Recently, I visited a church where the pastor intended to illustrate the greatness of Christianity. He spoke of how Christianity can free people from enslavement, and liberates them. This is a theme from the Bible which I absolutely love, and one of my favorite aspects of the faith.
But the pastor chose to make this point by misrepresenting another religion in order to prove the superiority of his. He claimed that Buddhism requires adherents to perfectly follow its tenants, with no room for human error.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time a Christian has distorted another religious tradition.
One of the most influential American pastors alive, Franklin Graham, repeatedly claims that all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world want to kill nonbelievers and always have. (If this were true, with such a high number of Muslims, I doubt there would be anyone else left alive.) For more examples, this Atlantic article thoroughly documents the lies about Muslims that American Christians have spread.
Not only does bearing false witness against another person violate an original commandment and Jesus' commandment to love thy neighbor, but it's an age-old principle even outside of Christianity. Most parents teach children that they don't need to put down others in order to prove themselves.
Imagine a kid who for class president and, in an attempt to win the most votes, spreads false rumors about the other candidates. Those other candidates are probably going to be pretty upset, and so would their parents.
The last thing they're likely going to feel is loved by the one who started the rumors.
And I doubt that any non-Christian would feel loved if they heard their tradition exaggerated, like any Buddhist who might have wandered into the church that day.
Speaking of Buddhism, this religion does not condemn lax followers or non-believers to eternal damnation. Though some Buddhists believe that truly awful people can spend a long time in hell until they've served their time, even the worst person isn't tortured forever.
So while he portrayed Buddhism as harsh and without mercy, this pastor's denomination preaches a much harsher sentence for the majority of people who have ever lived.
However, my personal views or this pastor's about hell don't ultimately affect the main issue here:
There are many unique elements of Christianity, such as the Trinity or the resurrection or the Eucharist, that are beautiful. To reference the pastor's original message, Christianity can preach liberation to the enslaved and freedom from oppression.
But we can talk about these things without lying about our non-Christian neighbors.
