Is Buddhism Really an Atheistic Religion? A Christian Questions the Label

Atheists sometimes describe Buddhism as an atheistic religion, and the author finds this description puzzling. The author understands the reasoning, since Buddhism does not center on a creator God and some forms can be practised without belief in a personal deity. Still, the author questions whether “atheistic religion” is an adequate label. It may be that “atheism” is being used less to describe Buddhism itself and more as a catch-all for anything that does not match a familiar Western idea of God.

The post points to prayer as an example. Across Buddhist traditions, people address Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas and other spiritual beings, make offerings, chant sacred names and mantras, and ask for protection, compassion and guidance. The author acknowledges that this does not make Buddhism the same as Christianity, and that Buddhist views of these beings differ widely. Even so, the author suggests that the confident claim “Buddhism is atheistic” sounds strange in light of these practices. Perhaps those making the claim are using a definition of religion in which only belief in a supreme creator counts as real belief in the divine, and so they may overlook the devotional life that makes Buddhism more complex than the label allows.

Turning to Jesus, the author proposes a different starting question: not whether someone is a “theist” or an “atheist,” but what they are reaching toward in their religious practice. Someone who prays for compassion, wisdom or liberation reveals what they consider ultimately important and where they hope help can be found. The author says Jesus reframes such longings around a personal God who comes toward people and invites them into relationship, rather than an impersonal reality or simply one supernatural being among many.

The author closes with an invitation to the atheist making this claim to look again. Categories that seem neutral from within one’s own worldview may not be neutral at all. If Buddhists pray to supernatural beings, the label “atheistic religion” may not be the obvious fit. The more useful question, the author suggests, is whether the category is broad enough to recognise what practitioners are actually doing.

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