Apparently, Dr. Olasky was earlier taken aback by the criticism of Brit Hume (“Bold journalist Brit Hume” — HA) for telling Tiger Woods to drop Buddhism and become Christian. It offered a better shot at redemption, BRIT! said.
“Maybe so, one Buddhist blogger replied, but Buddhism is a religion of peace without any of those nasty crusades lurking in its past.”
Well, that was a giant, red rag to a peace-loving nerf-horned bull. So Olasky dug up historical events to prove that Buddhism had been violent in the past, including a number of pre- and during-WWII atrocities committed by the Japanese.
Thus, Buddhists have been no better than Christians:
Baran’s review of Victoria’s writing noted, “For too long, we have accepted all eastern teaching with childlike reverence, placing our thinking faculties on hold. Perhaps now, with these new revelations, it is time to re-honor intelligence and questioning and look more carefully at what we inherited and where we are headed.” Christians have gone through such self-appraisals concerning the Crusades. Some Buddhists are ready to do the same.
The essential point?
My point in all this is not to suggest that Buddhism is a religion of violence—it rarely is these days—but that it can be. Buddhism gets a great press in the United States, but it is one more man-made religion that reflects our naturally sinful natures. Murderers and adulterers all need Christ.
Hey, Marvin: why so self-conscious? If Christianity is the one true religion, it doesn’t matter how violent it’s been, right?
We all have bad, sad stories of teens who have forsaken their Christian roots for the tempting fruit of this world.
Comment by Francesca Bibles — February 6, 2010 @ 2:38 am
Uh, amen.
Comment by toma — February 6, 2010 @ 6:28 pm