We Are All Hindus Now - By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK - # 1

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We Are All Hindus Now

By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK

Published Aug 15, 2009

 

America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation

founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of

us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest

percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or

Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus

live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on

Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are

slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians

in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.

 

The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: " Truth is

One, but the sages speak of it by many names. " A Hindu believes there

are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga

practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal.

The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to

think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is

true, and others are false. Jesus said, " I am the way, the truth, and

the life. No one comes to the father except through me. "

 

Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum

survey, 65 percent of us believe that " many religions can lead to

eternal life " —including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group

most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the

number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing.

Thirty percent of Americans call themselves " spiritual, not

religious, " according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in

2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has

long framed the American propensity for " the divine-deli-cafeteria

religion " as " very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking

and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same, "

he says. " It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If

going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works,

great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist

retreat works, that's great, too. "

 

Then there's the question of what happens when you die. Christians

traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together

they comprise the " self, " and that at the end of time they will be

reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you

need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body

burns on a pyre, while the spirit—where identity resides—escapes. In

reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again

and again in different bodies. So here is another way in which

Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they

believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. So

agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we're

burning them—like Hindus—after death. More than a third of Americans

now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North

America, up from 6 percent in 1975. " I do think the more spiritual

role of religion tends to deemphasize some of the more starkly

literal interpretations of the Resurrection, " agrees Diana Eck,

professor of comparative religion at Harvard. So let us all say " om. "

 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155

 

 

> NEWSWEEK-Washington Post

> Aseem Shukla

> Associate Professor in urologic surgery at the University of

> Minnesota medical school. Co-founder and board member of Hindu

> American Foundation.

>

> Obama Lights White House Diwali Lamp

>

> The Dow Jones reached a significant milestone yesterday, and news

> outlets were abuzz with excitement. Olympia Snowe's vote for the

> Baucus bill was plenty fodder for the 24-hour news cycles. But, for

> Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in the United States, an epochal

> event transpired at the White House afternoon that should not slip

> notice.

>

> Lead me from Untruth to Truth.

> Lead me from darkness to light.

> Lead me from death to immortality.

> (from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad -- I.iii.28)

>

> As the ethereal sounds of a Hindu priest's chanting of this Sanskrit

> prayer from ancient Hindu scripture filled the East Room, President

> Obama lit the ceremonial White House diya --and he used this

> Sanskrit word for lamp--with dozens of Asian, Indian and Hindu

> Americans in attendance. Never before had a sitting U.S. President

> personally celebrated the Diwali holiday, and with that one

> gesture, two million Hindu Americans felt a bit more like they

> belonged--one more reason to feel at home. Maybe that cliche' that

> all of our diversity adds unique patches to the American quilt is

> not as tired as we thought.

>

> Diwali is among the most widely celebrated festivals in India and

> spans all of the Dharmic religious traditions. Rows of diyas, or

> earthen lamps, line the homes of celebrants as prayers are offered,

> and for many, a New Year on Hindu calendars is marked. For the

> seeker, the spiritual significance is clear: the lamps symbolize the

> quest for knowledge and goodness that mimics the inner Divine and

> eradicates the darkness of ignorance and false values. As the

> President said in his address, of course, one does not forget the

> joyous merriment Diwali celebrations entail: fireworks light up the

> dark skies of a new moon night, gifts are exchanged and sweets

> savored.

>

> Jains mark the holiday as a time of contemplation when the last of

> their Tirthankaras, the great teachers of dharma, attained

> liberation. Sikhs celebrate Diwali as the day that their sixth

> founding Guru, or teacher, was released from the captivity of a

> Mughal emperor five centuries ago.

>

> The White House Diwali celebration tradition began during the George

> W. Bush Administration. And while the day was always a boisterous

> affair, despite years of requests, President Bush never attended the

> event, consigning the task to cabinet members or close assistants.

> But for President Obama, hope was high that he would attend the

> event this year--and he delivered.

>

> Of course, Hindus do not need a President to validate their

> traditions or feel more American. The religious pluralism of this

> nation may be under attack at times, but strong advocacy, thousands

> of temples and rising prosperity testify to a community's

> confidence.

>

> But the Hindu American journey to the White House mirrors the path

> that all major faith traditions took towards real integration into

> this country's religious landscape. From Preeta Bansal to Neal

> Katyal and Kal Penn to Vivek Kundra and Rajiv Shah, high profile

> Hindu Americans have reached the highest echelons within the Obama

> Administration. This year's Diwali ceremony surely happened because

> of their efforts, and may be interpreted as a nod to their religious

> heritage. There is an understanding that now at two million, Hindu

> American is a marginal demographic no longer.

>

> The Hindu American Foundation, of which I am a part, indeed felt

> honored and privileged to celebrate in the East Room with President

> Obama yesterday, and pushed hard two years ago as both chambers of

> the U.S. Congress passed a resolution recognizing the significance

> of Diwali. The spirit of that resolution was signed, so to speak,

> by the President. And in the future, when the next woman is sworn

> in as a Supreme Court Justice, here's hoping that no one will care

> that she's Hindu!

>

> " We're going to run out of things to be bitter about, " someone

> posted on a blog popular with young Indian Americans last night,

> and I knew, at least for a moment, our President and his

> Administration had done right.

>

>

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2009/10/presid\

ent_obama_lights_white_house_with_diwali_lamp.html

>

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