Religious Tolerance

My long-held belief in religious tolerance was put to the test this week. The ordeal affirmed my openness towards and tolerance of differing belief systems, demonstrated some failings on my part, and brought up a few questions for which there are no real answers. Matters of religion and belief are ever so messy, which is one of the reason why I tend to avoid them in the first place. But on occasion, such as this past week, they are forced upon you.

And it was all my secretary's fault. I've mentioned her in passing in previous posts. She has many, many personal problems, most of which are of her own making, and as is common among those feeling overwhelmed by life, she experienced a "religious conversion" earlier this summer. Now it's "Jesus this," "God that," "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." While this is a little annoying to an atheist such as myself, I'm perfectly OK with it, other than the fact that it all too frequently spills over into the workplace. Unfortunatly she has crossed the line between her personal and working life several times and I've had to counsel her on the use of company computers to brows religious sites (her reaction, and I quote: "If you want to fire me for loving Jesus...go ahead!" Talk about nailing oneself to a cross. Termination wasn't even brough up. Only the issue of company policy regarding the appropriate use of company computers .Sheesh). Other than policy issues, I'm nonetheless glad that she's found some souce of peace for her life. She certainly needs it.

Last weekend, my secretary attended a religious conference up in Washington, D.C. hosted by some "hot" evangelical minister out of Texas. She returned to work on Monday filled with extreme holy zeal, the conviction that her views on God and religion are right and everyone else who doesn't believe as she does is not only wrong, but boud for an eternity in the fires of hell. She didn't hold anything back in condemning Muslims, Hindus, atheists, and, in particular, Buddhists. Though I don't discuss it at work, she's aware that I'm a long-time student of Buddhism, so presumably the objective of the latter attacks was to pick a fight. Despite her harsh, goading words, I did not take the bait and simply let the matter drop with a gentle smile.

Afterwards, one of my other employees, who is also a good friend, asked why I simply stood there and took the abuse. He saw it clearly aimed at me and certainly would have gone off on her had he been the recepient of such vituperations. Other than simply not wanting to stoop to her level, there are several reason why I let the issue drop. First, belief systems should not be discussed in the workplace. Second, you cannot engage in a thoughtful discourse with the ignorant, particuarly when the ingnorant, enflamed by zeal, are looking for a fight. Nothing good could possibly come out of this sitation. And lastly, it's simply not the Buddhist way.

Over the course of my seven or eight years as a student of Buddhism, I have gravitated towards the tradition practiced by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, which is rooted in Vietnamese Zen, though westernized for a larger audience. This tradition emphasizes mindfulness (happiness/living in the present moment), the interrelationship of all things, socially engaged practice, among other things. It's altogether a very logcial philosophical outlook on life. Within this tradition there are something called the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, the purpose of which are to guide practitioners to a deeper understanding of Buddhism and, by consequence, a happier, more compassionate life. The First Mindfulness Training addresses this very issue and goes as follows:

"Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctine, theory, or idealology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist teachings are guiding means to help us learn to look deeply and to develop our understanding and compassion. They are not doctrines to fight, kill, or die for."

So during the verbal lashing, this Mindfulness Training came to mind and kept me where I needed to be. But this is not to say that I wasn't angry. I was to a degree, but not necessarily due to the severity of her verbal attack. After all, she's certainly free to think whatever she wants, no matter how misguided. Other than being a little angry with myself for becoming angry, it was the sheer ignorance behind the attacks that most troubled me along with the demonstration of dichotomous thinking. For her, it's an all black and white, good or evil, wrong or right issue with no shades of gray. From my experience most things in life are shades of gray; most issues cannot be boiled down to simple black and white.

The greatest unanswerable question to come out of this ordeal was where does one draw the line when it comes to religious tolerance? While I firmly believe that everyone has a right be believe however they see fit, what happens when those beliefs begin to encroach upon others? I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home and know very well that for many evangelicals, condemnation of others and conversion of others to their way of thinking is a core belief. Live and let live is not usually an option. To what degree should this core belief be tolerated since it has the potential to extend beyond individual belief and into society at large? It's a messy issue. If you draw a line, you run the risk of being accused of "persecuting Christians" (they love saying this) and if you give them free reign to evangelize, to mold society to their liking, you potentially violate the liberty of individuals for whom such evangelization is unwanted and way of thinking offensive.

Humans still have a lot of work to do before we're able to throw off such detrimental qualities as ignorance, intolerance, and dichotomous thinking, particularly when it comes to issues of religion and belief, or the lack thereof. These are factors inhibiting the social evolution of peace, harmony, and understanding of the wonderful differences that make us a unique social animal. A great step forward it will be when we can accept our respective differences and put into practice the words of Thomas Jefferson: "What difference does it make if a man says there's one God, twenty gods, or no God. As long as it doesn't pick my pocket or break my leg."

Such a visionary, that Jefferson.