USA: Newsweek says “We Are All Hindus Now”

Shravan Krushna Trayodashi

Nevda (USA): “We Are All Hindus Now”—headlines the article in the upcoming edition of prestigious newsmagazine “Newsweek”, saying “U.S. Views on God and Life Are Turning Hindu”.

Written by its religion editor Lisa Miller, it says, “…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.”

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, commenting about the Newsweek viewpoint, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that community was glad that rich philosophical thought of Hinduism was being recognized and accepted widely outside the Hindu circles.

The article quotes a religion professor at Boston University who has long framed the American propensity for "the divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of Hinduism…”

It further says: “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. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we’re burning them like Hindus after death. More than a third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America.”

Article ends with: So let us all say "OM."

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, further says that religion is a complex component of human life and a deeper, more inclusive and broader understanding of religion is needed. We are all looking for the truth and in our joint search for the truth, we can learn from one another and thus come closer to the truth. Dialogue brings us mutual enrichment, Zed adds.

Newsweek, launched in 1933, is published from New York City in four English language and 12 global editions and has a worldwide circulation of over four million. Jon Meacham is the editor. It is owned by The Washington Post Company with Donald E. Graham as chairman. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents, including about 2.3 million in the USA. Moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

Source: By Rajan Zed at Top of news