Why do most Christians hate Buddhism?

[Exarch]

as the title says, i've come across a lot of christians, whether on campus, or outside, where they passionatley hate buddhism for some mysterious reason.

i've heard christians criticize siddharta gautama (the original Buddha) for 'abandoning his wife and kid' while ignoring the fact that as royalty, Gautama's wife and kid would've been well cared for. That and also, it was the custom of the day for young men to seek spirituality via meditation and hermitage; not unlike the early christians of the embryonic church, such as simeon the hermit on his tower

Then there's the misunderstanding among christians, particularly the born again variety, that the buddhist goal of detatching oneself from the world is equivalent to apathy and indifference to the cruelties of the world.
However, i actually find buddhists to be among the most compassionate and humble ppl i've ever met. genuine too, and when i compare them to christians who espouse judgement and congenital 'sin', and emphasize preaching and blind faith, my support for buddhists is a foregone conclusion.

personally, i'm an atheist with my own private spirituality, and i find i have more respect for ppl who practice the tenets of their own religion than those who wish only to proselytize and, in some cases, connive and lie in order to win converts!!
http://www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbP...8/Buddhism.htm

this criticism against buddhism (or heck, any other religion) is universal amongst all denominations fo chrstianity. hell, christian missionaries have no respect for any other religion because they believe theirs is the only way...a salient feature amongst all judeo-christian beliefs....

Discuss

[Bovril]

Budhism is 'cool' and so a lot of Christians, young and old, rail against it out of a kind of jelousy. Other than that, Christians often have a pretty bigotted view of other faiths and world views in general, judging, as you said, that their's is the only correct way.
I don't know if anything more profound than that is going on really.

[Ummon]

Actually, Buddhism is excellent. What isn't good at times is the use westerners make of it.

[Ultraman]

Actually, I haven't found that most of the christians in my family "hate" buddhism. They certainly wouldn't agree with it's lack of God, but when I went off to live at a Zen center many years ago, they were happy that I was happy doing what I was doing.

I would guess you've met a lot more christians that lean more towards fundamentalism than I have.

I do remember talking to a kid (late teens, i'm guessing), not a missionary but full of zeal, asking me about Buddhism. He obviously didn't know anything about it, because after I gave him my nutshell version of it, he asked, "But Buddhist believe in Jesus, right?"

So I explained that some may believe in the historical Jesus, but that Buddhism doesn't recognize Jesus as the son of God, messiah, etc.

He than asked, "But you do know that the Buddha was a sinner, right?"

:hmmm:

There's the core of what you're getting at, i think. I'm hoping most of us would understand that if Buddhists don't believe in the christian God, they certainly wouldn't "know" that the Buddha was a sinner in the christian sense of the word. What we have here is an inability by some people to understand any possible perspective beyond their own paradigm.

Of course, we're all probably a little guilty of that. But some people take it to an extreme. At least, that's my perspective.

There's also the issue of a modern perspective trying to grasp a cultural norm that didn't question men heading off to seek enlightenment. I've found that even many non-or not so devout-christians get upset by the idea of a man leaving his household to lead a spiritual life, even if his family was taken care of, which happens to this day.

[Oldgamer]

As a Christian soon to be ordained into the ministry, I do not hate Buddhism. In fact, I rather admire the devotion of many Buddhists to their belief-structure. I wish more Christians emulated that devotion.

One of the reasons that Buddhism is "on a roll" or trendy, is because one can be an atheist or an agnostic, and still claim to be associated with religion and spirituality. It's almost a perfect religion for the modern Western world, ironically.

[Ultraman]

It's almost a perfect religion for the modern Western world, ironically.

Queue Ummon.

[Oswald von Wolkenstein]

Catholics are certainly "a lot" of Christians. And even though the current pope is trying to turn Catholicism into Southern Baptist with fancy robes, it's still the position of the Catholic Church that Buddhism is a philosophy and philosophy of peace, very compatible with the teachings of Christ. So unless you're at Liberty University, or somewhere in Texas or Utah, I don't know where you'd be meeting a lot of Christians who hate Buddhism.

[Exarch]

oswald, u'll be surprised to know that here in oz, there's a growing strain of christian fundamentalism that's trying persistently to involve itself in government affairs, not unlike your american counterparts.
ahem george pell, ahem family first group ahem.
this fundamentlaism is most evident when u come to some universities, and the christian fundies have a go at all the religions, that isnt synonamous with their own 'brand'. it varies from minister to minister but the rhetoric is the same.
once, i even had a protestant minister tell me, with a straight face that mormonism, (strangely, another sect of christianity) was unchristian and influenced by demons. i kid u not. of course he was as fundamentalist as they come, and man the stuff he'd say about buddhists.
the man was beyond reason

[Oswald von Wolkenstein]

oswald, u'll be surprised to know that here in oz, there's a growing strain of christian fundamentalism that's trying persistently to involve itself in government affairs, not unlike your american counterparts.
ahem george pell, ahem family first group ahem.
this fundamentlaism is most evident when u come to some universities, and the christian fundies have a go at all the religions, that isnt synonamous with their own 'brand'. it varies from minister to minister but the rhetoric is the same.
once, i even had a protestant minister tell me, with a straight face that mormonism, (strangely, another sect of christianity) was unchristian and influenced by demons. i kid u not. of course he was as fundamentalist as they come, and man the stuff he'd say about buddhists.
the man was beyond reason

ahh, o.k. I understand -- some of that wave of Aussie Fundies have found there way into American Universities -- so I've witnessed this first hand. I didn't know that there were a lot still in Australia. I just assumed that the always practical Australians had kicked them all out and that's why they were here.

[boofhead]

ahh, o.k. I understand -- some of that wave of Aussie Fundies have found there way into American Universities -- so I've witnessed this first hand. I didn't know that there were a lot still in Australia. I just assumed that the always practical Australians had kicked them all out and that's why they were here.

Please, keep them. We don't really want them back

[Irishman]

I have not come across many people who hate Buddhism, there are those who dislike it, mainly because it is a competing faith, which puts them at ends, but MOST Christians I have met are very open.

I do, however, agree with Ummon and dislike the new age attempt at using the name of Buddhism. I once attended a temple which called itself "Zen Buddhist Meditation Center", and honestly had nothing to do with Zen Buddhism. It was new age supernaturalism with the basic skeletal concepts of Buddhism (the peace and tranquility, not the 4 noble truths).

I think a lot of these "temples" are what give Buddhism a bad rep as a less than serious philosophy.

it was the custom of the day for young men to seek spirituality via meditation and hermita

This is not true. In Indian societies, men were expected to raise a family and seek spirituality much later in life, in the late thirties or forties.

This is still practiced in many Jain (and Hindi) societies around the world.

[boofhead]

I dunno Exarch. I was raised as a Christian my entire childhood and youth, have briefly explored many denominations and cults, and have married into an extended community of Adventists, even though my wife is a Hindu.

Never heard much about Buddhists from Christians, really (can't remember anything actually), except what I researched myself, and a Vipassana meditation retreat I went on, and some books I read. I just don't see this "hatred" in the Christian circles I have been in.

this criticism against buddhism (or heck, any other religion) is universal amongst all denominations fo chrstianity. hell, christian missionaries have no respect for any other religion because they believe theirs is the only way...a salient feature amongst all judeo-christian beliefs....

Well, of course they do, they are religions of a singular path to salvation. But criticism or disagreement in no way equate to "hatred". If anything, a Christian would criticize another religion out of a "love" for the eternal future of its practitioners.

A little perspective, Exarch. Who exactly are these evangelical fundies you speak of? Jehovah's Witnesses? Christian City Church? Hillsong?

[Exarch]

all of the above boofhead.
yes perhaps 'hatred' is too strong a term to describe the general antipathy of the christians i've experienced towards buddhists, tho it's hard to see just how "loving" a minister is, when he's full on attacking a humble buddhist in the uni cafetaria.
i'm saddened to report that such attitudes of christian contempt towards buddhism is the norm, rather than the exception in many a uni in sydney.
i'm sure many christians empathize and respect buddhist beliefs, but how many respect them enough to refrain from attempting to evangelize to buddhists (or any other relgiion for that matter)?

[boofhead]

tho it's hard to see just how "loving" a minister is, when he's full on attacking a humble buddhist in the uni cafetaria.

Fair enough. What a frickin' jackass. He's not going to help "save someone's soul" by being a nincompoop.

i'm saddened to report that such attitudes of christian contempt towards buddhism is the norm, rather than the exception in many a uni in sydney.
i'm sure many christians empathize and respect buddhist beliefs, but how many respect them enough to refrain from attempting to evangelize to buddhists (or any other relgiion for that matter)?

What has happened down there? I went to Sydney Uni in 1990 and apart from Mormons giving me their (*ahem* stupid) book and me slinking away, not much happened. And I was studying Arts/Divinity at the time .

A sad indictment on the Christians down there right now.

Here is the Christian philosophy I have held to for many years. I developed it after being almost physically manhandled by a religious nut in Bankstown Plaza one evening, when I felt forced, and indeed did, lay my hands on the guy (not in the religious sense mind you) and throw him out of my face. Basically I live a good life, work hard, am happy etc, and try to be an example. That is how I "witness". If anybody feels the need to ask me anything about that area of my life then I will explain my position to them, without being pushy or anything. This works way better than getting in somebody's face like JWs or Mormons or CCChurch speaking-in-gobbledygook-non-language-tongues people.

These over-aggressive evangelists need a reality hit. We need to use our God-given brains, our intelligence, our empathy in order to help others. Not drone on like some kind of a Borg moron.

[Exarch]

i commend u boofhead ur living/practicing ur religion by example is something i respect.
if ppl practiced their religion rather than simply talking about it ie preaching it, perhaps more and more ppl would turn a more favourable ey towards it.
of course, if more and more ppl did that, there'd be little difference between most, if not all faiths...

[Templar Knight]

as the title says, i've come across a lot of christians, whether on campus, or outside, where they passionatley hate buddhism for some mysterious reason.

i've heard christians criticize siddharta gautama (the original Buddha) for 'abandoning his wife and kid' while ignoring the fact that as royalty, Gautama's wife and kid would've been well cared for. That and also, it was the custom of the day for young men to seek spirituality via meditation and hermitage; not unlike the early christians of the embryonic church, such as simeon the hermit on his tower

Then there's the misunderstanding among christians, particularly the born again variety, that the buddhist goal of detatching oneself from the world is equivalent to apathy and indifference to the cruelties of the world.
However, i actually find buddhists to be among the most compassionate and humble ppl i've ever met. genuine too, and when i compare them to christians who espouse judgement and congenital 'sin', and emphasize preaching and blind faith, my support for buddhists is a foregone conclusion.

personally, i'm an atheist with my own private spirituality, and i find i have more respect for ppl who practice the tenets of their own religion than those who wish only to proselytize and, in some cases, connive and lie in order to win converts!!
http://www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbP...8/Buddhism.htm

this criticism against buddhism (or heck, any other religion) is universal amongst all denominations fo chrstianity. hell, christian missionaries have no respect for any other religion because they believe theirs is the only way...a salient feature amongst all judeo-christian beliefs....

Discuss

I am a Christian and i dont hate Buddhists I dont like the fact that they follow a false religion but i dont hate them

edit:by the way there are plenty of people of different religions who hate everyone else because of there religion
for example there are Muslims who hate everyone of a different religion, some atheists hate everyone who belongs to a religion, hell i have even heard of Hindus who hate people because there religion differers. My point is there are people in every religion that hate other people because they dont belong to there religion.

[Fiyenyaa]

I am a Christian and i dont hate Buddhists I dont like the fact that they follow a false religion but i dont hate them

edit:by the way there are plenty of people of different religions who hate everyone else because of there religion
for example there are Muslims who hate everyone of a different religion, some atheists hate everyone who belongs to a religion, hell i have even heard of Hindus who hate people because there religion differers. My point is there are people in every religion that hate other people because they dont belong to there religion.

"False religion"? That's surely a tautology, isn't it?
I'd love to know who these atheists who hate religious people (although I'm sure there are a few). You know that criticising a belief system doesn't necessarily equate to hating those who follow it.

templar knight, what makes u so sure the buddhists are following a false religion?
did it ever occur to you, that there's more than one path to the top of the mountain?
that achieving oneness with the one u call god may not neccessarily require one to bind oneself to a collection of scriptures written by a society of incestuous, bestialist, raping ethnocentrists (old testament) and pacific masochistic doublethinkers (new testament)?

this hubris that many of the judeo-christian creed espouse, tends to reflect badly on them.

You've hit the nail on the head though - Christianity and Islam most definately see themselves as the only true religions - it's part of the dogma.

[Exarch]

templar knight, what makes u so sure the buddhists are following a false religion?
did it ever occur to you, that there's more than one path to the top of the mountain?
that achieving oneness with the one u call god may not neccessarily require one to bind oneself to a collection of scriptures written by a society of incestuous, bestialist, raping ethnocentrists (old testament) and pacific masochistic doublethinkers (new testament)?

this hubris that many of the judeo-christian creed espouse, tends to reflect badly on them.

[Templar Knight]

templar knight, what makes u so sure the buddhists are following a false religion?
did it ever occur to you, that there's more than one path to the top of the mountain?
that achieving oneness with the one u call god may not neccessarily require one to bind oneself to a collection of scriptures written by a society of incestuous, bestialist, raping ethnocentrists (old testament) and pacific masochistic doublethinkers (new testament)?

this hubris that many of the judeo-christian creed espouse, tends to reflect badly on them.

because i am sure that I am right, just as the sun will rise in the morning.

[Sleeper]

Christians often have a pretty bigotted view of other faiths and world views in general, judging, as you said, that their's is the only correct way.

This is what separates Christians from other religions and atheists.

One of the reasons that Buddhism is "on a roll" or trendy, is because one can be an atheist or an agnostic, and still claim to be associated with religion and spirituality. It's almost a perfect religion for the modern Western world, ironically.

Buddhists' belief in the divine is far closer to early Christianity's than our Christian view post Trinitarianism. Enlightenment and God are the same end.


Most Christians do not have a opinion of Buddhism. Buddhism isn't on their radar, and if it is, they do not hate it. It is certainly not on the radar of US Fundamentalist Christians.