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Relating to Christians
There have been a few threads on this recently, and I found myself thinking today while driving of where I'd been (in Christian terms), where I am now ("God" knows 
), and things I've found out in the meantime.
The first thing is that in terms of a Christian -- especially family/friends/loved-ones -- having a problem with someone's interest in Buddhism they can be (very) broadly divided into two groups. The older established groups, like Roman Catholics (me), Anglicans. and so on are much less likely to have a problem. The newer and/or more evangelical are more likely to. There are numerous exceptions (me - "charismatic" Catholicism), but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.
Next, if you are dealing with someone who does have a problem, it's almost certainly going to be based not primarily on how you are living your life, but mostly on what you admit to *believing*. There are two things that could trigger a problem for them:
1. You believe something you are not supposed to
2. You don't believe something you are supposed to
My experience so far is that a lot of what is normally called Buddhism simply isn't a problem in terms of point 1. "Do you believe Buddha was god?" No. "Do you believe that you have to shave your head?" No. "Do you believe you have to worship a statue of an elephant?" No. "What about a statue of a fat dude?" No. And so on.
Of course there are *some* beliefs that could cause an issue. A belief in the non-existence of god is one. I don't find that a problem because I don't believe in the non-existence of god. I don't believe in the existence of god either. I just don't know (although see below)
But overall, as far as point 1 goes, Siddartha Guatama is to Christianity what Steven Covey, or Oprah Winfrey, or Tony Robbins is to Christianity -- namely, pretty much orthogonal. From that point of view, the only reason Christians get upset at Buddhism is that it's "eastern" and scarily exotic.
The bigger problem is point 2. For example, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ was the Only Son of God?" One possible way of tackling that is to recognize that it's not a particularly precise question. What exactly is meant by "son", for example. It can't be the normal biological sense, where son is male offspring resulting from the fertilization of a human ovum by human sperm. Christians don't mean that by "son". Nor is it the usual legal definition -- something about certain legal documents being executed in a particular way. Of course that means that strictly speaking the answer to tings like "Do you believe Jesus was God" is "No". But if you say that it's probably best to point out that "not-believing in X" is not the same as "believing in not-X".
Same goes (as I pointed forwards from above), for the word "god". It's not a very well-defined term. In one sense the answer to the question "Do you believe in God?" is not "No" or "Yes" but "Huh?"
Needless to say, many if not most evangelical Christians will take that approach as either evasive, dishonest, or just plain evil. But it's none of those things; not for me anyway.
C
), and things I've found out in the meantime.The first thing is that in terms of a Christian -- especially family/friends/loved-ones -- having a problem with someone's interest in Buddhism they can be (very) broadly divided into two groups. The older established groups, like Roman Catholics (me), Anglicans. and so on are much less likely to have a problem. The newer and/or more evangelical are more likely to. There are numerous exceptions (me - "charismatic" Catholicism), but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.
Next, if you are dealing with someone who does have a problem, it's almost certainly going to be based not primarily on how you are living your life, but mostly on what you admit to *believing*. There are two things that could trigger a problem for them:
1. You believe something you are not supposed to
2. You don't believe something you are supposed to
My experience so far is that a lot of what is normally called Buddhism simply isn't a problem in terms of point 1. "Do you believe Buddha was god?" No. "Do you believe that you have to shave your head?" No. "Do you believe you have to worship a statue of an elephant?" No. "What about a statue of a fat dude?" No. And so on.
Of course there are *some* beliefs that could cause an issue. A belief in the non-existence of god is one. I don't find that a problem because I don't believe in the non-existence of god. I don't believe in the existence of god either. I just don't know (although see below)
But overall, as far as point 1 goes, Siddartha Guatama is to Christianity what Steven Covey, or Oprah Winfrey, or Tony Robbins is to Christianity -- namely, pretty much orthogonal. From that point of view, the only reason Christians get upset at Buddhism is that it's "eastern" and scarily exotic.
The bigger problem is point 2. For example, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ was the Only Son of God?" One possible way of tackling that is to recognize that it's not a particularly precise question. What exactly is meant by "son", for example. It can't be the normal biological sense, where son is male offspring resulting from the fertilization of a human ovum by human sperm. Christians don't mean that by "son". Nor is it the usual legal definition -- something about certain legal documents being executed in a particular way. Of course that means that strictly speaking the answer to tings like "Do you believe Jesus was God" is "No". But if you say that it's probably best to point out that "not-believing in X" is not the same as "believing in not-X".
Same goes (as I pointed forwards from above), for the word "god". It's not a very well-defined term. In one sense the answer to the question "Do you believe in God?" is not "No" or "Yes" but "Huh?"
Needless to say, many if not most evangelical Christians will take that approach as either evasive, dishonest, or just plain evil. But it's none of those things; not for me anyway.
C
0
Comments
What you are to other people are what you say and do. Don't speak of beliefs in a way that would cause bad feelings, simply be at peace with yours and let others be at peace with theirs. If they ask if you believe, just tell them you don't know but are always thinking and open to new ideas.
I might be moving to a place that's something like 97% populated by Christians, and although I don't necessarily share their beliefs, they are all my brothers and sisters regardless. Just be a good person. As one poster said "my parents hate me when I'm a Buddhist, but they love me when I'm a Buddha".