Engaged Buddhism

I was engaged before I was Buddhist, so now I am an engaged Buddhist.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office in Article V. More famously, the First Amendment forbids government from establishing religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of it.

These provisions ensure that Buddhists are free to practice our beliefs in this hegemonically Christian country.

That government must leave individuals free from restraint in their religious belief and practice does not mean that people may not rely on their religious beliefs when they make decisions about politics and public policy. The case of Kim Davis is instructive. She was the county clerk in Kentucky who went to jail briefly because she refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, claiming that to do so would violate her Christian beliefs. The problem with this position is that she was not acting as a private citizen, she was acting as a public official. The federal judge pointed out that issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples in no way interfered with any specifically religious activity she might wish to engage in, and arguably had the effect of establishing Christianity as the official religion in her government office and imposing it on same sex couples.

You don’t have to vote. Buddhism, on it face, says nothing about civic responsibility. Karma, however, is a strong statement about every individual’s responsibility for their choices. They will come back to you. A lot of people in the United States may well…