I believe there may have been leading or misinterpreted conversation with the Tibetan Buddhist because (1) Buddhism does not recognize a creator God (it is basically atheistic), and (2) Buddhism rejects sacred places and meditates instead of prayer. The identification of the lake as a sacred lake probably has more relevance to the political struggle of Tibet to keep its lands unique from China. Too often Christians see other religions and cultures in terms of its own when there would not necessarily be a correspondence in a superficial appearance. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism had long historical political involvement in China and provided an process for organizing political opposition to ruling elites. Communism opposed these, not because they are religions, but because they could organize opposition to Communist rule. The same was true in the Soviet Union in which Stalin did not want any capacity of the people to rally against his rule. Even though both were called Communist states, neither were by definition and both were and are State Capitalist economic systems. Communism only referred to the goal of the historical process. It is unfortunate that PBS did not do a rigorous enough vetting of the narrative to insure a more accurate representation unencumbered by current Christian religious reframing of the way Americans see their and other societies.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 10:08:03 +0000
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