--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
>
> Most of my Hindu friends, those who are religious, at least,
> do claim that essentially everyone is a Hindu and some point
> to the 19th century pronunciation that Jesus and Buddha were
> both avatars of Vishnu.
I've heard this claim many times before too, yet it tends
to rob 'Hindu' of any meaning, for "what is equally true
of everything is distinctive of nothing".
Moreover, I can't understand why any Hindu would want to
thus tacitly share in the taint of Christianity and Islam
with their blood-thirsty and power-mongering pasts.
> But they add that the substance of Hinduism for them is to
> respect everyone's beliefs.
That's not entirely true, considering the ancient Brahman
campaign to combat the spread of Buddhism in India, and
old conflicts between Hindus and Jains. However Hinduism
has come closer than any other pre-modern group to that
ideal state of tolerance, and so are much to be preferred
to any of the other world religions, if we must tolerate
any religion at all.
David