[Buddha-l] The Churching of America

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Richard Hayes schreef:
>> Nowadays the only growing church is the pentecostal movement. I
>> believe that the heavy demands also make islam attracktive for some
>> westerners.
>>     
>
> A book that quite a few people have been reading recently is Bruce 
> Brawer's "While Europe Slept." Do you know it? It's a hysterical diatribe 
> written by an American who moved to the Netherlands to escape the religious 
> fanaticism of America, only to find himself surrounded by fanatical Muslims 
> in Amsterdam. Brawer is homosexual and claims he feels more persecuted by 
> Dutch Muslims than he ever felt by American evangelical Christians. Needless 
> to say, the book feeds the feverish sentiments of the American Crusaders, who 
> feel there will never be a moment's peace until Islam has been eradicated 
> from the face of the earth.
>   
I'm not sure, I remember having read a short overview of a book just 
like that one. The problem is hot and it's  not caused by the Islam per 
se. The young Turks usually behave, because their upbringing is rather 
strict, but the young Maroccans are often neglected. I think the idea is 
in Marocco that the other members of the village are coresponsable for 
guiding the youth. In a big city outside Marocco this social control is 
absent. In Amsterdam they just hang out in the streets and being 
neglected, the take on a fresh feeling of identity by being different. 
So they feel more Muslim then their parents and listen to radical imams. 
One of them advocated once throwing homosexuals from a high building. He 
was send back to Egypt where he came from. Muslims also reported that 
very few take what is said in the mosque literally, because an imam is 
not very different from an American TV-reverent: the experience matters 
most. You'll find this problem of neglected alienated youth everywhere 
in Europe. Because these youngsters often pass over to petty crime and 
worse the mayor of Amsterdam tries all he can to get them into 
socialisation programs.
> I still wonder what all these trends mean for the future of Buddhism in North 
> America (and the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europa).
>
> I'd say more, but I have to run along to church now. It's Sunday, you know.
>
>   
Since Tibetan Buddhism is to complicated and Zen to time consuming, it 
may be a chance for strict Theravada. What is the furniture in your 
church? In Holland the more succesful churches have their version of a 
malcomfort. No cushions, but hard wooden seats and an edge just halfway 
your spine so that you have to sit straight all the time. And of course 
no heating. I think it's to assure that believers get to heaven as soon 
as possible. ;-)

-- 


Erik

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