Common myths and misconceptions . . .

[prisonchaplain]

I visited this string, which, of course was about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thought the concept was very solid. However, this is an LDS site, and most here already know the myths and truths. It might be fun and educational to address some common myths about other churches, and even other faiths. After all, we have at least a few evangelicals, a couple pentecostals, at least a couple of agnostics/atheists, a Buddhist, and we've had a Muslim visit here on occasion. I'll start with one, and we'll see where this goes...

Myth: Evangelicals want to turn the U.S. into a Christian Republic, force their morality and beliefs on everyone, and they think everyone but them is going to burn in hell.

Fact: Especially this year, evangelicals split between Republican, Democrat, and not voting out of disgust. A very small minority do believe in trying to establish some Christian form of shar'ia law, but most have no such desire. Ironically, Southern Baptist lean only slightly Republican. The issues that drive conservative evangelicals are abortion, gay marriage, and pornography. More liberal evangelicals are concerned about environmental stewardship and help for the poor. As for theology, evangelicals do believe that Jesus is the only way for salvation. They sometimes aggressively evangelize target groups, such as Jews, Muslims and, yes, your church.

Response could fall into several categories here:

1. Respond directly to "Fact."

2. Propose a new myth directed towards any faith. Possibly include a "Fact," response.

3. Be creative, and come up with something else.

[Traveler]

I visited this string, which, of course was about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thought the concept was very solid. However, this is an LDS site, and most here already know the myths and truths. It might be fun and educational to address some common myths about other churches, and even other faiths. After all, we have at least a few evangelicals, a couple pentecostals, at least a couple of agnostics/atheists, a Buddhist, and we've had a Muslim visit here on occasion. I'll start with one, and we'll see where this goes...

Myth: Evangelicals want to turn the U.S. into a Christian Republic, force their morality and beliefs on everyone, and they think everyone but them is going to burn in hell.

Fact: Especially this year, evangelicals split between Republican, Democrat, and not voting out of disgust. A very small minority do believe in trying to establish some Christian form of shar'ia law, but most have no such desire. Ironically, Southern Baptist lean only slightly Republican. The issues that drive conservative evangelicals are abortion, gay marriage, and pornography. More liberal evangelicals are concerned about environmental stewardship and help for the poor. As for theology, evangelicals do believe that Jesus is the only way for salvation. They sometimes aggressively evangelize target groups, such as Jews, Muslims and, yes, your church.

Response could fall into several categories here:

1. Respond directly to "Fact."

2. Propose a new myth directed towards any faith. Possibly include a "Fact," response.

3. Be creative, and come up with something else.

I would like to ask concerning your faith about education and educational priorities. Is education in the sciences a high medium or low priority? What are the concerns of your faith concerning education? In general it is my impressions that evangelicals do not want evolution (in any form) taught to their children. Are there subjects in public school you would not want taught and subjects not taught that you feel need to be added?

The Traveler

[rameumptom]

PC,

So, you think it is a myth that evangelicals think Mormons, Buddhists and Muslims are going to hell?

That goes very against things I've read and heard top evangelicals say in the past (Billy Graham, perhaps the only exception). In fact, during the Republican debates, a major evangelical pastor emailed his 2 million listeners and told them that a vote for Mitt Romney was a vote for Satan. I'd say that part of the myth is pretty much assured to be true.

I agree that most evangelicals are as interested in a Christian theocracy as Mormons are in an LDS theocracy. You'll find some on the fringes, but most are only interested in maintaining their freedoms and opportunities to worship in a moral society.

Here's a popular myth: The Roman Catholic Church was involved in keeping the Dead Sea Scrolls from coming out for decades, because there were some scrolls that would have ruined Christianity. A side one comes from the Da Vinci Codes - where the RCC is attempting to hide other conspiratorial issues from the public concerning Christ.

[bodhigirlsmiles]

I visited this string, which, of course was about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thought the concept was very solid. However, this is an LDS site, and most here already know the myths and truths. It might be fun and educational to address some common myths about other churches, and even other faiths. After all, we have at least a few evangelicals, a couple pentecostals, at least a couple of agnostics/atheists, a Buddhist, and we've had a Muslim visit here on occasion. I'll start with one, and we'll see where this goes...

Myth: Evangelicals want to turn the U.S. into a Christian Republic, force their morality and beliefs on everyone, and they think everyone but them is going to burn in hell.

Fact: Especially this year, evangelicals split between Republican, Democrat, and not voting out of disgust. A very small minority do believe in trying to establish some Christian form of shar'ia law, but most have no such desire. Ironically, Southern Baptist lean only slightly Republican. The issues that drive conservative evangelicals are abortion, gay marriage, and pornography. More liberal evangelicals are concerned about environmental stewardship and help for the poor. As for theology, evangelicals do believe that Jesus is the only way for salvation. They sometimes aggressively evangelize target groups, such as Jews, Muslims and, yes, your church.

Response could fall into several categories here:

1. Respond directly to "Fact."

2. Propose a new myth directed towards any faith. Possibly include a "Fact," response.

3. Be creative, and come up with something else.

i'll throw one out there about buddhism....

myth: karma is about fatalism

fact: the early Buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of the present moment

karma is one of those words we don't translate. its basic meaning is simple enough -- action. but because of the weight the buddha's teachings give to the role of action, the sanskrit word "karma'' is packed with many meanings and the English word "action'' can't carry all its luggage.

this is why we've simply airlifted the original word into our vocabulary.

but when we try unpacking the connotations the word carries, now that it has arrived into everyday usage, we find that most of its luggage has gotten mixed up in transit.

in the eyes of most westerners, for example, karma functions like fate -- bad fate, at that: an inexplicable, unchangeable force coming out of our past, for which we are somehow vaguely responsible and which we are powerless to fight.

"i guess it's just my karma,'' i've heard people sigh when bad fortune strikes with such force that they see no alternative to resigned acceptance.

the fatalism implicit in this statement is one reason why so many people are repelled by the concept of karma, for it sounds like the kind of callous myth-making that can justify almost any kind of suffering or injustice in the status quo: "if he's poor, it's because of his karma.'' "if she's been suffered the horrors of rape, it's because of her karma.''

from this, it seems a short step to saying that he or she deserves to suffer, and so doesn't deserve our help.

this gross misperception comes from the fact that the buddhist concept of karma came to the west at the same time as non-buddhist concepts, and so ended up with some of their luggage.

although many asian concepts of karma are fatalistic, the early buddhist concept was not fatalistic at all. in fact, if we look closely at early buddhist ideas of karma, we'll find that they give even less importance to myths about the past than most modern americans do.

for the early buddhists, karma was non-linear. other indian schools believed that karma operated in a straight line, with actions from the past influencing the present, and present actions influencing the future. as a result, they saw little room for free will.

buddhists, however, saw that karma acts in feedback loops, with the present moment being shaped both by past and by present actions; present actions shape not only the future but also the present.

this constant opening for present input into the causal process makes free will possible.

this freedom is symbolised in the imagery the buddhists used to explain the process: flowing water. sometimes the flow from the past is so strong that little can be done except to stand fast, but there are also times when the flow is gentle enough to be diverted in almost any direction.

so, instead of promoting resigned powerlessness, the early buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of what the mind is doing with every moment.

who you are -- what you come from -- is not anywhere near as important as the mind's motives for what it is doing right now. even though the past may account for many of the inequalities we see in life, our measure as human beings is not the hand we've been dealt, for that hand can change at any moment.

we take our own measure by how well we play the hand we've got. if you're suffering, you try not to continue the unskilful mental habits that would keep that particular karmic feedback going.

if you see that other people are suffering, and you're in a position to help, you focus not on their karmic past but your karmic opportunity in the present: some day you may find yourself in the same predicament that they're in now, so here's your opportunity to act in the way you'd like them to act toward you when that day comes.

this belief that one's dignity is measured, not by one's past but by one's present actions, flew right in the face of the indian traditions of caste-based hierarchies, and explains why early Buddhists had such a field day poking fun at the pretensions and mythology of the brahmans.

as the buddha pointed out, a brahman could be a superior person not because he came out of a Brahman womb, but only if he acted with truly skilful intentions.

we read the early buddhist attacks on the caste system and, aside from their anti-racist implications, they often strike us as quaint.

what we often fail to realise is that they strike right at the heart of our myths about our own past: our obsession with defining who we are in terms of where we come from -- our race, ethnic heritage, gender, socio-economic background, sexual preference -- our modern tribes. we put inordinate amounts of energy into creating and maintaining the mythology of our tribe so that we can take vicarious pride in our tribe's good name. even when we become buddhists, the tribe comes first. we demand a buddhism that honours our myths.

from the standpoint of karma, though, where we come from is old karma, over which we have no control. what we "are'' is a nebulous concept at best -- and pernicious at worst, when we use it to find excuses for acting on unskilful motives.

the worth of a tribe lies only in the skilful actions of its individual members. even when those good people belong to our tribe, their good karma is theirs, not ours. and, of course, every tribe has its bad members, which means that the mythology of the tribe is a fragile thing. to hang onto anything fragile requires a large investment of passion, aversion, and delusion, leading inevitably on to more unskilful actions in the future.

so the buddhist teachings on karma, far from being a quaint relic from the past, are a direct challenge to a basic thrust -- and basic flaw -- in our culture. only when we abandon our obsession with finding vicarious pride in our tribal past, and can take actual pride in the motives that underlie our present actions, can we say that the word karma, in its buddhist sense, has recovered its luggage.

and when we open the luggage, we'll find that it's brought us a gift: the gift we give ourselves and one another when we drop our myths about who we are, and can instead be honest about what we're doing with each moment -- at the same time making the effort to do it right.

[Guest ceeboo]

I will NOT TOUCH my dear friend ram's offerings of the RCC

I will offer this to my friends :)

Catholics do NOT eat fish every Friday

During Lent, many Catholics sacrifice meat on Fridays. Ceeboo does also, he prefers a veggie pizza or salad over fish.:)

[bodhigirlsmiles]

I will NOT TOUCH my dear friend ram's offerings of the RCC

I will offer this to my friends :)

Catholics do NOT eat fish every Friday

During Lent, many Catholics sacrifice meat on Fridays. Ceeboo does also, he prefers a veggie pizza or salad over fish.:)

may i ask why this is (or was) a practice? from where did the idea come?

[DigitalShadow]

Myth: Atheists have no morals because they don't believe in God

Fact: Many atheists are incredibly moral people; the fact is that it does not take fear of hell or promises of heaven to realize that the world would be a better place if everyone treated their fellow man how they would like to be treated.

[bodhigirlsmiles]

Myth: Atheists have no morals because they don't believe in God

Fact: Many atheists are incredibly moral people; the fact is that it does not take fear of hell or promises of heaven to realize that the world would be a better place if everyone treated their fellow man how they would like to be treated.

thank you. i am not an atheist in a strict sense (intellectual), although many would consider buddhists to be atheists in that we do not adhere to a doctrine of deity. i, however, have very strong morality. in fact, many buddhists (myself included) took binding vows that dictate our moral code.

[Kirajo]

Are Scientologists really super psycho with all kinds of crazy practices?? I would ask about each one I've heard, but that would take a long time! Haha, so, if you've heard a myth about Scientology and want to squash it, go for it!

[prisonchaplain]

I would like to ask concerning your faith about education and educational priorities. Is education in the sciences a high medium or low priority? What are the concerns of your faith concerning education? In general it is my impressions that evangelicals do not want evolution (in any form) taught to their children. Are there subjects in public school you would not want taught and subjects not taught that you feel need to be added?

The Traveler

Excellent question, well-asked. Personally, I have no problem with my children be exposed to evolutionary theory, especially in the middle and high school years. What I would oppose is a ham-handed, anti-god approach that treats the random-selection aspect (i.e. God could not have designed the evolutionary process) as dogma. Further, I would be pleased and impressed if some discussion of Intelligent Design (which does not posit what the Intelligence has to be) were included in the scientific discussion. Also, there is no doubt that many evangelicals, and nearly all fundamentalist Christians oppose any teaching of evolution to their children.

The other area of concern is sex education. We would oppose teaching our adolescents where they can get contraceptives without parental knowledge or consent, and especially where they can get abortions without parental consent. Further, most of us do believe their is a certain "wink and nod" that goes with, "Abstinence is probably best, but :::cough::: :::laugh::: for those of you who are cool, there's always contraception."

Beyond that, evangelicals, and pentecostals in particular, are coming into an understanding that education is not evil, secular, and anti-god all the time. Evangelical colleges seem to be flourishing, and our young generation of leaders is driven to engage the culture, and to appeal to a post-modern mindset with intelligent gospel truth.

[Misshalfway]

When I was growing up I always heard people talk about the secret vaults in the Vatican that held secrets. Much like what Ram was referring to.

I hope that isn't offensive to any of my Catholic friends to bring up. I am not sure what is true on that score and I ask innocently. I know not one way or the other.

[prisonchaplain]

PC,

So, you think it is a myth that evangelicals think Mormons, Buddhists and Muslims are going to hell?

The thing with "myths" is that they are often largely true. And yet, they are incomplete and often the nuance is skewed. Do Buddhists repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus? Muslims? So we send missionaries to Buddhist and Muslim lands, and preach Jesus to them.

My church does not have specific missionaries to LDS. However, we do plant churches in Utah, S. Idaho, and other areas that may have large LDS populations. We are obviously not confident of the salvific power of your church's plan of salvation, but the "evangelistic approach" would be simply to encourage our members to share their faith. I spent 3 hours in an Assemblies of God Church in S. Ogden this past summer, and heard not a word about your church. It was all very much like what I would have heard in my home church in the Seattle area.

[prisonchaplain]

Myth: Evangelicals believe that so long as you believe in Jesus, you don't have to do good, because you can always repent when you sin.

Fact: We believe you cannot do anything to earn forgiveness of sins, and to receive Christ into your life. However, by taking on the Christian life, righteousness is part of the package. So, there must needs be a change away from sin and towards the good.

[rameumptom]

Are Scientologists really super psycho with all kinds of crazy practices?? I would ask about each one I've heard, but that would take a long time! Haha, so, if you've heard a myth about Scientology and want to squash it, go for it!

Myth: Tom Cruise is from the planet Xenu.

Fact: Truth is, Tom Cruise is really a clone of Michael Jackson....

[AnthonyB]

Myth: The Roman Catholic church managed to control the whole Christian church and were therefore able to manipulate Christianity. (Another Da Vinci myth)

Fact: Large groups of Christians existed outside the reach of Rome, some of whom were openly hostile to Rome (eg Arian Goths) or went their own way (eg Catholic Assyrian's not excepting Chalcedon) Even the lateness of the Celtic churches adoption of Roman liturgical calender shows that Rome did not even fully control them in the early centuries. Rome was never in a position to control or influence all Christians.

[prisonchaplain]

Myth: Tom Cruise is from the planet Xenu.

Fact: Truth is, Tom Cruise is really a clone of Michael Jackson....

I actually checked Snopes on this one Ram, and it turns out the myth is actually true...Tom is from Xenu. However, he has posted a birth certificate of his mother's on his website, and despite some minor inconsistencies, she does appear to be "of Earth."