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The reason Buddhism can be so naturalised is because, stripped of its supernatural elements, its core teachings can be giving a sound, secular philosophical interpretation. In other words, it becomes a religion acceptable to the contemporary, naturalistic mind only when it ceases to be a religion.

Julian Baggini

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Julian Baggini
Age: 56
Born: 1968
Born: September 9
Author
Philosopher
Writer
Reason
Buddhism
Teachings
Giving
Core
Supernatural
Mind
Elements
Secular
Teaching
Acceptable
Becomes
Interpretation
Sound
Contemporary
Naturalistic
Religion
Cease
Stripped
Words
Philosophical
Ceases

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Morality is more than possible without God, it is entirely independent of him.
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In my experience, those who make the biggest fuss about not spending much at Christmas are generally the ones who buy what they want and eat where they want 12 months a year.
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Happiness is not the same as life satisfaction, while neither are identical to what we might call flourishing.
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Philosophy has to be enquiring it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.
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Many people are never happier than when they get the opportunity to complain, while others are deeply unhappy with how things are but just accept the fact. Complaint occurs when we refuse to accept that things are wrong and we do something about it, even if that something is simply articulating our unease.
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I don't think anyone who genuinely embraced sincerity, charity and modesty could be intolerant or divisive.
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Atheists have to live with the knowledge that there is no salvation, no redemption, no second chances. Lives can go terribly wrong in ways that can never be put right.
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Too often, complaint is not about principled objection on moral grounds, but opportunistic objection on grounds of self-interest. To rectify this, we need to work on mastering the art of complaint.
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The optimist underestimates how difficult it is to achieve real change, believing that anything is possible and it's possible now. Only by confronting head-on the reality that all progress is going to be obstructed by vested interests and corrupted by human venality can we create realistic programmes that actually have a chance of success.
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Being virtuous is wonderful thing, but feeling virtuous is a shortcut to vice.
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It may not have the virtuous ring of the golden rule, but the maxim never say never is one of the most important in ethics.
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It is true that legality is not morality, and sticking to the law is necessary for good citizenship, but it is not sufficient.
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Yesterday's news feeds our fear that our neighbours are more likely than not to be bad eggs: benefit fraudsters, bogus asylum seekers, paedophiles or jihadist terrorists.
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Whatever your religious persuasion, if you believe that the universe is governed by benign forces, at some point you have to explain why there is so much suffering, misfortune and misery in the world.
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Constructive complaint requires only two things: that what you are complaining about should be different, and that it can be different. It sounds simple, but too often our protests fail this test.
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As a teenager, I increasingly had questions about religion to which I found no good answers.
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No one has ever understood anything better by assuming that there is no reason for why it is the way it is.
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Right and wrong are not simply matters of evolutionary impacts and what is natural.
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This is the deal: we are happy to single out people as superior just as long as they don't accept the description themselves. We want heroes and idols but we also want egalitarianism and that requires proclamations of humility from our Gods.
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Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality.
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