Hi Fred,

Here's an article quoting from Catholics in Asia and how they intend to subvert local culture in an effort spread their superstitious madness.

It really is disgusting to imagine these simple-minded fools lying to folks in an attempt to propagate lunacy in the name of religion. It is further stated here, and quite clearly, that the only motivation they have for so-called "good works" is for propaganda purposes. They haven't the slightest interest in doing good for the sake of their fellow man, they simply want to bribe them into joning their little club.

This constitutes a form of fraud that shows that even bishops of the Catholic Church haven't the slightest idea of how to conduct themselves honorably.

Having studied Zen and experienced the Zen meditative state myself, I find it quite hilarious when Christians imagine that their prayers in any way constitute meditation in the Asian tradition. The meditative state as attained by Zen practitioners and some yogis is a distinct state of mind and is evidenced by physiological changes detectable by medical instrumentation.

(Reference: The Physiology Of Meditation by Robert Wallace and Herbert Benson as reported in Scientific American February 1972) Christians never achieve this state on purpose since the state of mind they consider meditation is nothing more than quiet thinking.

The subjective effects of Zen meditation are just that, subjective effects, and are neither magic nor religious in the western sense of the word. My experience is that it allows one an understanding of the operation of the mind to an extent that makes the observations and speculations of western psychology seem fairly primitive in comparison.

Western religious notions of the nature of the mind as attributable to an undetectable and invisible soul are even farther off the beam and are so defective as to constitute a simple-minded madness that cannot be characterized as understanding of any sort... not even primitive understanding.

Sincerely,

Bishops Ponder an 'Asian' Jesus
.c The Associated Press

By CANDICE HUGHES

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Bishops from throughout Asia are homing in on a fundamental question for the Roman Catholic Church: How do you sell Jesus as mankind's one and only savior in a part of the world already flowering with ancient gods and goddesses, with a multitude of creeds and cultures?

Home to two-thirds of the people on the planet, Asia is potentially a fertile field for the church, which now claims just 3 percent of its people. The Vatican is sponsoring a monthlong meeting, or synod, for the region's bishops to find ways of broadening the church's reach in Asia.

But the obstacles are immense. Other great religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam have deep roots, as do ancient creeds such as ancestor worship. And many Asians see Catholicism as an alien import.

``In most Asian countries, Christianity is a Western religion that came with the colonizing forces,'' noted Monsignor Oswald Thomas Colman Gomis, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka.

The challenge is to find ways to present Jesus in Asian terms, as a ``guru, a healer, a spiritual master,'' Bishop Joseph Vianney Fernando of Kandy, Sri Lanka, said Wednesday.

He spoke at a briefing summing up the work of the synod so far.

In Asia, ``renunciation and asceticism are marks of a spiritual person'' explained the Monsignor Michael Rozario, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh. ``Asian religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism also have traditions of meditation, prayer and contemplation.''

In speech after speech, the bishops talked about adapting the Roman church to local customs and languages and vice versa. One example is ancestor worship, which is practiced in several Asian countries, including Vietnam and China.

Catholics should ``maintain and enhance this tradition of honor and respect'' - and gradually introduce the idea of the Christian god as the ``ultimate ancestor,'' said Monsignor John Tong Hon, the auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong.

Other bishops emphasized the need for Catholics to set an example - and win converts - through classic good works like schools, clinics, shelters and soup kitchens to fight Asia's widespread poverty.

On a more high tech front, the Vatican's missionary news service, FIDES, reported that it is starting a new website - www.fides.org - to spread its message in China and India as well as other countries around the globe.

The meeting of Asian bishops is one of a series of regional synods leading up to church celebrations marking the year 2000.

AP-NY-04-29-98 1405EDT

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.