Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham visited Japan recently and saw a Buddhist temple

[YankeyMCC]

Hello all,

I'm still lurking around - I ran across this and thought you all would get a kick out of it:

http://friendlyatheist.com/2009/09/01/ken-ham-buddhist-temple-rationalists-creation-museum/

[ZombieHorde]

1. Funny. nt

[laconicsax]

2. LOL!

"It was so sad to see people praying to the “god” behind the curtain — what a reminder they need the gospel to free them from the bondage of this false religion that gives them no hope for the future!"

:rofl:

[Warpy]

3. Nothing looks crazier than someone else's religion

and Ham proved that. Too bad he lacks the insight and humility to realize his own religion looks just as silly to people outside it.

He also failed to realize what the statue was about and why the netting was there, as well as what the people were actually doing. He could see it only in terms of his own experience of praying to a cross in a church.

He also failed to note the difference between a serenely happy, fat Buddha and the suffering in the images of his own religion.

Cultural myopia enforced by a rigid belief system is pretty powerful stuff.

[charlie]

4. Get a kick out of it...

I'd like to kick that sorry MFer in the nuts. Not just for his Bwana-like disdain for the natives' primitive religion. But, also for that codswallop about the Tea Ceremony having Christian origins. Christian supremecists will invent and believe any lie that affirms Christianity as the root behind every advancement of civilization in history. Arrogant assholes.

[progressoid]

5. Sad that he is spreading his lunacy to Japan.

[onager]

6. One thing I noticed in Tokyo...

...that should have been very familiar to the aptly-named Mr. Ham: the streets leading to the temple were crammed with little booths where you could buy all kinds of religious geegaws and gimcracks - Buddha statues, incense, candles, good luck charms, etc. (This was Asakusa, the biggest Buddhist temple in Tokyo.)

IOW, except for the language, it looked just like the streets around the Vatican in Rome. Where the prices are certainly heavenly - way high up and far away.

I enjoyed seeing that Buddhist temple. It was a weekend, so the place was packed with Japanese as well as clueless tourists like me.

Fundamentalist Atheist I may be, but I like to observe the cultural norms. Besides, I had lots of fun gawking at the decorations and stuff.

Yes, I happily kicked in donations to drink the Buddhist version of holy water - I guess. And also to join people breathing in the holy smoke at a big censer.

In Korea I think I went to a Buddhist amusement park. OK, it was a monastery, or a series of monasteries built into some high hills, but it had a really neat cable car.

It was possible to ignore any religious connotations and just enjoy the peace, quiet and beauty of the place. If you're not Ken Ham, anyway.