[Ads-l] buffet/cafeteria Catholics, Buddhists

[Laurence Horn]

> On Mar 11, 2019, at 2:22 PM, Tim Stewart <timoteostewart1977 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Benjamin,
> 
> Not sure if you're only interested in the "catholic" variant, but I have
> "cafeteria Christian" back to 1966 and "cafeteria Christianity" back to
> 1988 in a blog post if you're interested in casting your net in that
> direction:
> 
> https://www.dictionaryofchristianese.com/cafeteria-christian-cafeteria-christianity/
> 
> I love "buffet Buddhist." New to me.
> 
> Tim
> 
> ⸻  ⸺   —    ‒    ‒    —   ⸺  ⸻  ⸺   —    ‒    ‒    —
> 

Meze Muslims?  Lutefisk Lutherans?

> 
> 
> On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 4:35 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> I made no attempt to antedate “cafeteria Catholic”. Wikipedia has 1971 for
>> that and 1986 for “cafeteria Catholicism”.
>> 
>> Some of these instances of “buffet Buddhist” appear to be nonce.
>> 
>> 1.
>> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/03/buddhism-meditation-anxiety-therapy/584308/
>> Why So Many Americans Are Turning to Buddhism
>> Olga Khazan
>> 7 Mar 2019
>> 
>> ——
>> Much like “cafeteria Catholics” ignore parts of the religion that don’t
>> resonate with them, some Westerners focus on only certain elements of
>> Buddhist philosophy and don’t endorse, say, Buddhism’s view of
>> reincarnation or worship of the Buddha. Call them “buffet Buddhists.”
>> ——
>> 
>> The English OLD definition almost fits:
>> https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cafeteria
>> North American as modifier Denoting a system in which people may choose
>> from a number of available options, especially one in which an employee may
>> select a personal package of company benefits.
>> 
>> Merriam-Webster has a similar definition:
>> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cafeteria
>> providing a selection from which a choice may be made
>> cafeteria benefit plan
>> a cafeteria curriculum
>> 
>> Wikipedia
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafeteria_Catholicism
>> The term cafeteria Catholic is applied to those who assert a Catholic
>> faith yet dissent from one or more doctrinal or moral teachings of the
>> Catholic church or who are viewed as dissenting by those using the term.
>> 
>> 2. http://www.lawrence.com/weblogs/patrickquinn/2006/jul/1/philemon/
>> 1 July 2006
>> Patrick Quinn
>> 
>> ——
>> Americanism is a formal expression of what's better known as "buffet
>> Catholicism": Many American Catholics walk down the serving line sampling
>> only the doctrines they like, and pass over the rest in silence.
>> Americanism is hardly limited to North America or to Catholics. There are
>> plenty of buffet Christians of all varieties, as well as buffet Muslims,
>> buffet Buddhists, buffet Jews and so on.
>> ——
>> 
>> 3. http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/72885/3
>> traveler
>> 25 September 2002
>> 
>> ——
>> Certainly when His Holiness the Dalai Lama denounced abortion as contrary
>> to the life-affirming principles of Buddhism, the buffet Buddhists of
>> Hooie-wood experienced a dukkha day of Cecil B. Demille proportions.
>> ——
>> 
>> 4.
>> http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/19198/disrespect-and-non-disrespect-towards-buddha
>> Shigo
>> July 2013
>> ——
>> Yeah I think theres a lot of buffet buddhists these days. Its not the 6
>> fold path with a side of "I'll do whatever I want”
>> ——
>> 
>> 5. http://dontknowzen.com/the-death-of-zen-in-the-west-gone-too-soon/
>> Haven Tobias
>> 8 September 2018
>> ——
>> He concluded: the problem (?) with you people (?) is that you act as if
>> Buddhism is a buffet. Oh, zen moment! Bingo! Ka-ching! This was about when
>> Barak Obama was saying: hey, if you want to call it Obamacare, that’s ok
>> with me. I said: hey, if you want to call us Buffet Buddhists, I’m going
>> with that. There are contemporary and there are ancient elements in Buffet
>> Buddhism. There are American contributors, and English ones, but there are
>> also Asian lights, like Thich Naht Hanh. Buffet Buddhism can take a little
>> from Tibetan Buddhism, but leave the guru worship and the tantric magic
>> aside;
>> ——
>> 
>> 6.
>> https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/1bru6g/not_believing_in_karma_and_prat%C4%ABtyasamutp%C4%81da/
>> therivverrat
>> five years ago
>> ——
>> Well, if there are "cafeteria Catholics, then why not "buffet Buddhists"?
>> That is, who just take the parts they like?
>> ——
>> 
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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