What's the nicest religion?

In my opinion, Christians who live by The Sermon of Christ. It teaches to forgive enemies, turn the other cheek, to treat others as you would like to be treated, to give to those who ask of you, and to do good to those who hate you. There is a powerful focus on forgiveness and wishing good for other people even those who don't like you.

Luke 6:20-49 King James Version (KJV)

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

blinks - are you actually serious ?????????????/

originally posted by: Krahzeef_Ukhar
Simple question.

I would say Mormons.

I'm not suggesting they are correct, just nicer.
Atheists are usually pricks, jesus freaks are insufferable too.

Who is the nicest?

Certainly not Catholics. Not any longer. Look how far their priests have fallen to the dark side.

twitter.com...

There is no nice religion. They're all misogynistic and xenophobic purveyors of hatred and fear. Even Buddhism- which is not a religion, btw since it has no god. Sid was just a dude.

Oh except the 'satanists.' They're the good guys.

I think Mormons are generally genuinely nicer than Buddhists.
A lot of Buddhists around here get caught boinking and abusing their students. Plus its very patriarchal.

Second place to nicest would maybe be Jains. They couldn't hurt a fly.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

i propose Sufism

Sufism is less an Islamic sect than a mystical way of approaching the Islamic faith. It has been defined as "mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God." 1 Islamic mystics are called Sufis and their way of life is Sufism (also spelled Sufiism).

Sufism - ReligionFacts
www.religionfacts.com/sufism


I luxuriate in Mysticism.... my other equal choice is the dual worlds of the Shaman Sufi+Shaman ...go figure

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I'm going with Buddhists also.

Although from time to time even they can get out of hand.

That's because the Buddhists are HUMAN

I agree however, Buddhism is the gentlest most altruistic and pure religion overall IMHO. There are no hidden agendas, no bartering for favors with a higher power, no smiting nor raping or falsehoods necessary.

I can't believe no one has mentioned FSMism. May you be touched by His noodley appendage.

Theravada Buddhism,

Its one of four typ's of Buddhism.
and its nice and easy.
no god's just be good and meditate

There are nice people in every faith, there are also cranky not so nice people in every faith, it's more of a personality disposition issue.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

I'm going with Buddhists also.

Although from time to time even they can get out of hand.

I'm going with Buddhists as well, but your comment puzzled me...

Got some links to "Buddhists gone Wild" or something?

Confessing Their Bloodguilt

“We called the war [World War II] a holy war and sent people to battlefields,” admitted Shingen Hosokawa, the secretary-general of the Temple Office of the Buddhist True Pure Land Otani Sect in Japan. “We cannot but be overwhelmed with shame in front of the holy Buddha.” At a recent “Memorial Service for All War Dead,” 45 years after the end of World War II, the sect, with over five million believers, admitted its responsibility in “willingly cooperating in [the war efforts of] World War II.” “There is no precedent for a traditional Buddhist order clearly to state its own war responsibility at a religious ritual,” noted the Asahi Shimbun.

However, should not far more religions be “overwhelmed with shame” for having urged many young men to go to war? According to the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, virtually all Buddhist, “Christian,” and Shinto denominations in Japan formed a Religious League in 1941 “to provide a spiritual bulwark for the nation in wartime.”

Buddhism and Politics

Like Judaism and professed Christianity, Buddhism has not limited itself to religious activities but has helped mold political thought and behavior as well. “The first fusion of Buddhism and political action came during the reign of [King] Asoka,” says author Jerrold Schecter. The political activism of Buddhism continues to our day. The involvement of Buddhism in the Vietnam war of the 1960’s caused Schecter to conclude: “The peaceful path of the Middle Way has been twisted into the new violence of street demonstrations. . . . Buddhism in Asia is a faith in flames.”

Dissatisfied with the deplorable political, economic, social, and moral conditions of the Western world, some people turn to Eastern religions, including Buddhism, for explanations. But can “a faith in flames” provide the answers?

... A widely respected religious figure, Jesus Christ, indicated that false religion produces bad works, just as a “rotten tree produces worthless fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-17) What fruit does false religion yield?

False Religion . . .

▪ MEDDLES IN WAR AND POLITICS: “Across Asia and beyond,” says the journal Asiaweek, “power-hungry leaders are cynically manipulating people’s religious sentiments for their own needs.” As a result, the journal warns: “The world threatens to sink into madness.” A prominent religious leader in the United States declared: “You’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops.” His solution? “Blow them all away in the name of the Lord.” By contrast, the Bible says: “If anyone makes the statement: ‘I love God,’ and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20) Jesus even said: “Continue to love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44) How many religions can you think of whose members engage in war?
...

Source: The End of False Religion Is Near!

...
Nationalism
...
Too, as the story of the chapel in Scotland shows, nationalism and religion often go together. Wrote Dr. Robert L. Kahn, a rabbi: “Religion and Nationalism always tend to go hand in hand. In times of war, particularly, . . . ‘For God and Country’ becomes a sort of battle cry. This has always been so. [In World War II] one of the popular songs was the war-whoop of a chaplain, ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”’
...

Source: What Obstructs Universal Brotherhood? (Awake!—1981)

Justifications and excuses Buddhists use to justify military service (usually combined with nationalism and patriotism, with racism and prejudice lurking not far behind):

2 Corinthians 10:3

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare* according to what we are in the flesh.

*: “We do not wage warfare.” Lit., “we are not doing military service.” Gr., ou . . . stra·teu·oʹme·tha; Lat., non . . . mi·li·taʹmus.

When the nations go to war, who have enough love for their Christian brothers in other lands that they refuse to take up arms and kill them? That is what early Christians did. Who do not 'do military service', no matter what arguments people come up with to condone, justify, encourage or stress the need for it while painting it as something heroic, noble and some great service to your country or the people that require 'protecting' as these arguments put it?

Song 141 Searching for Friends of Peace (with lyrics)
“I was only obeying orders” was, in effect, the defense of the Nazis who committed mass atrocities during World War II. Has mankind learned from this experience? Columnist Daniel Lynch writes in the Rocky Mountain Journal (1976) of an “unnerving experience” to the contrary. U.S. Senator Gary Hart invited him to join in interviewing applicants for military academies. His conclusion afterward: “The depressing truth is that the overwhelming majority of these clean-cut, earnest and otherwise impressive Americans proclaim themselves willing to shoot anybody or [telephone] tap anybody upon receipt of orders.”

The late British historian Arnold Toynbee said of nationalism: “It is a state of mind in which we give our paramount political loyalty to one fraction of the human race . . . whatever consequences this may entail for the foreign majority of the human race.”

Because nationalism is so divisive and destructive, Toynbee said of it: “Nationalism is a mental disease.” And former United Nations Secretary-General U Thant observed: “So many of the problems that we face today are due to, or the result of, false attitudes​—some of them have been adopted almost unconsciously. Among these is the concept of narrow nationalism​—‘my country, right or wrong.’”

Buddhism, fortified by Taoism, and Confucianism are among Korea’s main non-Christian religions. Another religion in Korea is Ch’ŏndogyo, “Religion of the Heavenly Way,” its name since 1905. Founded in 1860 by Ch’oe Suun (Che-u), it was originally called Tonghak, “Eastern Learning,” in contrast with Sohak, “Western Learning,” the term for Christianity, which Ch’ŏndogyo was developed partially to counteract.

Central to the “Religion of the Heavenly Way” is the belief that man is essentially divine, part of God. Sain yŏch’ŏn, (“Treat man as God”) is therefore a major ethical tenet, requiring that fellow humans be treated with “utmost concern, respect, sincerity, dignity, equality, and justice,” explains Yong-choon Kim of the University of Rhode Island.

Striving to change the social order in pursuit of these high principles brought the founder, Suun, into conflict with the government. Political meddling led to the execution of both him and his successor. It also helped provoke the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. In fact, political activity is characteristic of newer Korean religions, of which the Tonghak movement was only the first. Nationalism is often a major theme, with Korea being assigned a future place of world prominence.

a reply to: Lumenari
[continuing from previous comment]

Of course, religiously motivated wars are nothing new. But in contrast with the past when nations of different religions warred with one another, the 20th century has increasingly found nations of the same religion locked in bitter conflict. The god of nationalism has clearly been able to manipulate the gods of religion. Thus, during World War II, while Catholics and Protestants in Great Britain and the United States were killing Catholics and Protestants in Italy and Germany, Buddhists in Japan were doing the same to their Buddhist brothers in southeast Asia.

Since 1914, two world wars and over a hundred smaller conflicts have spilled an ocean of blood. A century ago, French writer Guy de Maupassant said that “the egg from which wars are hatched” is patriotism, which he called “a kind of religion.” In fact, The Encyclopedia of Religion says that patriotism’s cousin, nationalism, “has become a dominant form of religion in the modern world, preempting a void left by the deterioration of traditional religious values.” By failing to promote true worship, false religion created the spiritual vacuum into which nationalism was able to pour.

Religion in Politics
...
But a more damaging influence has to do with the long-standing history of religion meddling in politics.

In a recent report referred to in the preceding article, a group of historians noted that “religion is more likely to be a cause of war when religion and the state authorities become closely allied or intertwined.” And therein lies another undeniable reality: Religion has been, and is to this day, tightly interlocked with political and military entities.

An Explosive Mix

In many lands, predominant religions have become symbols of patriotic and racial identities. As a result, the lines between nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry, and religious enmity are virtually indistinguishable. This explosive cocktail has the necessary ingredients to tear our world apart.
...

Source: The Problem With Religion (Awake! | January 2011)

a reply to: Flavian

Yes, I was browsing the thread thinking no-one was going to suggest Baháʼí which is my favorite for this classification.

a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity of all people.

Baha'i

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

A simple question not always deserve a simple answer

You must study or at least read theology to understand the principles and the ideology of a religion, why one goes down that path and why they ended up with what religion, with over 4000 known religions active on earth it would be impossible to make a distinction when most have the identical core principle...being a good person and living a good life

I've studied many and agree with most but follow none

My core beliefs and way of life is more akin to Buddhism, yet I have no need to be a Buddhist...as a "Religion" Buddhism has had its fare share of fights, battles and wars against Islam and Christianity, to which throws confusion of devout or creates an image of extremism

Make what you will of my answer...but to put it simple if I may, all religion is good but all religion is bad

There are no nice religions. They're all bigoted and preach fear and powerlessness. Even Jains are bigoted.

a reply to: Hushabye
Ever heard of Jain University in India?

Watch this propagandistic nationalistic army recruitment video encouraging and glorifying military service (it literally admits to be "grooming young individuals into cadets and finally to young soldiers"), courtesy of Jain University:

I once saw an American MSM channel do a piece on the question: "What is the most peaceful religion in the world?" They picked Jainism. So much for Jainism being the most peaceful religion when it comes to 'defending your country' as they always put it so benignly before sending them off to butcher Tamil civilians for example (in the case of India) or Pakistani muslims:

Remember that the Sri Lankan war against the Tamils was backed by the Indian government and supported by Indian troops and military equipment.

Of course, there is a religion in this world that doesn't condone military service for its members. You can't be a member of this religion and at the same time be a member of the military of any country, no matter how noble they portray their intentions and reasons for having a military or the need to kill others to 'protect' as they generally put it when fighting "terrorists" and such.

Song 21 Happy, the Merciful! vocals

The nicest religion is the one you pick.

a reply to: Pilgrum
Baháʼís do combatant military service, in spite of the teachings of Baháʼí somewhat discouraging it but leaving some convenient loopholes for their flock to use if they want to make some more money by doing combatant service. One such loophole is mentioned in this google groups discussion:

Baha'is in the military - Google Groups

...
In connection with your application for exemption from active military service, the Guardian trusts that the authorities will give careful consideration to this matter, and will find it possible to relieve the Baha'i friends from the necessity of serving in the army in a combatant capacity. Should they, however, refuse to grant such exemption, the believers should unhesitatingly assure them of their unqualified obedience and of their readiness to join and serve in the army in whatever manner the government deems best.
(Shoghi Effendi: Unfolding Destiny, p.134)
...

So much for Baháʼí as a candidate. Jesus said: "By their fruits you will recognize them." (Mt 7:15-20)

originally posted by: buddha
Theravada Buddhism,

Its one of four typ's of Buddhism.
and its nice and easy.
no god's just be good and meditate

Buddhism and violence - Wikipedia

...
According to Neil DeVotta (an Associate Professor of Political Science), the mytho-history described in the Mahavamsa "justifies dehumanizing non-Sinhalese, if doing so is necessary to preserve, protect, and propagate the dhamma (Buddhist doctrine). Furthermore, it legitimizes a just war doctrine, provided that war is waged to protect Buddhism. Together with the Vijaya myth, it introduces the bases for the Sinhalese Buddhist belief that Lord Buddha designated the island of Sri Lanka as a repository for Theravada Buddhism. It claims the Sinhalese were the first humans to inhabit the island (as those who predated the Sinhalese were subhuman) and are thus the true "sons of the soil". Additionally, it institutes the belief that the island's kings were beholden to protect and foster Buddhism. All of these legacies have had ramifications for the trajectory of political Buddhism and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism."

Rise of modern Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism

With the rise of modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a reaction to the changes brought under the British colonialism,[99] the old religious mytho-history of the Mahavamsa (especially the emphasis on the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnicities of Duthagamani and Elara, respectively[100]) was revitalized and consequently would prove to be detrimental to the intergroup harmony in the island. As Heather Selma Gregg writes: "Modern-day Sinhalese nationalism, rooted in local myths of being a religiously chosen people and of special progeny, demonstrates that even a religion perceived as inherently peaceful can help fuel violence and hatred in its name."
...
Sri Lanka

Buddhism in Sri Lanka has a unique history and has played an important role in the shaping of Sinhalese nationalist identity. Consequently, politicized Buddhism has contributed to ethnic tension in the island between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population and other minorities, especially the Tamils.

Violence in Sri Lanka pertaining to Buddhism has been present for decades. This violence originated years ago with the persecution of the Tamil people by the Sinhalese majority. However, after years of discrimination, ...

I also refer you back to the video concerning the massacre and targeted extermination of Tamil civilians that I shared earlier in response to Hushabye.

So much for Theravada Buddhism and its adherents. Everything I said about nationalism and religion getting involved with politics and all the resulting wars, violence, nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry, and religious enmity counts especially for Sri Lankan buddhists and Theravada Buddhism. Or, just as much. As mentioned earlier:

In many lands, predominant religions have become symbols of patriotic and racial identities. As a result, the lines between nationalistic hatred, racial prejudice, ethnic rivalry, and religious enmity are virtually indistinguishable.

Source: The Problem With Religion (Awake! | January 2011)

Always been partial to the belief system of the Jatravartids myself.