That's an odd thing to assert. "Karma" is an extremely well known concept among westerners. It's extremely common for people - including by Christians or others who would normally be disinclined to embrace tenets of Hinduism/Buddhism. It's used very casually - and often incorrectly all the time.
Personally, I've shifted on my view of the concept since my time as a Buddhist: the idea that people suffering a terrible life brought on themselves encourages people to blame victims and/or be less compassionate with them. And in particular, the idea that one is being punished for actions in a past life is truly obscene: a child is born with a major disability brought it on themself despite having no control over whatever they supposedly did in some past existence?
In any case, it's silly to act is if people always get what they deserve. It's simply not true.
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