In which the Movement is moving to the center of the nation.

AmmZon told me this morning that she’d heard that the Big M had decided to build a peace palace or something in Kansas, so I immediately googled it. It’s totally fascinating! The Movement really has bought 600 acres in north-central Kansas, and they plan to build there:

‘So here in traditional Kansas, the recent purchase of land by representatives of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to build what they’re calling a World Capital of Peace — just outside town — where meditators will send “waves of coherence” across the country — has many residents riled.

‘The group plans to spend at least $15 million to erect 12-15 buildings for a retreat, training center and residences.’
[link to article]

The nearest town to this newly-purchased property is small, aged, and dying… and it’s smack-dab in the middle of the bible belt:

‘”They say they’re not a religion. I say they’re a sect of Hinduism,” said Greg Hubbard, pastor of Smith Center’s Evangelical Free Church. “Bottom line is, I don’t buy you can be a Christian and a Hindu at the same time.”

‘Hubbard and eight other local ministers recently signed an open letter decrying the proposed new city as a threat to “the eternal souls of people.” A large Christian crusade spurred by the controversy is scheduled in Smith Center this month.’
[link to article]

He’s right: they are a sect of Hinduism, even though they’ll swear up and down that they’re not (and even went so far as to ban ownership of Hindu icons a few years ago, causing local thrift shops to fill up with abandoned deities). They celebrate Guru Purnima and Mahalakshmi, study Sanskrit and do pujas, and have their jyotish charts done. They’re totally fucking Hindu, as much as Hinduism is a religion and not merely a culture.

Hubbard’s also a closed-minded, bigoted idiot. (American Christians are FUCKING INSANE.) All religions are compatible. The rituals are different, but the underlayment is always the same. Only fundamentalists — and unfortunately, nearly all Xians are fundies — think that only their religion is the true one. THEY. ARE. ALL. THE. SAME. The differences are nearly always CULTURAL. Sheesh.

I hate all organized religion. (I already hate what will happen when my Guru leaves Her body — beaureacrats, rules, rigidity. It’s inevitable — and She hasn’t even done it yet.) I have no idea why God bothers with us, other than enlightened beings don’t appear to be much affected by suffering, so to them it’s no big deal.

Anyway.

In other news, I have an interview on Thursday morning. The job’s only part-time, but that’s better than no-time. Wish me luck!