How Atheistic is Buddhism?

Buddhism has often been characterized as being atheistic. This is due to its lack of a personal god. Does that really make it atheistic? As I have noted on numerous other occasions there is more than one version of the God concept. Lack of belief in one version does not exclude the other. I find it difficult to accept this characterization since I see a number of instances that imply that Buddhism does accept the abstract version of the God concept.

The concept of Nirvana can be rather complicated and nuanced. There are debates about the true nature of Nirvana. One aspect that is not agreed on is whether the personality of an individual is annihilated or somehow subsumed by the state of Nirvana. Most descriptions of Nirvana, however, include references to consciousness. To me, by definition, this would indicate some type of personality/persona. Nirvana is frequently describe as the ultimate/cosmic consciousness. Many modern Christian theologians describe God in very similar terms. I do not find it a stretch to see Nirvana as a slight variation of the abstract version of God. If the primary goal of Buddhism is to achieve Nirvana how is it not theistic? If you wish to become one with the consciousness of the cosmos is that not essentially the same goal of Christians becoming one with God?

Reincarnation also seems to defy the characterization of Buddhism as an atheistic faith. It is true that some sects claim not to believe in souls (the mechanism by which you are reincarnated) but still cling to the concept of Karma. They do believe that you can not escape the earthly bounds of physical being until you achieve Nirvana. They do accept that you keep coming back in physical form and that each form is bound by Karma. Each form somehow records the individuals progress towards Nirvana. Even though some Buddhist groups deny having a soul I fail to see how they can honestly do so since there has to be a mechanism (fantasy or not) to transfer Karma from one form to another. Sounds like a soul to me. The notion of some type of eternal metaphysical entity, whether labeled soul or not, smacks of the God concept.

There are other aspects of Buddhism that indirectly seem to hark back to the God concept. The very structure of religion seems to do so at least to some degree. The doctrines and rites/rituals are usually described in divine terms and are frequently ascribed to a divine source. This is as true of Buddhism as it is of any other religion I've ever read up on. Examine the myths and legends around Siddartha Guatama and you will see many of the same elements of any founding figure of the various world religions.

Buddhism may be somewhat atheistic in comparison to specific world religions but when viewed in light of all belief systems it really isn't atheistic at all.