A Muslim and TWO BUDDHIST members of Congress walk into a bar...

Hold it, Buddhists in Congress?? ON EDIT- sorry I had "Congressmen"

Yep there are two Buddhists in Congress now.
I ran across this while reading about the whole made up Ellison "controversy".


Can you name them? Come on you have a 2 in 435 shot at it....


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But anyway, two Buddhists will be sworn in on Thursday, and we asked them what they plan to use for the ceremonial event.

Representative-elect Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat who ousted Representative Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic primary, became a Buddhist decades ago, though his family does not share that faith. A spokesperson said that Mr. Johnson plans to use a Bible, citing tradition.

Besides, there is no book in Buddhism that’s equivalent to the Bible or the Koran, said Representative-elect Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat. She said she probably would not use any book, but that in the past, when she was sworn in as lieutenant governor, she used a friend’s family Bible.

Ms. Hirono does not practice daily, but she is influenced by Buddhist values. It is “characteristic of Buddhism that there is respect and tolerance for other religions,” she said.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/a-congressman-a-muslim-and-a-buddhist-walk-into-a-bar/

I'm surprised she's the only one. Quakers won't swear on Bibles, which was an issue at the start of this country, and one of the reason that it's never been a requirement.

http://www.adherents.com/people/pn/Richard_Nixon.html

I'm just saying.

Yes you are probably right that (along with the Deists and Unitarians) is why there is no Bible requirement as well as the seperation clauseS.

There are three types of Quakers, and they become more fundamentalist as you move West, with the most liberal (Friends General Conference) in the East, the moderates (Friends United Meeting) in the Midwest, and Evangelical Friends in California.

The Nixon family was Evangelical Friends, which is closer to Southern Baptist then it is to the raging liberals in the east. They even have their own deeply conservative college (Whittier) where we have Earlham and Guilford, which are about as far from fundamentalist Christian as you can get.

They are some kinda fine folks!! Activists.

I did not know that.

Herbert Hoover was.

who won't "swear."

They will affirm, but not swear. Members of the Church of the Brethren are one example. I don't think Mennonites will do it, either.

the Buddhists are taking over!

:rofl:

Thanks for the morning laugh and a good reason to kick this back up to the top

The righties sure went after Keith Ellison, but nothing about Buddhists.

I guess the War on Buddhists will come later, after the respective Wars on Islamofascists, Queers, Liberals, Democrats, Nancy, and Harry/Kerry.

Cool.

I was watching a documentary about right-wing Christian churches in the US (done by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and they had footage of a megachurch preacher whipping up his congregation: "Liberals think Buddhists are wise!". I found the resulting laughter, cheers, and roars of agreement rather disappointing -- I kept thinking of my grad school advisor and mentor, a practicing Buddhist (who also served with distinction in the Canadian forces). My grandparents, who immigrated from Japan, were Shinto-Buddhists before converting to the Anglican and United churches -- and I tried to remind myself that I had never heard such disrespectful remarks from the clergy in either of those denominations. (In fact, the Japanese contingent at the local Anglican church was pretty large, and this had a rather interesting influence on the customs there ... e.g. the distribution of Japanese confections, the type traditionally offered at Shinto shrines, at the church Christmas party!)

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Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

so it is A-theistic.

the poster i replied to said "wake me when an a-theist is elected". well, there you go. its happened!

Anywhere?

I am a member of the same sect of Buddhism as Hank Johnson, Soka Gakkai International. We chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. I've been chanting for 37 years and believe you me, I am pretty fucking excited about another Buddhist being in Congress.

I've only known about two Republican Buddhists in my years of practicing. Most everybody I know has either an old Kerry/Edwards sticker on their car, or some kind of a Peace sticker. A lot of us marched in downtown L.A. and Hollywood Blvd., trying to stop Bush's insane war.

I'm not sure if I'd put my hand on the Bible, though. I'm what's know as a Jew-Bu. Can't you just swear on the Constitution of the United States?

Those are America's sacred documents.

Yes, you can use anything you like or nothing at all for the ceremonial photo op. The actual swearing (or affirming) is done en masse by simply raising one's hand and repeating the oath of office. Afterwards is the photo op. Some don't even bother with this.

If it were me, having been raised in the old NSA and now SGI since I was 2 years old (I'm 48 now and my mom is Japanese), I'd most likely use the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Lotus Sutra. For these are the things I would truly be swearing to not only support, defend, and protect, but to live up to and actually practice in my daily life.

BTW, hello! Very glad to have met all of you on this thread. It gives me hope that there is some hope for this country. I live in very rural southern Minnesota, the same congressional district as Tim Walz and the same state as Keith Ellison, but was raised on the left coast (Seattle and Los Angeles) and this place is one of the most uptight places on the planet for radical humanists like myself. My being here is a long story I won't bore you with, but I will be running for state office again in 3 years and will be another elected Buddhist when I win in 2010.

I wonder if he's still calling himself a Republican today.

The Christian THINKS there is a difference.

He's a very nice, soft spoken, intelligent man. He'll do just fine.
I am also pretty pleased that his spokeswoman issued a statement recently saying that the Congressman will not answer questions regarding his religion and he won't ask anyone else about theirs.

Finally - someone who understand the separation of church and state.

Why couldn't I have lived just one more mile to the north and been in his district?!?!?!?!