[Buddha-l] Unpopular Buddhist

[JKirkpatrick]

It is an honor to be unpopular with the putujanas. In fact, being
thus unpopular helps to preserve the dharma.

JK 
____________________________________

 On Behalf Of Dan Lusthaus
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 3:57 PM


In line with the occasional attention this list pays to the
demography of religions in the US and the West, and Buddhism's
place within that, a new forthcoming book by Harvard political
scientist Robert Putnam and David Campbell, _American Grace: How
Religion Divides and Unites Us_, is discussed in the current
issue of Newsweek.

Some highlights:

"Putnam & Co. asked about Buddhists because, they had discovered,
Buddhists are one of the least popular religious groups in the
country. People like Buddhists less than they do atheists and
Mormons-and only slightly more than they do Muslims. Like
Muslims, Buddhists "do not have a place in what has come to be
called America's Judeo-Christian framework..."


"80 percent of Americans say they believe that people of other
religions can go to heaven. Despite the persecutions of the past,
we have had a Quaker president, a Catholic president, and Mormon
presidential candidates."

The rest at

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/17/religious-zealotry-and-america
n-grace.html



Feeling unpopular all of a sudden?



Dan

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