This prayer request (that the Spirit will move in the hearts of people going to hear the Dalai Lama) seems to be based on the assumption that the Dalai Lama is on the opposite side to us in the great spiritual struggle for the hearts and minds of the people in our society, and that therefore his visit exposes our society to a time of increased spiritual danger. I wonder if that is actually true.

Surely the dominant spiritual conflict in Australia (and indeed the Western world) is not one in which Christianity and the other major world religions are on opposite sides, but onw in which we are the same side. The dominant spiritual conflict is between two major belief systems: one which says that meaning, fulfillment and joy will be found in the the realm of worldly success (financial, hierarchical, social and sexual); and the other which says that meaning, fulfillment and joy will be found in the treasures of the spirit and are greatly imperiled by worldly success. The former belief system is constantly promoted to our society by omnipresent advertising campaigns, many of which clearly appeal to people's spiritual hungers in order to promote consumer goods and services.

While there is no doubt that the teachings of the Dalai Lama and those of Jesus differ in many ways, in the context of a society that worships worldly success, both are calling the people in the same general direction. While I am personally convinced that the life and teachings of Jesus contain the fullest revelation of God's saving love ever revealed to humanity, I am also convinced that if all the Australians who presently worship worldly success were to convert to Tibetan Buddhism, we would have taken a huge step in the right direction and the distance from there to Christianity would be far less than it is at present. Let's not waste our efforts targetting the wrong enemies!

Does that make any sense, or am I just uninformed about teachings pushed by the Dalai Lama that are an even greater spiritual threat to our society than the dominant worship of worldly success?

An interesting observation from a Baptist pastor in Victoria.