[Buddha-l] iNTERESTING US MAP GRAPHIC SHOWING %AGE OF THE VARIOUS RELIGIONS

[Richard Hayes]

On Mar 30, 2012, at 12:57 , Scott A. Mitchell wrote:

> Frankly, I've always been of the opinion that if someone claims to be a Buddhist -- even if I think their understanding of Buddhism is wildly divergent from some made-up standard of what "real" Buddhism is -- I'd like to take them at their word.

With this I am in complete agreement and rejoice whenever I hear or read someone say it.

> Now, that's a personal preference and, I'll be the first to admit, not particularly useful when doing academic/sociological research.

Being a bit of an academic myself (although a very bad one), I feel I can say, with sincerity, "Fuck the academics."

> Which brings me to what I really wanted to say which is this: the Pew report (as all surveys do) begins with a certain assumption about religious identification and affiliation. It asks people which religion they belong to.

I don't think that question is a bad one, provided there is a box to tick beside the phrase "All of the above."


Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131