Page 359 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

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atheist and anti-religious philosopher. Rajapakse says that interesting-
ly, even the first western commentators on Buddhism recognized cor-

rectly the similarities between Buddhism and Hume’s philosophy, and
then proceeds as follows:
Mrs. Rhys Davids [an early pioneer translator of Buddhist texts from Paali
into English], for example, remarked that "with regard to the belief in an in-
dwelling spirit or ego, permanent, unchanging, unsuffering, Buddhism took
the standpoint two thousand, four hundred years ago of our own Hume of
two centuries ago. 153

As Rajapakse states, in Victorian England many other philoso-
phers had taken a keen interest in Buddhism as it was compatible with
atheism and Darwinism, the popular philosophies of that era.
Friedrich Nietzsche was another atheist who warmed to
Buddhism for similar motives. He was deeply hostile towards
Christianity, but conciliatory towards idolatrous culture and morality.
His views became the ideological basis for fascism and Nazism. His ha-
tred for Divine religions was not just driven by these religions’ morali-
ty but also, and more significantly, by his fanatical atheist views. His
foolish hostility toward religion was limited to Divine religions where-

as pagan religions escaped unscathed. He held pagan religion in high
esteem and praised it lavishly, especially Buddhism. Jason DeBoer, ed-
itor of the “Eighteenth-Century Studies” says: “...Nietzsche, although
one of the fiercest atheists in history, was in fact not entirely anti-reli-
gious . . . [He] respected and admired many of the aspects of other reli-
gions, including paganism and even Buddhism.” 154
On the same subject, English academic David R. Loy, states the fol-
lowing in one of his articles:

“Comparing Nietzsche with Buddhism has become something of a cottage in-
dustry, and for good reason: there seems to be a deep resonance between them.

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)