{"id":3970,"date":"2011-07-08T16:39:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T20:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=3970"},"modified":"2011-07-08T16:44:46","modified_gmt":"2011-07-08T20:44:46","slug":"can-christians-be-a-little-bit-buddhist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/07\/can-christians-be-a-little-bit-buddhist","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post: Can Christians be “a little bit Buddhist?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 76th birthday,\u00a0is in Washington, D.C., for a ten-day event promoting peace. He\u00a0has written:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to the conclusion that whether or not a person is a religious believer does not matter much. Far more important is that they be a good human being.\u201d. . . \u201cThat is why I sometimes say that religion is something we can perhaps do without.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems many in the West agree with the spiritual leader, as millions report that they incorporate Buddhist practices such as meditation or mindfulness into their own spiritual activities without necessarily adopting Buddhism as their religion.<\/p>\n

Does religion aid or hinder the spiritual journey?\u00a0Evangelical Christians might respond that it’s “religion” that has driven them out of the mainline denominations — that there’s a vast difference between personal faith and empty\u00a0religiosity.<\/p>\n

But in honor of the Dalai Lama’s birthday, what do you think? Can you practice Buddhism without becoming Buddhist?<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read\u00a0what Washington Post<\/em> writers say<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 76th birthday,\u00a0is in Washington, D.C., for a ten-day event promoting peace. He\u00a0has written: \u201cI have come to the conclusion that whether or not a person is a religious believer does not matter much. Far more important is that they be a good human being.\u201d. . . \u201cThat is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[972,956],"tags":[224,2247],"class_list":["post-3970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhist","category-washington-post-on-faith","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist"],"yoast_head":"\nWashington Post: Can Christians be "a little bit Buddhist?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/07\/can-christians-be-a-little-bit-buddhist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Washington Post: Can Christians be "a little bit Buddhist?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 76th birthday,\u00a0is in Washington, D.C., for a ten-day event promoting peace. 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