God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World (60 page)

Avalokiteshvara, 190–91

babalawo
(father of secrets), 204, 205, 206, 235

Babylonian exile of Jews, 254–55, 261

Baha’i faith, 15

Barks, Coleman, 60

Bascom, William, 222

Bayazid Bistami, 58

Beastie Boys (“Bodhisattva Vow”), 176

Bebbington, David, 84

beliefs: atheists on man-made religious, 318; Buddhist tradition on experience over, 172–73; by Christians on sin, 71–72; Islam on sin, 37; Mormon, 83, 184; orthodoxy (right thought), 70; Pentecostalism disinterest in, 91; religion and role of, 69.
See also
faith; religion

The Believers
(film), 230

Belloc, Hilaire, 87

Benedictines, 66

Benedict, Pope, 94

Berg, Philip, 274

Berry, Wendell, 130

Berthrong, John, 124

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Jamaica Plain), 67–68

Bhagavad Gita: description of, 134, 135; dialogue on ethics of war in, 160–61; on religious unity, 6; on renouncers and householders, 162

bhakti yoga
(Hindu discipline of devotion)
,
137, 150–53

Bible: American political use of the, 18; annual sales of the, 8; Biblicism, 84; Catholic Bible, 75, 80; comparing the Quran to the, 43–45; different versions of the, 74–75; “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” 159; Jesus as described in the, 70, 71–73; King James Bible, 79; “texts of terror” in the, 47; war and violence depictions in the, 97.
See also
Christianity; Hebrew Bible

Big Love
(HBO show), 84

bin Laden, Osama, 25, 50

Bismillah, 36–37

BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), 168

Blair, Tony, 27, 320

Blake, William, 1

blind men examining elephant story, 338–39

Bohr, Niels, 144

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 81

Book of Changes (Yijing or I Ching), 102–3

The Book of Common Prayer
(Church of England), 79, 299

Book of Documents (Confucianism), 103

Book of Mormon, 41, 83

Book of Odes (Confucianism), 103

Book of Poetry (Confucianism), 115

Book of Rites (Confucianism), 103

Boston Area Coalition of Reason, 325

Boston Confucianism, 124

Boston University, 4, 16, 132, 168

Brahman (Hindu essence of divinity), 149, 150, 151

Brahma (Hindu creator god), 132

Brandeis, Louis, 299

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), 63

British Humanist Association, 325

Brown, Dan, 1

Brown, Karen McCarthy, 209

Buddha: death of, 173; four sacred places of life of, 173–74; Great Awakening of, 171–72, 181, 200–201; life of, 169–74; as transformer, 114, 115, 181;
Tripitaka
(Three Baskets) of teachings of, 187

Buddha of Infinite Light, 191

Buddhism:
anatta
(no soul) teaching of, 184–86; dependent origination chain (
pratitya-samutpada
), 182–83; divisions within, 12; Four Noble Truths of, 172, 181–84, 200, 201; four-step problem/solution approach in, 14–15; influence on American popular culture by, 176–77; Mahayana, 42, 176–77, 186–90, 193–96, 200–201; meditation practices of, 178–79; as missionary religion, 180; monasticism of, 174, 176, 181; Noble Eightfold Path of, 14, 172, 181, 200, 201; as one of Three Teachings, 103–4, 105; origins of, 169–74; nirvana goal of, 177–80, 182–83, 200; religion versus philosophy debate over, 105;
samsara
(life, death, and rebirth cycle) of, 136, 151, 152–53, 200; spread of, 174–77; Theravada, 42, 114, 177, 186–90; Three Refuges (or Three Jewels) of, 180–81; Tibetan Book of the Dead of, 198; Vajrayana, 196–98; Zen, 190–93

Buddhist Bible,
282

Buddhists: devotion to Ganesha by, 132; Engaged, 180; global demographics of, 175–76; Western popular cultural portrayal of, 29

Bush, George W., 27, 72, 320

Cage, John, 103

Cain and Abel story, 255, 279

Caitanya, 151–52

Calvinism, 78–79

Calvin, John, 31, 76, 78, 82

Campbell, Joseph, 5, 6

Campus Crusade for Christ International, 67

canang sari
(Bali), 158

Candomble (Yoruba religion), 219, 223–25, 227, 229, 236

Cartwright, Peter, 85

caste system (Hinduism), 142, 150

The Catcher in the Rye,
144

Catherine of Aragon, 79

Catholic Bible, 75, 80

Cave Cathedral (Cairo), 93–94

Celestial Masters (Daoism), 291, 308

Chavez, Hugo, 90

Chenyang Li, 123

China: BRIC membership of, 63; Communist, 104, 122; Han dynasty of, 113, 120; number of Daoists in, 284–85; Qin dynasty of, 120, 122; Song dynasty of, 104, 120; Tai Shan peak of, 114; Tang dynasty of, 120, 290; Three Teachings of, 103–4, 105, 121; Zhou dynasty of, 109–10

Chodron, Pema, 194

The Christ Child
(1931), 65, 68

Christianity: browning of, 91–96; “clash of civilizations” between Islam and, 12, 54, 56, 98; diversity within, 12, 66–68; evangelization of the Christian West, 84–86; four-step problem/solution approach in, 14; fundamentalism, 86, 88; Global South and Global North divisions of, 95–96; Incarnation doctrine of, 68, 331; making the case for preeminence of, 18; as missionary religion, 19, 85; megachurches, 93–94; Mormonism, 12, 51, 82–84, 91–92; mysticism in, 98–99; new political divisions of, 95–96; Nicene Creed of, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 199, 251; origins and historical development of, 74–76; Pentecostalism, 87–91, 92; Protestant/Catholic divide of, 76–82; relationship between Islam and, 96–97; salvation goal of, 21–22; Trinity doctrine and soft monotheism of, 36, 68–70, 84.
See also
Bible

Christians: brown, 91–96; global demographics of, 74; Quran on relations with Muslims, Jews, and, 48–49; relationships between Muslims and, 96–97

Christian Scientists, 82

Christian Social Gospel, 20

Church of England, 79

Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem), 30

Churchill, Winston, 17

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), 12, 51, 82–84, 91–92

The Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah,
229

Church of Norway, 78

Church of Sweden, 78

“clash of civilizations,” 12, 54, 56, 98

Clinton, Bill, 102

Comte, August, 86

Confessions
(St. Augustine), 93

Confucianism: “City of God” and “City of Man” in, 108; denial of self’s independence by, 185; Doctrine of the Mean of, 117; filial piety of, 106–7, 116; Five Classics of, 102–3, 104, 113, 115; Five Relationships and Five Virtues of, 112; individual transformation in, 109–12; interactions between Daoism and, 110, 114, 129, 192, 289–91, 302, 303, 312–13;
li
(propriety) and Way of Heaven of, 113, 116–17, 118, 124; Mencius and Xunzi’s contributions to, 119–20, 123, 124, 126, 299; on need for rituals, 141; Neo-Confucianism, 104, 120–21, 285; New Confucianism and Boston Confucianism, 120–24; as one of Three Teachings, 103–4, 105, 121, 281; rectification of names notion of, 112; religion vs. philosophy debate over, 105–9, 129–30, 186;
ren
(human-heartedness) of, 113, 115–18, 129; ritual importance in, 69; sensibility and values of, 102, 104–5; struggle between individualism and communitarianism of, 124–29; Three Bonds of, 125

Confucius: Analects of, 102, 104, 106, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117–18, 119, 121, 128, 281; as “The First Teacher,” 110; historic influence of, 101–2; on humans as social beings, 314; life of, 112–15; Mount Tai tigers story on, 127; personal appeal of, 126–29; questions raised by, 339; teachings of, 115–18

Confucius from the Heart
(Yu Dan), 122

Conservative Judaism, 269

Constantine (Roman emperor), 67, 68

Constantinople (1453), 19

Coptic Orthodox Church, 94

Council of Nicaea (325), 67, 68, 74, 251

Council of Trent (1545–63), 77, 78

covenants (Judaism), 257–58

Cox, Harvey, 66, 94

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(film), 282

Cuban Revolution (1959), 216, 218

Cult of Reason (eighteenth-century France), 323, 326

cultural pluralism, 249

Cunningham, Merce, 103

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(film), 292

Cyrus (Persian king), 255

Dalai Lama, 2, 25, 176, 177, 196, 199

Daodejing
(or
Tao Te Ching
): on
de
(power/virtue), 298–99; description of, 281, 291–93; reversal and return themes of, 293–96; “soft power” of, 299; on transformation or ground of becoming, 296–98;
wu wei
(natural action) concept of, 295–96, 299, 312.
See also
Laozi