Friday, 29 Dec 2006
Livejournaler Morchades notices an article mentioning that the 110th Congress will include the first two Buddhist members of Congress in addition to the first Muslim member of Congress that has generated so much dumb punditry, Mazie Hirono of Hawai’i and Hank Johnson of Georgia.
That got me to do a bit of Googling that lead me to a pair of interesting blog entires attempting to explain the religious background of each politician. Mazie Hirono is listed as belonging to Jodo Mission, a sect that I encountered frequently growing up in Hawai’i. My impression of Jodo is that it’s not as philosophical as most Westerners perceive Buddhism, I’d describe most of the Jodo Mission services I’ve attended (mostly funerals, which might bias my impression) as resembling your most mundane and calm Christian Church service, except with chanting and bells.
Hank Johnson, meanwhile, belongs to (what sounds like) a sometimes-controversial sect that’s included celebrities like Tina Turner, Orlando Bloom, Duncan Sheik and Patrick Duffy.
It’s some interesting reading, at least. Too bad it doesn’t seem to be getting much media attention outside of liberal blogs (or so it seems based on Google) since this seems significant enough to spill a little ink. (Though I’m a bit surprised that Hawai’i never elected a Buddhist to Congress until now.)
December 29th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Buddhism isn’t as “controversial” as Islam is in the US right now. The fact that we’re involved in a war with a set of countries that have Islam as their primary religion/legal framework makes the idea of a Muslim Congressman seem scary and controversial, when it really shouldn’t be.
And Buddhism also tends to get lumped in with Scientology and Kabbalah as something that weirdo Hollywood-types believe in (at least by folks here in the US) and not “normal” people. People who don’t know much about it (or who generally don’t think outside their own experiences) don’t know or don’t realize that its a religion practiced by farmers, teachers, and other “normal” folks around the world and not just by Hollywood elites. And I think a lot of people at this point know know a lot of Christians, and some people who are Jewish, and may know some Muslims, but unless you live on the coasts or in a college town (or, as you say, Hawai’i) , you probably don’t know many Buddhists. And for some folks out of sight really is out of mind.