting to be the teachings of Buddha are the Pitakas, or "Baskets of the Law, prepared for the Buddhist Council of 241 B.C., accepted by it as genuine, transmitted orally for four centuries from the death of Buiddha, and finally put into writing, in the Pali tongue, about 80 B.C." These Pitakas are divided into three groups: the Sutta, or tales; the Vinaya, or discipline; and the Abidhammas, or doctrine.

The Sutta-Pitaka contains dialogues of Buddha, which Rhys Davids ranks with those of Plato. Strickly speaking, however, these writings give us teaching not necessarily of Buddha himself, but only of Buddhist schools. I have the Buddhist Handbook that shows glaring examples of how his original teachings have been corrupted by modern Buddhism being influenced by Christianity. Solitary

Buddha's conception of religion was purely ethical; he cared everything about conduct, nothing about ritual or worship, metaphysics or theology. He refused to be drawn into any discussion about eternity, immortality, or God. The infinite is a myth, he says, a fiction of philosophers who have not modesty to confess that an atom can never understand the cosmos.

He smiles at the debate  over the finity or infinity of the universe, quite as if he foresaw the futile astromythology of physicist and mathematicians who debate the same question today. He refuses to express any opinion as to whether the world had a beginning or will have an end; whether the soul is the same as body, or distinct from it: whether , even for the greatest Saint, there is any reward in any heaven.

He calls such questions  "the jungle, the desert, the puppet-show, the writhing, the entanglement, of speculation," and will have nothing to do with them; they lead only to feverish disputation, personal resentments, and sorrow: they never lead to wisdom and peace.  Saintliness and content lie not in knowledge of the universe and God, but simply in selfless and beneficent living." And then, with scandalous humor, he suggests that the gods themselves, if they existed, could not answer these questions.

[Jason78]

I'd go with the one that had orgies fertility rights.

Uh... I'd like to change my vote

[Brian37]

There are no rational religions. There are only humans who invent clubs to create the illusion of self importance. They are all mere reflections of our evolutionary grouping.

You look at all countries and the history of our species you will not find a period of time where there was not some type of fighting, either of the outsiders, or infighting to varying degrees.

Asking me which one is the "most" rational is like asking me which comic book club is less violent. Unfortunately getting caught up in time frame issues allows us to forget the past and ignore that by doing such we will only repeat the same mistakes in the future.

Our species has been around for 500,000 years and all our actions both in our capacity to be cruel and or compassionate have always existed.

[Brian37]

No group owns a patient on morality no did any religion invent human morality thus there is no way to claim that any religion is rational. It is the mere comic book excuse humans invent to group.

[leo]

Those are from the various schools and not agreed upon at the time of Buddha to be his authentic teachings. I have read them. Solitary   

The oldest extant copies purporting to be the teachings of Buddha are the Pitakas, or "Baskets of the Law, prepared for the Buddhist Council of 241 B.C., accepted by it as genuine, transmitted orally for four centuries from the death of Buiddha, and finally put into writing, in the Pali tongue, about 80 B.C." These Pitakas are divided into three groups: the Sutta, or tales; the Vinaya, or discipline; and the Abidhammas, or doctrine.

The Sutta-Pitaka contains dialogues of Buddha, which Rhys Davids ranks with those of Plato. Strickly speaking, however, these writings give us teaching not necessarily of Buddha himself, but only of Buddhist schools. I have the Buddhist Handbook that shows glaring examples of how his original teachings have been corrupted by modern Buddhism being influenced by Christianity. Solitary

I have read most of the sutra pitaka.  I read the complete English translations of digha nikaya, samyutta nikaya. Majjihma nikaya and anguttara nikaya. Karma and rebirth are part of the Buddha core teachings according to the nikayas. I agree that for the first 4-5 centuries of buddhist era it was only oral tradition. How much was changed from the Buddha original teachings when the monks decided to write down the teachings, it's a  subject to question. In 5 centuries much can be added to the original message. There isn't a way to know for sure what the historical Buddha actually taught.

[leo]

No group owns a patient on morality no did any religion invent human morality thus there is no way to claim that any religion is rational. It is the mere comic book excuse humans invent to group.

Long story short, religion is bullshit.