[Buddha-l] Pew religion dist. map

[Richard Hayes]

On Mar 29, 2012, at 11:40 PM, Christopher Fynn <chris.fynn at gmail.com> wrote:

> Now if all the Buddhists in the US moved to New Mexico what would the
> percentage there be?

Well over 100%.

Ever since Robert Redford made "The Milagro Beanfield Wars" in Truchas, New Mexico, Hollywood folks have been migrating in droves to postcard towns like Santa Fe and Taos and Abiquiu. This has had the effect of driving real estate prices and property taxes in those towns much higher than anyone on a New Mexican salary can afford. And, since all Hollywood folks labor under the delusion that they're world-renouncing Buddhists, the population of self-proclaimed Buddhists in New Mexico has also ballooned. If all the Buddhists with cocaine habits and four Mercedes in their quaint gravel driveways were subtracted out, the Buddhist population in New Mexico would be somewhere between twelve and fourteen (depending on whether you counted on a day when Jim Peavler and I were feeling in a Buddhist  mood).

Richard Hayes