Kay Latonio is a Christian. Yet she has an altar with a Buddha statue in her Riverside condo and practices meditation based upon Buddhist principles.
Latonio, 51, is not alone in blending religious practices. A recent survey by the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center found that more than 1 in 5 U.S. Christians believe in reincarnation, astrology and in the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects like trees. Many also consult psychics or believe in the "evil eye."
The poll of more than 2,000 U.S. adults revealed that Christians are only slightly less likely than the general population to hold such beliefs.
Combining Eastern, New Age and other beliefs with Christianity concerns some Christian clergy, who fear those ideas are diverting Christians from biblical teachings.
But Latonio's pastor, the Rev. Jane Quandt, pastor of First Congregational Church of Riverside, is not worried about the blending of practices. Quandt said she sees some beliefs -- like astrology -- as a waste of time but doesn't condemn people for it.
"I'm not overly fond of people doing that, but that's a pretty minor thing to worry about," she said. "I'm much more worried about things like violence, hate, and human needs and suffering."
Latonio said what is most important for her as a Christian is following Jesus' teachings on love, kindness and compassion. She said her embrace of some Buddhist practices complements and does not contradict Christian tenets.
"I believe what Jesus was teaching is the most important part of faith, and I try to live my life that way," Latonio said.
Near the Buddha statue on Latonio's altar is a cross and a rock "God's hands" sculpture.
The Rev. Dan Wilson, dean of the School of Christian Ministries at California Baptist University in Riverside, said adopting certain Eastern practices and beliefs is clearly un-Christian. He attributed the blending of faiths to Christians confusing religious tolerance with acceptance of other religions' teachings.
"They may believe in Christ, but they don't understand the Bible, they don't understand theology, they don't understand the Christian worldview," said Wilson, whose evangelical Southern Baptist denomination sees the Bible as the literal word of God. "They might not be able to sort out the incongruity of perspectives that are very different than ours."
White evangelicals are less than half as likely as other Christians to adopt Eastern and New Age beliefs, the poll found. Still, 13 percent of white evangelicals believe in astrology, and 11 percent believe in reincarnation, the survey found.
Shukavak Dasa, a Hindu priest, said some students from Cal Baptist and Riverside's Seventh-day Adventist La Sierra University who have visited his Shri Lakshmi Narayan temple in Riverside as part of a class trip have told him privately afterward that they believe in reincarnation and karma.
"If you believe in reincarnation and karma, you might as well be a Hindu," he said. "You might not officially be a Hindu, but you have Hindu beliefs."
Dasa said the openness to other religions' beliefs is a good sign in an increasingly globalized world, where he said the idea that one's own religion is the only true path leads to tension.
Fortunetellers
The Pew poll also found that one in seven Christians has consulted fortunetellers.
Carmen Marmolejo estimated that 90 percent of the people who come to her table in the San Bernardino Swap Meet to have their palms or tarot cards read are Catholic, as she is.
"The Catholic Church says, 'Don't do this,' but this goes back many centuries, before the church existed," Marmolejo said in Spanish.
Marmolejo, 53, she would never impose curses and only uses her skills in a positive way.
"My principal moral belief is to believe in and love God," she said.
Marmolejo sat in a small room where statues and paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Buddha and Egyptian and Thai figures sit on shelves and walls within a feet of each other. On the table, a best-selling book written by evangelical pastor the Rev. Joel Osteen sits underneath "How to Read Fortunes" and near another on feng shui.
Religious Tolerance
The Rev. Dorian Llywelyn, a professor of theology at the Catholic Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said that today's quick access to knowledge through the Internet, combined with increased religious tolerance and individualism, has helped lead to the blending of religious practices.
Llywelyn said reincarnation, astrology and other beliefs are clearly outside Catholicism, but he doesn't believe in harshly condemning those who adopt those beliefs. The church teaches that all human beings are imperfect.
"One has to be pastoral about this," he said.
Although the way people mix religious practices is changing, people have blended Christian beliefs and non-Christian ideas since the early days of the church, he said. In Latin America, for example, "evangelization was pretty rapid and not always very thorough."
"Historically the church has taken on the culture of the people, because religion is culture," Llywelyn said. "Catholicism has always taken on a local flavor."
Superstitions can be harmless, Llywelyn said, but curses and magic are clearly wrong, as is praying to multiple gods.
The ideal, he said, is for Catholics to adhere entirely to church teaching. But he said that is not always possible.
"You have to look for the overall good," he said. "Sometimes you can only move people so far."
Reach David Olson at 951-368-9462 or dolson@PE.com
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