Buddhism?  Oddly enough, last night, at the monthly meeting of the atheist discussion group I attend, we heard a presentation on Buddhism.  Though having studied Buddhism at length in graduate school, I enjoyed hearing from a practitioner who, she told us, has been pursuing its ways for over thirty years.

A     Assessing Buddhism's appeal is not difficult.  Buddhism offers a way to find personal wholeness, even holiness without requiring adherence or loyalty to a particular doctrinal perspective, much less God.  For this reason, many Westerners find it tremendously inviting.  Moreover, meditation, the core of what it means to be Buddhist, has been found, through reams of research and study, to indeed reduce tension, mitigate stress, and lower blood pressure. From a physiological standpoint, it really does work.  Even a militant atheist like Sam Harris, author of numerous books castigating Christianity and religion, meditates.  
     So what's the problem?  Without stepping on anyone's toes, I suggest that for all of its benefits--and from a mechanical standpoint they are many--Buddhism may miss a crucial point:  we're not alone in this universe.  Although we can insist there is no God, we must then agree that the cosmos is meaningless:  why is it really here?  Why are we really here.
That said, I will add that, yes, meditation is wonderful, but if we want to think that we, and the world, have meaning in and of itself, we must also acknowledge that there is a God.
     And everything changes.