Joasia, it's so commendable that you are so active in registering complaints when there are questionable things said on these media shows. I guess now we realize that when you are quiet here, you are probably out there on a campaign to draw attention to mistakes made so that others do not fall into wrong ideas about Orthodoxy !
Good for you.
As a side note, back to that reference to "Zen", to me that was the most cold, unappealing belief out there when many people I knew were praising it back in the 80s. Does anyone remember that 'popular' book entitled "Zen in the art of Motorcycle Racing" ? I never read it, nor cared to.
But I want to offer an idea that Buddhism in Amerca is not even Buddhism as practiced in Buddhist countries.
My guess is that it is totally different. So we almost need to be discussing "American Buddhism" versus "Chinese Buddhism"
or Tibetan / Mongolian Buddhism. There is NO comparison ! I would wager that 99 % of the so-called "American Buddhists" are phonies, attached to projecting the same kind of "cool" image that that book I mentioned must have aimed to present.
The chanter type of "Buddhists" are essentially cults. They don't have beliefs or doctrines but only chant the same things over and over. Those are the MOST dangerous. I always think to myself that if someone one meets tells one that they were in that particular type of "Buddhist group", stay WAY away !
Zen brings back associations with that the super cool "Esalen" which was probably another one of these fronts for ruining young souls.
Anyway, you are doing a good job with being a voice for Orthodoxy at a time when even priests are scoffing at the Peter and Paul Fast, surprisingly !