Bodhi Beautiful: How to Be a Hindu in America

I was raised a Christian but couldn't stay with it. I liked women too much to prefer a Father-God and worshipped Nature before anyone told me it was idolatry. I was frightened by Christianity's violent history and turned off by fundamentalists who can't wait for the Christ of Revelations to come back, taking names and kicking butt.

So I joined the New Age Movement, attracted by its gentleness, openness, and lack of coercion. Eventually, I got hungry again. The New Age Movement may be a process even a historic one but it is not a destination. (Its points of departure are clearer than its destinations.) It lacks coherence and communion, things I've been increasingly needing. More and more, my wife and I are meeting New Age fundamentalists who have all the snobbery and exclusive possession of Truth that we've seen in so many Christians. So if someone asks my religion, I haven't known what to say.

What I've begun to realize is that I'm pretty much a Hindu. Not saying so out loud has been a bit of cowardice on my part because Americans have so little respect for Hinduism. Buddhism has earned itself a respected niche, but Hinduism is considered too barbarous and superstitious.