Wrong, he cannot chose to change that position... it is generations old and that tradition is far larger than he.
Also, why would he want to?
Again, you are not reading... there are no supernatural "parts" to Buddhism. If people practice a religon along with Buddhism, fine, but that does not make it a religion.
I'm repeating myself with you now... I'll reply if you you write something new.

rkzenrage is right on all counts, HM. Christians dont neccisarily believe that, say, there's an army of saints for every concievable purpose (like St. Hubbins, patron saint of Quality Footwear!), or that Jesus came to America (like the Mormons, who are technically christian). It's not that they aren't christian, or that christanity IS any of those things, theyre just side-beliefs that the minority of people believe in.

In the same fashion, there ARE buddhists who believe in Bodhisattvas flying around on clouds fighting evil monsters, and in divinity of the Buddhas and the Lamas, but... that isn't what buddhism is. That's mythology that has arisen outside the teachings of Siddhartha, and have no real bearing on buddhism itself.

For sake of simplicity buddhism can be classified as a religion, in the same way that confucianism can be, but in practice and in nature, buddhism is a philosophy and a way of life.

I never disagreed with that point.

But the Dalai Lama is part of a religious version of Buddhism. He is considered to be the reincarnation of previous Dalai Lamas. Not just philosophically, but in a "recognizes the possessions of previous incarnations" way.

Yes, but at the same time He is also a philosophical leader and thinker, and I don't see why He can't be both without assumed spillage-over.

And capitolizing His pronouns is simply a sign of respect, not worship or implied divinity, the same way I bow slightly when I pass statues of Buddha. Same as how people capitolize a President or any other respected, powerful figure.

Not the pronouns. They don't even do that for "his Holiness" the Pope.

By the way, this thread is Google's #5 for

honorific holiness

*shrugs* proper grammar or not, it's still a sign of respect.

YES! My original post went so off topic...but it's officially googlized!

Back on topic, I pretty much agree with most of your original post, except that extraterrestrial microbes have not been found yet. There have been some possibilities, but nothing conclusive.

Oh sorry, I didn't mean to get the facts wrong. Really, just possiblities? I thought they proved some bacteria can live in outer space, I don't know the name of it though.

Some Earth bacteria can survive (in a dormant state, revivable if put in a good environment) in space, but we haven't found any that actually originated there. There were some interesting rocks a while back that had marks on them that seemed to indicate life, but last I heard there were other explanations as well.

once you make the leap to Atheism, you'll never go back. I finally had the epiphany a couple of years ago. Ever since, whenever I encounter religion, it just seems SO stupid.

I like to use the L Ron Hubbard/ Scientology as an example when confronting religious people. I tell them that Scientology sounds outlandish, right? Well, Jesus' miracles must have seemed equally outlandish when he was alive.

The flying spagetti monster is a good analogy too.

FSM was "inelligently designed" that way.