Why does Buddhism continue to attract increasing numbers in the United States and other Western countries?

why does Buddhism continue to attract increasing numbers in the United States and other Western countries?|||Albert Einstein apparently called Buddhism the religion of the future and the reason it is so popular in the west is because it gives you the choice to either believe in God or not to. Also you do not have to believe in anything you don't want to and have to focus on doing good work by following the 8 Fold Path. So the religion is more like a philosophy and a way of life and young people think that is very cool. Also Buddhism was never spread by violence like the Crusades and is very tolerant of all other religions. Plus many Hollywood movie stars are Buddhist and the Dalai Lama is the most popular religious figure on the world scene. Today in the west there are more Buddhists than Muslims and Hindus and it is the 3rd largest religion after Christianity and Judaism. Also many scholars believe that a lot of the NT is based on Buddhism and that Jesus studied Buddhism during what is referdd to as his "lost years" between the age of 12 and 30. Hence Buddhism is very compatible with Christians. Also many White people feel that their ancestors were actually closer to Buddhism than to Christianity and this feeling was also shared by Hitler of all people.|||Try it and you may discover!





One of the main things that I assume is attractive to westerners like myself is that there is no emphasis on blind faith in order to be a good practitioner. Especially in Catholicism that is experienced by many modern westerners as a non-brainer. The Buddha stated that we should check his teachings and test them with our own experience in life, and we should not accept things on blind faith, hearsay or 'because it is written'. Only if it does not contradict our own logic and experience, it is suitable to accept the teachings and practice them.





Besides that, I found the philosophy much more consistent and logical then any of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim explanations, and the practice of meditation extremely useful and powerful. But then, I'm not very objective....