"We are all Hindus now"

Marcia · Aug 25, 2009

Well, this is just the mainstreaming of the New Age and other influences that I've noticed since I was saved out of the New Age in late 1990:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155

America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.

....According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious," according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for "the divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same," he says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."

....So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. <more>
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Johnv · Aug 25, 2009

It should be noted that the OP article is a commentary, not a news article.

That said, there are a lot of assumptions (again, it's a commentary). For example, just because people believe in reincarnation does not make one hindu. Reincarnation is common in buddhism, taoism, janism, kabbalah, confucionism, and numerous others. New Age followers are mixed on it: some believe in it, some don't.

Marcia · Aug 25, 2009

Johnv said: ↑

It should be noted that the OP article is a commentary, not a news article.

That said, there are a lot of assumptions (again, it's a commentary). For example, just because people believe in reincarnation does not make one hindu. Reincarnation is common in buddhism, taoism, janism, kabbalah, confucionism, and numerous others. New Age followers are mixed on it: some believe in it, some don't.
Click to expand...

I think the writer was writing metaphorically; I doubt she meant literally that we are all Hindus.

Reincarnation is very different in buddhism and it's called rebirth. There is no self in buddhism but somehow an essense and the aggregates are reborn but there is no self to be reborn. Their religion is very internally contradictory.

Taoism - not sure there is reincarnation there.

The other views expressed in the article are more akin to Hinduism; however, I do think there is a large influence of Eastern beliefs here. I would probably title the article, "We are all New Agers Now" rather than use the term "Hindu." Of course, that is hyperbole - I don't mean everyone is a New Ager, either.

"We are all Hindus now"

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