The Only Non-Persecuting Religion
H. Dharmapala, so the Examiner tells us, delivered a lecture in San Francisco, March 20, in which he said: “The Buddhist religion, besides being the oldest faith, is also distinct in one particular,—no one can point out in the 2,500 years that Buddhism has been in the world where one drop of blood has been shed in trying to force our religion on the people at large.” This, we suppose, will be taken by many as truth, and perhaps Mr. Dharmapala believes it; but the Christian faith was held by Abel and every true Christian from that time down. It is not a system, it is a living, vital principle between man and God. As to the distinction of the Buddhist religion mentioned above, we doubt it, tho doubtless the speaker believed it. There is only one non-persecuting religion on the face of the earth—namely, Christianity. When it is said that Christianity has persecuted, it was the counterfeit, not the genuine. The genuine can not be forced upon men. Mr. Dharmapala was educated by a Christian mission. He evidently studied about Christianity instead of learning Christianity itself.