Over the years, I have come across two or three of these types of questions a year on forums going back to the 1990s and in emails. I just came across this one recently (I have modified it somewhat).
For a couple of years, I have been practicing Buddhism. My family is what you might call fundamentalist Christians. We live in a very Christian oriented community. I first told my friends about my interest in Buddhism who didn’t understand. Then I told my girlfriend who also didn’t understand. How should I tell my parents?
For any young person who is still living with their parents being dependent upon their generosity, it is not always a good time, if their parents are devout Christians, to tell them that they’ve decided to practice Buddhism.
Not only is such a young person a beginner but they don’t understand Buddhism sufficiently to argue with fundamentalist Christians who are deeply entrenched in their faith; who are far from having an open mind.
One also needs to be careful that their decision to study Buddhism is not a simple case of adolescent rebellion which is not unusual given that Western culture has sort of combined adolescent rebellion with the rite of passage. This is to suggest that shocking one’s parents or community is a sign that establishes one’s individuality!
However, I am sympathetic with this kind of youthful rebellion which may not be adolescent rebellion so much as a rebellion against the meaninglessness of Western culture which has inadvertently drifted into a kind of existential nihilism in which life seems to have little or no meaning other than learning to live in the moment which is no answer to nihilism. It doesn’t take an adult to sense this kind of nihilism. I believe any intelligent young person senses it all through high school—they just haven’t learned what its name is.
Still, one has to be cautious with how they rebel (if I may use the word for now); it is not best to rebel, openly, especially against one's parents who being devout Christians have no ear for Buddhism. Based on my on personal experiences, unless our parents are open-minded it is best to wait until we are independent of them. What is more important is our own spiritual maturity which doesn't need the blessings of people who are intolerant and suffer from negative karma.
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