Page 135 - Applied Buddhism

erect the tallest or biggest Buddha image all over the world. of the Bible and the stick of cannon balls, they were much more
successful. The heinous crimes and atrocities committed by the
At the micro level, Buddhist activities now tend to be more colonists and the missionaries have been proven, some of which
secular and sensational than before. It is not uncommon to see the present Pope has offered apologies.
revealing and seductive dancers performing at Buddhist functions.
What is even more surprising is that some of these dance troupes Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize laureate, and archbishop of
were trained and sponsored by temples. Some of them genuinely Johannesburg, commented that, “Before the missionaries came,
do not know that there have succumbed to the sensate culture of the we owned our land, and held our bread in our hands. Then they
present day. came, with Bibles in their hands. They said, lets pray. And so we
closed our eyes and prayed. When we opened our eyes, we found
Greedbalisation also means widening of the gap between the the Bibles in our hands, and their hands holding our bread and their
rich and poor, making the poorer nations much more dependant legs standing on our lands.”
on the richer nations than before. Colonisation in the past had
impoverished many nations and present day Greedablisation Today, during the period of globalisation, the Christian
has aggravated the situation further. Many Buddhist countries, missionaries have launched their third wave of assault on the East.
unfortunately, were such victims, who are now fully exploited by
the richer nations. Saddled with poverty and other accompanying The efforts to convert Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Muslims and
problems, these countries could not defend their own sovereignty other non-Christians is now carried out on a worldwide scale, by
let alone contribute to the development of Buddhism. business-like church organisations and NGOs backed by rich and
powerful nations. With their powerful machinery and multi-billion
The Challenge of Unethical Conversion by Christians dollar funding, they seek converts using unscrupulous, unethical
NGOs and manipulative means. Some, like World Vision, carry out their
missionary objectives under the cloak of charity. They raised funds
It is a historical fact that Christian missionaries of different from the ignorant but wealthy Buddhists and then channeled them
denominations have attempted to convert the East since about 7 to convert the poor Buddhists somewhere else. Sri Lanka, Thailand,
CE (300 years after the founding of Christianity since Christianity Mongolia, India, Cambodia are all targets of mass conversion. The
as a religion only emerged during the 4th CE). Missionaries of the unethical approach has compelled certain states in India, like Tamil
Nestorian church arrived in China during the Tang Dynasty. The Naidu and Orrisa to pass an anti-unethical conversion law, and
mission, however, was not very successful. a similar proposal is being considered by the Government of Sri
Lanka.

The second wave of Christian missionary assault came during
the period of colonisation. This time around, armed with the carrot Mass conversion disrupts the harmony within the community,

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