that newfangled Buddhism

I was doing my typical high-speed channel scan last night around 10:30 when I saw some commentator on Fox News getting his knickers in a twist over Hollywood mysticism - his main concern seemed to be with Richard Gere's Buddhism and the prevalence of the Kabbala. He said something along the lines of, "Why are they all into these new religions, and what's the matter with old-fashioned religion?" My guess is he was referring to good ol' mainline Protestant Christianity, or maybe even the peculiar brand of the Gospel favored by Klansmen and some Republicans (Trent Lott to the white courtesy phone...).

Now, setting aside the fact that it's none of his effing business what Richard Gere's (or anybody else's) faith is, because of that whole free-exercise clause thing, what's laughable is that this genius didn't know that Buddhism is at least 500 years older than Christianity, and that the Kabbalah, an offshoot of Judaism, dates back to the first century AD, or CE if you're so inclined. Typical American thinking, or I guess I should say typical modern American thinking, as this country has a pretty rich and varied religious tradition, including the Deism and Unitarianism of many of our Founders and the Trascendentalist movement of the 19th Century. The current hard-right evangelical movement only thinks itself as holding aloft the standard of true American religion out of chauvinism or ignorance, willful or otherwise. Remember, folks, only the Mormons believe that Jesus ever came to the Americas.