Readers are directed to an extraordinary exchange in the comments field of yesterday's post "Buddha, God, The Devil & The Infinite Universe." The Christian theme provoked a response from somebody calling themselves "Yes 2 Truth" who referred to my exploration of Buddhism as a "pig sty moment" that some people have before "returning to the fold" of Christianity. Which is one of the most vulgar and insulting things anybody has ever said to me, I think--and I have been insulted by the best. He or she then argued with a Buddhist correspondent about Mel Gibson and definitions of various Christian terms, and warned me to repent because I objected to the defamation of other people's religious orientation. Buddhism is gentle, kind and civilised: to heap abuse on it is distasteful in the extreme..
Not that this Yes 2 Truth person is a representative Christian. Many are quiet, humble, reasonable people who tend their own spiritual garden and wouldn't presume to lecture or to damn anybody: I know, my closest friend is one of them. But boy are the vocal minority in the Christian church (for the want of a better umbrella term), frightening. In their anger, their intolerance, their violent certainty, their disinterest in discussion or intelligent speculation, they are creating the misleading impression that Christianity is a religion for right wing extremists and uneducated bullies, and that's a terrible shame: the original message of love and forgiveness that you find in the Bible is beautiful, and the world could really use it at the moment.
Have a look and form your own opinion.Right now I apparently have to go and repent for something or other,
though I'm not 100% sure what.
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