Friday, December 03, 2004

Focus on the Family and Lies for Jesus

I am always amazed at the nonsense that's published on the 'net by "apologetics" "ministries" of conservative religious groups that inevitably smear different religions.

Focus on the Family does it from time to time, such as this latest endeavor.

Here's my reply to them:

I am saddened by your article here (TRUTH ENCOUNTER Don’t All Spiritual Paths Lead to God? )

It is articles like this that have given people who are not fundamentalist Christians grave doubts about the morality of "biblical" Christians in general and Focus on the Family in particular.

To wit, Mr. Russo, the author, wrote:


Buddhism has no god and no type of final existence. The Hindu god is impersonal but can be approached through countless deities and statues. Allah, the Muslims’ god, is personal with no secondary deities and a total ban of idols or any other way of representing God. There’s no forgiveness or supernatural help in Buddhism and Hinduism, only cold-blooded karma.


The fact is Buddhism states nothing definite nor indefinite whatsoever about a "final" existence. Neither does Buddhism specifically have a need for "forgiveness," nor for the "supernatural." That said, there are variations of Buddhism that a Christian might refer to as "supernatural."

Finally karma, or interdependency, need not be "cold blooded," when understood and used by compassionate human beings.

I would think it is not too much to ask that you honestly represent Buddhism. Remember, your readers can go to a place like http://www.livingdharma.org, or http://www.tricycle.com/new.php?p=Buddhist%20Basics, or any of a number of places on the web and find out how Buddhists really view the world and what they practice. Trust me, you are not doing yourself any favors by misrepresenting the truth for "Jesus."



I really think it's not too much trouble for a group concerned about morality to actually practice it.



No comments: