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Religious Pluralism in America Today President's Office, UUA |
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Religious Pluralism in America Today President's Office, UUA |
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Rev. John Buehrens, President, UUA
Diana Eck, First Parish of Concord MA, Professor of Comparative Religion, Harvard
Religious diversity in the United States has increased greatly in the past 20 years, with large numbers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other religions. John Buehrens introduced Diana Eck, author of A New Religious America.
Dr. Eck was impressed at the diverse conference, assembly, and fair she found at GA, and the very energetic set of conversations she's seen. She wondered if UUism has become internally so diverse that UUs have failed to see the increased diversity elsewhere in America.
The civil rights movement of the 1960s led to the immigration act of 1965, since a now non-racist country couldn't support its earlier racist immigration policy. The act opened immigration from Asia, whereas earlier law had welcomed immigration only from Europe.
Asians including Chinese, Japanese started arriving in America in the 1850s, with Sikhs and other Indians in the 1910s.Chinese temples were built by the 1860s, Japanese in the 1890s, and in the 1910s an entire Sikh-Mexican culture grew in California's Central and Imperial valleys. In 1924 the immigration law was changed to prevent Asian immigration, and remained that way until 1965.
Since 1965 there have been waves of immigrants, but many people don't see the religious traditions the immigrants have brought, now making us the most religiously diverse country on earth. The U.S. now has more Muslims than Presbyterians or Episcopalians, and probably as many Muslims as Jews. Now there are over 300 Buddhist organizations in Los Angeles including temples, lay orders, and social organizations. Euro-Americans teachers have received dharma "across the Pacific" and are passing it on to others.
What are the consequences of these changes? At the same time, we also see a fundamentalist Christian movement and Ethos. Eck sees a new American dilemma analogous to the one Gunnar Myrdal described in his American Dilemma. Myrdal observed the contradiction between America's egalitarian ideals and our deep structures of racism. The new dilemma is the country's strong public Christian face alongside our constitutional right to free exercise of religion that has long permitted people to create their own religions. George Bush's inaugural speech mentioned synagogues and mosques, but the speech itself was bookended by Christian prayers.
Dr. Eck looked at three central Asian religious traditions. Hindu religion is pluralistic with a vast array of gods in a divine oneness. The Hindu diaspora has faced issues creating temples they'd never have built at home in such places as suburban Nashville, Chicago, and Atlanta. When Hindus from various parts of India came together to build a temple, how did they decide which deity to place at the center of the temple? In the best American tradition, they voted, with the winner at the center and the others arrayed around it. These dynamics raise questions of Hindu identity. It's a challenge for us to get to know these communities. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention produced a booklet for the festival of Diwali, for Baptists to pray for the lost souls of 900 million Hindus. To the Baptists' surprise, Hindus picketed them in Atlanta and Houston, not because they objected to prayer but because they objected to their religion being demeaned and misrepresented. After a Hindu chaplain offered the invocation in a session of Congress, the conservative Family Research Council issued a statement denouncing it, then a few hours later retracted their statement noting their commitment to the free exercise of religion.
Buddhists have one god, but not the Jewish/Christian/Muslim god. They do not equate the Buddha with the creator god. When asked "Are you a god or an angel?" the Buddha responded "No, I am awake." The complexity of Buddhism is enormous. Southeast Asian Buddhists have had particular trouble getting established, despite the experience of the war in Vietnam and adjacent countries. In Boston, local kids vandalized a Buddhist temple and smashed its contents. When the police identified the vandals, the Buddhists declined to press charges, preferring to strew compassion in the community. They organized a neighborhood cleanup day and invited the whole community including the vandals. One of the leaders, a kid named Angelo, was greeted by temple leaders who noted that his name means "angel", and asked him to be a kind of guardian angel for their temple. He later said to Eck that had he known the Buddhists, he never would have done it.
Islam, despite its historical relationship to Judaism and Christianity, is profoundly misunderstood. Muslims hope to educate others, since if we truly understood we'd become Muslims, too. Organizations to fight discrimination and harassment abound, such as the American Muslim Council, American Council of Moslem Women, and many others. Islam is very diverse, as Malcolm X discovered in his pilgrimage to Mecca where he found a non-race-based tradition. The Grand Mosque here in Cleveland, which is well worth a visit, is a clear statement that Muslims are here to stay. In polls 70% of Muslims have said that they should be involved in the U.S. political process.
Some Americans fear that we now have too much Pluribus and not enough Unum. When Sikhs espouse the equality of all, that can bring us together, but some people don't feel that we have enough glue to keep us all together. State officials in South Carolina who wanted to post the Ten Commandments vehemently dismissed concerns about non-Christian religions, and non-Christians still face discrimination in the workplace, hospitals, public schools, in front of zoning boards and other public institutions.
We need to look for examples where our society can turn diversity into pluralism, through takes of our common experience when we engage in public life.
A question asked how to deal with the Taliban and other sects intolerant of others. We need to recognize the diversity within Islam, and join forces with the many Muslims who don't support fundamentalist intolerance. John Buehrens noted that the IARF (International Association for Religious Freedom) has developed a voluntary code of conduct with respect to civil society and other religions and community members.
In discussion in response to a final question about hymns from other traditions in the UU hymnal, Eck pointed out that there is an increasing number of multi-faith families, and UU can provide a home for them. Buehrens agreed, saying that our covenantal non-creedal tradition lets us make a path for others.Reported for the Web by John R. Levine
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