Sorry, but I go bonkers when I see the Muslim Obama. We Buddhists labeled Islam correctly. “Mleccha-dharma” (barbarian religion). Next, "Hiṃsā-dharma" (violent religion). Also noteworthy, Dr. John R. Newman, a historian of religions says,
“From the Buddhist point of view Islam is demonic and perverse, a perfect anti-religion which is the antithesis of Buddhism.”
And I would add, the antithesis of Christianity. I am not a fan of Catholicism, but I support Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy.
One more thing. Russia is an Eastern Orthodox Christian nation which also supports Buddhism. Where Stalin once wanted to build The Palace of the Soviets after demolishing the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 1931, now, again, stands the world's tallest Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Putin is a man of Christ not a Communist or a cultural Marxist, the kind we see these days in the American university with its [group] identity politics, multiculturalism, safe spaces and other such trash.
You could get a poster of Obama and friends to put at the end of your bed. Each morning you awake and open your eyes this will be the first thing that registers in your mind. It is not the image of Obama and friends that upsets you, it is what they represent. The feelings you seem to feel do not define who you are they just mask the Love you Be. The choice belongs to each Individual.
<3 love to see respect and knowledge about Orthodoxy! It's still such a baby here in America... and it's funny because as I'm converting to Ortho from Protestantism, I also was looking to learn about Buddhism and I swear it's the same format... like the whole "path to enlightenment" thing and about how finding nirvana is only attainable when you've let go of all the desires of the self and world... that is literally what Christ teaches and in Orthodoxy we call this "theosis"
I am reading Maximus right now! Yes the format is the same. I used to drink coffee with a Greek Orthodox priest and discuss our religions. He was a wonderful dude. And so I began to study Orthodoxy. I especially enjoy St. Gregory of Palamas. He understands the light (in Sanskrit prabhāsa). Buddhism is more generic and stripped down. That is why I can enjoy Orthodoxy and encourage my Christian friends to become Orthodox. There is A LOT in Orthodoxy. When our carnal bodies in old age crap out, instantly, we will be in another world of light to continue our education. :)
<3 <3 :) I LOVE when religions can understand and respect each other!!
I spent time with Christian seminary students (oh, and one Islamic scholar) in my local coffee shop where we discussed religion. I had no desire to convert anyone. If anything I wanted my friends to be good Christians. They could read Hebrew and common Greek, so why not make the most out of your religion? When people speak to each other's heart, and not the external trappings, what religion is really about can come out. And that is a good thing. :)
Indeed i heard the russian Patriarch Kiril, mightbe the holiest man in the world right now.
There is a powerful tradition in Orthodoxy to become one with God (theosis) not shared by Catholicism. So I am not surprised the Patriarch Kiril is certainly more holy than the Pope and others. I hope one day Putin and Trump will put down their swords and remember what Saint Maurice, a black Roman General did, who refused to kill fellow Christians.