Freedom

Via JMG: Why Young People Leave The Church

Dan Savage points us to this fascinating story:

When asked by The Barna Group what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans ages 16-29 was “anti-homosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images? : “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”)

In the book that documents these findings, titled unChristian, David Kinnaman writes: “The gay issue has become the 'big one,' the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation. It is also the dimensions that most clearly demonstrates the unchristian faith to young people today, surfacing in a spate of negative perceptions: judgmental, bigoted, sheltered, right-wingers, hypocritical, insincere, and uncaring. Outsiders say [Christian] hostility toward gays... has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.”

Later research, documented in Kinnaman’s You Lost Me, reveals that one of the top reasons 59 percent of young adults with a Christian background have left the church is because they perceive the church to be too exclusive, particularly regarding their LGBT friends. Eight million twenty-somethings have left the church, and this is one reason why.

The author of the piece, Rachel Held Evans, has closed commenting on her post because "I want to keep this a safe place for conversation." Read some of the responses from her Christian readers and you'll see why.

Labels: bigotry, LGBT rights, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center FB:

Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center

Constant awareness
The practice of Dharma should bring you to the point where you can maintain the same constant awareness whether in or out of practice sessions. This is the quintessential point of all spiritual instruction; without it, however many mantras and prayers you recite, however many thousands of prostrations and circumambulations you do, as long as your mind remains distracted none of it will help to get rid of your obscuring emotions. Never forget this most crucial point.

Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma May 16, 2012

Buddhanature Mind

What is the Buddha-nature? It is a mind that is open and completely unencumbered. It is empty. And it gives birth to warmth and compassion for other people.

- Reginald Ray, "The Power of Solitude"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center/ Facebook:

 

Nalanda LGBT Buddhist Cultural and Resource Center

‎"We know that all is impermanent; we know that everything wears out. Although we can buy this truth intellectually, emotionally we have a deep-rooted aversion to it. We want permanence; we expect permanence. Our natural tendency is to seek security; we believe we can find it. We experience impermanence at the everyday level as frustration. We use our daily activity as a shield against the fundame...ntal ambiguity of our situation, expending tremendous energy trying to ward off impermanence and death. We don't like it that our bodies change shape. We don't like it that we age. We are afraid of wrinkles and sagging skin. We use health products as if we actually believe that OUR skin, OUR hair, OUR eyes and teeth, might somehow miraculously escape the truth of impermanence".

 

-Pema Chodron

Via Follower of the Buddha / Facebook:

 

 

Follower of the Buddha

November 27, 2010

I am the owner of my karma .
I inherit my karma.
I am born of my karma.
I am related to my karma.
I live supported by my karma.
Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit.
 

The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta

 

Tags: Follower of the Buddha