Mai Nguyen's Articles on Lions Roar

Could you summarize each of the eight major world religions in 140 characters? Stephen Prothero can. The religion professor at the College of Arts and Science at Boston University has been “tweeting” his views on religion with an amusing and creative twist, enlightening his Twitter followers with the most compact of phrases. Here’s a taste. This is Prothero’s condensed take on the Buddha's Eightfold Path: “Path=let go(d).” What’s the meaning behind this tweet? “Let go(d) is only 10 characters, but it gave the idea of letting go of god and the idea of letting god do things, because there is a notion of god with some Buddhists. Religions can be very paradoxical,” Prothero said in an interview with BU Today. Here’s another one. “‘Buddha=dried shit,’ from a famous Zen saying—warning against clinging to his words or authority." The professor admits that his tweets hardly educate people fully on religion, but hopes that they will at least spark some interest and curiosity among people. Prothero, who wrote a great review for Buddhadharma’s Spring 2003 issue, is currently working on his upcoming book, The Great Religions, set to come out in 2010.

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