Planning the Demise of
Buddhism
========
Peoples of the Buddhist World by Paul Hattaway, Piquant Editions,
Carlisle, 2004.
Reviewed by Allen Carr
========
Some Western drug companies spend millions of dollars developing
and marketing a new drug only to have the health authorities later
discover that it has dangerous side-effects and then ban it.
Needing to recover their investment and unable to sell their drug
in the West some of these companies try to market their dangerous
products in the Third World where public awareness of health issues
is low and indifferent governments can be brought off. Some might
say that Christianity is a bit like this.
Having lost much of their following in the West, churches are now
beginning to look for opportunities elsewhere. Of course the
Islamic world is out of the question. Even the most optimistic
evangelist knows that the chance of spreading the Gospel amongst
Muslims is nil. The obvious targets are Africa, India and the
Buddhist countries of Asia. There are now several evangelical
organizations dedicated just to evangelizing Buddhists. The Asia
Pacific Institute of Buddhist Studies in the Philippines offers
missionaries in-depth courses in Buddhist doctrine, the languages
of Buddhist countries and the sociology of various Buddhist
communities – the better to know the enemy.
The Central Asia Fellowship is geared specifically to spreading the
Gospel amongst Tibetans. The Overseas Missionary Fellowship is 'an
acknowledged authority on Buddhism' and 'is available to conduct
training sessions and seminars, give presentations and speak on how
Christians can work effectively in the Buddhist world.' The Sonrise
Centre for Buddhist Studies and the South Asia Network are both
on-line communities providing missionaries with detailed, accurate
and up-to-date information useful for evangelizing Buddhists. Make
no mistake, these are not small ad-hock groups. They are large,
well-financed, superbly run organizations staffed by highly
motivated and totally dedicated people and they are in it for the
long haul.
A book called Peoples
of the Buddhist World has recently been published by one of the
leaders of this new evangelical assault on Buddhism. The book's 453
pages offer missionaries and interested Christians a complete
profile of 316 Buddhist ethnic and linguistic groups in Asia, from
the Nyenpa of central Bhutan to the Kui of northern Cambodia, from
the Buriats of the Russian Far East to the Sinhalese of Sri
Lanka.
There is a detailed breakdown of the size of each group, how many
call themselves Buddhists and how many actually know and practice
it, which languages they speak, their strengths and how to overcome
them, their weaknesses and how to take advantage of them, an
overview of their history, their culture and the best ways to
evangelize them.
The book is filled with fascinating and beautiful color photos of
all of these peoples, many of them little-known. It makes one very
sad to think that these gentle, smiling, innocent folk are in now
in the sights of worldly-wise missionaries determined to undermine
their faith and destroy their ancient cultures. However, Hattaway
book is also interesting for the lurid glimpse it gives into the
bizarre mentality and the equally bizarre theology of the
evangelical Christians. In the preface Hattaway asks, "Does it
break God's heart today that hundreds of millions of Buddhists are
marching to hell with little or no gospel witness? Does it break
the Savior's heart that millions worship lifeless idols instead of
the true, glorious Heavenly Father?"
No wonder the evangelicals are always so angry and defensive, so
self-conscious and full of nervous energy. Every day they live with
the contradictory belief that their God is full of love and yet
throws people into eternal hell-fire, even people who have never
heard of him. That must be a real strain. Like a man who has to
continually pump air into a leaking balloon to keep it inflated,
they have to keep insisting that Buddhism is just an empty
worthless idolatry when they know very well that this is not true.
That must be a real strain too. Throughout his book Hattaway
repeats all the old lies, slanders and half-truths that
missionaries peddled in the 19th century but which mainline
Christians gave up on a hundred years ago.
Hattaway claims that Buddhists, like other non-Christians, are
leading empty meaningless lives and are actually just waiting to
hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not surprisingly, the statistics
he presents to his readers do not always bare this out. He shows
that some Buddhist groups have been subjected to quite intense
evangelization for years and yet have chosen to keep their faith.
For example 32% of Kyerung of Nepal have heard the Gospel but 'few
have understood the heart of the message.' Hattaway tells us that
'the American Baptists worked in the Tovyan area (of Burma) for
many decades, but most of the converts they made were among the
Karen people. They found the Tovyan people 'slow to respond to the
gospel – a pattern that continues to this day.' Dedicated and
self-sacrificing missionaries have labored in Thailand for over 140
years but have made only miniscule numbers of converts. According
to Hattaway there are 2000 foreign missionaries operating in
Chiangmai - more than the actual number of Christians in the
city.
It is hearting to know that amongst evangelicals Thailand has been
dubbed 'the graveyard of missionaries.' Twenty one percent of Lao
Ga people have been evangelized but 'Christianity has yet to make
any impact on this people group.' Forty two percent of the Lemo
have been told about Jesus but their 'strong belief in Buddhism and
their isolated cultural mindset have prevented them from accepting
the Gospel.' Of course Hattaway's 'isolated cultural mindset'
prevents him from even considering that these people might have
decided not to become Christians because Buddhism gives them the
emotional, intellectual and spiritual sustenance they need. So he
has to explain why so many Buddhists remain what he calls
'resistant peoples' some other way. To him it is because of fear
(p.217), intellectual laziness (p.149), greed and blindness (p.172)
and or course 'demonic opposition' (p.190). Another cause is
delusion, as for example amongst the Palaung of northern Burma, who
are so completely deluded that 'they believe they have the truth in
Buddhism'(p.217).
Of course, Hattaway is also crafty enough to know that the
stability and cultural integrity of traditional Buddhist societies
is a major hindrance to their evangelization. Civil wars such as in
Sri Lanka and Cambodia are literally a god-send for the
missionaries. Hatthaway calls the disruption and displacement of
the Loba people of Nepal by several huge floods 'a God-given
opportunity' (p.168). Like blowflies to a dying animal evangelical
missionaries swarm around communities in need so they can win
converts while disguising their efforts as 'aid work' and
'humanitarian relief.'
Unfortunately, many genuine and decent Christians in the West,
unaware of this hidden agenda, give money to World Vision and
similar organizations that use aid as a conversion technique. But
while many Buddhists have rejected the missionaries' message others
have succumbed to it. Thirty one percent of the Tamangs of Nepal
have now become Christians. The first missionaries arrived in
Mongolia in 1990 and within a few years they had made thousands of
converts, mainly among the young. This phenomenal growth has now
slowed considerably but the number of evangelical agencies
operating within the country has grown enormously and there are
still almost no books on Buddhism in Mongolian.
In China today Christianity is growing so fast that they can hardly
build the churches quick enough to hold all the new converts. The
gentle hill tribes people of Thailand and Laos are falling prey to
the missionaries one by one. These and the numerous other successes
are not just because the missionaries have been so unscrupulous and
persistent but because Buddhists have been so indifferent, so slow
to see the danger and even more slow to respond to it in any
effective manner.
In Thailand millions are spent on glittering ceremonies, huge
Buddha statues and gold leaf for covering stupas but almost nothing
on Buddhist literature, religious education and social services for
the hill tribes. Another 'God-given opportunity' for the
missionaries is the general lackadaisical attitude within the much
of the Sangha. In one of the most revealing (about the mentality of
both missionaries and the bhikkhus) and troubling parts of this
book is Bryan Lurry's account of the four months he stayed in a
monastery in the Shan states in north-eastern Burma. He was there
to assess the prospects of converting Buddhist bhikkhus and he went
away full of optimism. I fear that his optimism was not entirely
misplaced. The abbot where Lurry stayed allowed him to teach the
bhikkhus English (using the Bible as a text of course), show a film
on the life of Christ and later even conduct regular Bible classes
for the bhikkhus. Uninformed Western Buddhists
might laud this as yet another example of Buddhist tolerance,
albeit misplaced tolerance. I suspect that it was actually due to
ignorance and to that indifference to everything that does not rock
the boat or contravene traditional patterns of behavior that is so
prevalent in much of the Sangha.
As a part of his strategy to understand their thinking, Lurry asked
his 'friends' a series of questions. To the question 'What is the
most difficult Buddhist teaching to follow?' some bhikkhus answered
not eating after noon, not being able to drink alcohol and one said
to attain nirvana. To the question 'If you could change one thing
about yourself what would it be?' The replies included to be
stronger, taller, to change the shape of the nose and to have more
pale skin. When asked why they had joined the monastery not one of
the bhikkhus mentioned an interest in the Dhamma, in meditation or
in the religious life in general. As is usual in much of the
Buddhist world they had probably ordained simply because it is the
tradition to do so. When Lurry asked the bhikkhus if they would
ever disrobe for any reason 'my students expressed their desire to
leave the temple in order to be soldiers in the Shan Independence
army...They did not see a contradiction in
the fact that, as monks, they are literally not supposed to kill a
mosquito, much less another human being.' Lurry admits that he was
really surprised that so few of the replies he got suggested any
deep knowledge of Buddhism or an apparent genuine
religiosity.
Having lived in Thai monasteries for eight years I am sad to say
that none of the bhikkhus' replies surprised me in the least. All
too often today the Buddhist monastic life consists of little more
than rote learning, unthinking acceptance of traditional beliefs,
an endless round of mind-numbing rituals, going to danas and having
long naps. Fortunately, many Buddhist communities are holding out
against missionary efforts but with poor religious education and
little leadership from a sedate Sangha how long will they continue
to be able to continue to do so? Something has to be done and it
has to be done soon.
Another old missionary calumny repeated throughout Hattaway's book
is that Buddhists live in constant terror of devils and demons.
This accusation is rather amusing coming from the evangelical
Christians who see almost everything they don't like as the
machinations of Satan and his minions. Lurry says of his
experience, 'I must admit that the temples intimidated me. I saw
many items that discouraged me from entering. At some temples,
fierce-looking statues of creatures with long fangs and sharp claws
guard the entrance. Guarding the main hall of many temples are two
large statues of dragons with multiple heads on either side of the
staircase...If such images were on the outside of the temple, what
would I find on the inside? I half imagined that these creatures
would somehow come to life and attempt to harm me' (p.234).
I can understand how simple, often illiterate hill tribesmen in the
backblocks of Burma could be frightened of malevolent spirits. But
Mr. Lurry is a graduate of the University of North Texas and he is
frightened of bits of painted cement and plaster used to decorate
Buddhist temples. How easy it is to scare evangelical
Christians!
Nine pages in Peoples of the Buddhist World are devoted to the
Sinhalese, the native people of Sri Lanka, long a target of
missionary endeavors. Despite nearly 500 years of close contact
with Christianity only 4% of Sinhalese are Christian and this is
despite periods when their religion was severely disadvantaged and
even actively persecuted. It both perplexes and infuriates the
evangelists that they have had so little success in this staunchly
Buddhist island.
Since the late 1950's the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has tacitly
accepted its minority status and for the most part adapted a live
and let live attitude towards Buddhism. It has continued its
conversion efforts but in a low-key and respectful way. But
starting in the 1990's evangelical organizations have literally
swamped Sri Lanka and they have a 'no quarter asked for, none
given' attitude. So far most of their converts have been amongst
Catholics, to the consternation of the Catholic Church, but of
course the real target is the Buddhists. Buddhist bhikkhus are
calling on the government to enact laws against conversion. But is
this really the best solution?
It is quite understandable that the Sinhalese do not like their
religion being referred to as 'Satanic devil worship' especially by
foreigners, which is what most of the missionaries in the country
are. Some years ago a deeply respected Sinhalese bhikkhu died and
there was a veritable outpouring of grief among the Buddhist
public. At the very time of this bhikkhu's funeral the leader of a
house church in an outer suburb of Colombo, let off fireworks, the
usual way people express delight or celebration in Sri Lanka.
Naturally, the Buddhists around this church were deeply offended
and although no violence occurred some very angry words were
exchanged. I happened to witness the locals' confrontation with
this church leader. He insisted that his crackers had nothing to do
with the bhikkhu's funeral but was unable to give a convincing
reason why he had ignited them. Throughout his encounter with his
neighbors he was brazen, unapologetic about his actions and
dismissive of the peoples' hurt feelings. I can only say that he
gave me the distinct impression that he would have welcomed being
manhandled or beaten so that he could claim for himself the title
that evangelicals so long to have – that of martyr for their
Lord.
Hattaway's book highlights incidents of violence against Christians
in Sri Lanka and elsewhere which have unfortunately started to
become all too common. Of course, what he fails to mention is that
it is only the evangelicals, not Catholics or mainline Christians,
who attract such negative reactions. And of course he fails to
mention why people sometimes get so angry at the evangelicals. The
fact is that it is their bad-mannered pushiness and their complete
insensitivity to the religious feelings of others that is the cause
of such violence. This is not to excuse the violence but only to
explain why it happens.
It is also true that some of the more extreme evangelists even
sometimes deliberately provoke confrontations. I have two
evangelical tracts from Sri Lanka – one insists that villages must
become 'a battlefield for souls' and the other says that Christians
must 'confront the unsaved, yes even forcibly confront them, and
compel them to make a decision.' And it is not just Buddhists who
are offended by the evangelicals’ rude aggressive behavior. A
Chinese Thai born-again Christian once informed me that the Pope is
actually 'the prostitute of the Anti-Christ' and showed me the
Bible passage that proved it. I could only laugh at his half-baked
hermeneutics. But how would a devout Catholic have felt being told
such a thing?
The section on Sri Lanka in Hattaway's book is written by Tilak
Rupasinghe and Vijaya Karunaratna, two well-known evangelical
preachers. They gleefully highlight Sri Lanka's many woes – civil
war, high suicide rate, corruption, insurrection – and of course
present this as just more evidence that Buddhism is false. Then
they make the bold claim, 'In Christ there can be healing from the
wounds of injustice, oppression and ethnic hatred...In Christ there
can be hope for the redemption of the nation, its land, its
language, its culture and its people.' This is a seductive promise
and one that some people might be willing to listen to. But of
course it is the same old spurious and empty promise missionaries
have always made in the lands they try to evangelize; 'What a mess
your country is in! Your gods have failed. Accept Jesus Christ and
everything will be wonderful.'
But does Christianity really do a better job of solving social
problems? The evidence that it does is very thin. Christianity
failed miserably to bring peace to northern Ireland, in fact, it
was the main cause of the problem. Germany's long tradition of
Catholicism and Protestantism did not prevent Nazism taking root
there. South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church was an ardent supporter
of apartheid and all its oppression and cruelty. The prevalence of
evangelical Christianity in the southern United States, the
so-called 'Bible Belt,' has not prevented it being the poorest and
most raciest part of that country. And the racial segregation in
the south is never more obvious than on Sunday morning when black
and white people still go to separate churches; 'Hallelujha and
praise the Lord but worship him in your own church!'
Hattaway's book is or at least should be a wake-up call for we
Buddhists. Unless we reform the Sangha, better organize ourselves
and make more of an effort to both know and apply our religion the
Light of Asia may be snuffed out.
I don't know what you get out of publishing these portions of
a religious publication. However what I do know is that the
threadstarter is making a big hoohah out of thin air. All people
know that religion is about making converts by any means (that
includes Buddhism) and include a twisted worldview.
