Christian Broadcasting Network host Pat Robertson suggested to viewers on Monday that Buddhism was like a “disease” and that a Christian could get “infected” if their coworkers practiced it.
“I work in an environment where all of my coworkers are Buddhists,” a viewer named Tina explained in an email. “They talk about Buddhism all day long and try to preach to me. It didn’t matter much to be before, but since I recommitted myself to Jesus a year ago, it has started to bother me a lot.”
Robertson replied by noting that “healthy” people might not contract a “mild contagion.”
“But if you put yourself in the middle of a hospital ward where everybody has the disease except you, sooner or later, you will be infected by it,” the TV preacher warned. “If you’re in the middle of hundreds and hundreds of people who believe that way, you’ve got an uphill fight.”
“And I think your best thing at that point is to withdraw with dignity,” Robertson said. “Get out of that environment because they’re going to get to you before you get to them.”
Tina notes in her email that she’s trying to convert her Buddhist colleagues, but that she gets “offended” by their responses, and that when she “argues” with them they get offended.
Robertson’s analogy is rather offensive, but his advice—that this woman is in the wrong work environment—may be sound, given that there’s so much “being offended” going on.
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Honestly it sounds like the woman asking the question is projecting. I used to work with an evangelical Christian–he only saw things from his perspective. I finally got up the courage to tell him that, although I was raised Christian, I was practicing Buddhism. To which he responded, “That’s okay! I have saved hundreds of Buddhists!” I was not insulted. I was amused. And loved him even more!
Thanks, Kate. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Buddhists she was working with were making no attempts to convert her to Buddhism at all, but were merely sharing how they saw things from a Buddhist perspective. That would certainly be in line with how I typically see Buddhists behaving.
It would be an unusual work environment where all your co-workers were Buddhists – unless it was a Buddhist charity. I worked in an environment that had a lot of Muslims, Hindus and Christians (as well as a lot who weren’t much interested in anything). Evangelising on anyone’s religion in this environment would be a bid no-no. And no one did.