Playing Mix & Match With Religion

[Brian]

Question:

Hello, I love the podcast and hope more come out soon. Any way I have
a question. Is it legitimate to follow another religion and use
buddhism as a philosophy? Thank You and All Blessings Be.

Answer:

Absolutely-- People do it all the time. People follow Christianity or
Judaism, for example, and still practice all the non-religious aspects
of Buddhism as well. Since Buddhism doesn't generally involve God or
prayers, there's no reason at all that one cannot simply add Buddhism
as another "layer" to one's own foundational belief system.

Many Christians practice Buddhism on the side, and so many Jews do it
that they actually came up with a term for it, Ju-Bu (Wikipedia
Link). Depending on your specific local church, and how well they
understand what Buddhism is really all about, your specific church may
or may not support this.

From the wording in your question, however, I suspect you are not
coming from a Judeo-Christian background. I suspect it may be even
easier to fit Buddhism into one of the less dogmatic religions such as
Wicca. If anyone would like to share their personal story on making
Buddhism mesh with their pre-existing belief system, I'd love to hear
it.

Comment at: http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1390