why Buddhism?

The latest Australian census reveals that adherence to a religion has recently surged. The drift away from the main christian religions, that began in the 1960s, has been halted and now more and more Australians say they have a religion. Now, while the Anglican and Catholic churches have merely stopped losing members, the Pentecostals have grown, as have the various Islamic demoninations. But the biggest growth has been in the number of Buddhists in Australia. As has been similarly noted in recent US surveys, Buddhism is the fastest growing religion in the Western world.

Why?

One simple explanation, that applies to both Australia and the US, is migration. Both countries attract migrants from Asia who have a traditional belief system. Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Thais, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Lao, Sri Lankans, Nepalis and some Indians come from Buddhist backgrounds. And even though the Pentecostals attract many of their clientele from these migrant groups, the main body of these migrants help boost Buddhist numbers in Australia.

But does this really tell the story of the growth of Buddhism?

I do not think so. My theory is that Buddhism is the only rational religion. Actually, I think what I just said is an oxymoron because religion implies to me irrationality. All religions require a suspension of evidence at some point. All religions are based on faith. Some interpretations of Buddhism do also. Nut from my 30 years of studying Buddhism I have come to the conclusion that the teachings of Buddha are based on a a very simple principle: that we must never cease questioning and never accept anything on face value.

As such, Buddhism is not a religion but a mechanism to develop an understanding of the world around us. So is science. The basic principle of sciences is to develop a hypothesis for a phenomena, use experimentation to measure that phenomena then test the hypothesis. If the experimentation confirms the hypothesis it becomes a theory. But all scientific theory is always open to observation and experimentation.

And this is the reason I think Buddhism is attractive to ever-growing numbers of people. Despite the lipservice paid to religion by political leaders, a better educated community are rejecting the intolerance and limited horizons presented by various religions. Unfortunately, a "us v them" mentality seems to exist between science and religion and while most are persuaded by the rationality of science they are not entirely dissuaded from the emotionalism of faith-based ideas. Buddhism is a safe compromise: as a Buddhist you can retain a scepticism while clinging to some vestiges of irrationality.