Personally, I consider it an act of Christian charity to call a person what he/she desires to be called. It is not so much a show of respect for (or belief in) the office or position they hold as it is an acknowledgement of that person’s fundamental dignity as a human being.
God bless you,
Paul
Well, we’re talking about clerical offices, and associated titles, of non-Christians, not their feelings or their status as a human being. If their individual emotions demand such a title, and not the power with which they hold an office, they are not acting from the seat of that office, but their personal pride.
The Dalai Lama is addressed as “his holiness” by people out of respect for the “office”, which this current one took as a small child when he was determined to be the reincarnation of a former spiritual leader. A leader who, through a vision, was told by a “goddess” she would protect his reincarnation lineage. He’s not the leader of a religion, he’s just a Buddhist from a specific school of it in Tibet who is widely respected because the chicken bones hit the right combo, or there exists in the personality or other aspect of the person a similarity to a previous title holder.
Philosophically, I can’t reconcile respecting the human dignity of the man in his position by addressing him as anything holy and pertinent to his office. He’s just a Tibetan guy who ran his mouth to the world about Chinese occupation and now he can’t go home, and he’s capitalized on his situation, however altruistic. I can reconcile being respectful to an office, but in this case, the office is laughable when you actually study it from the context of its own philosophy compared to Christian understanding. It’s not even a universally Buddhist office or position. And it’s only been around in Tibetan Buddhism since the 15th century A.D. or so.
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The only reason he is famous is because of China’s activity in this and the last century. **
Non-Tibetans are allowed to meet the Dalai Lama once a year as part of his international outreach to raise awareness about Chinese occupation of Tibet. Tibetans are essentially allowed to meet him once in a lifetime - he greets Tibetans who have recently fled Tibet.
Read more: How to Greet the Dalai Lama |
eHow.com ehow.com/how_18783_greet-dalai-lama.html#ixzz1iGhhStj3
Remember, just because the world does something, doesn’t mean you have to do it as well.
I simply can’t “call someone what they desire to be called” if it conflicts with established Christian tradition.
I can, however, be respectful as possible depending on who it is and the situation in which I’m meeting them. And really, I think that’s about all we really should do, lest we compromise our witness.
For example, I worked for a man whom I liked for many years who also happened to be an LDS bishop. He, of course, never used that title in his work life and perhaps that’s the difference. A Catholic bishop is always a bishop because it’s who he is public and private…there is no separation between public and religious life.