Hinduism in America

The excerpt this week is from a blog by Philip Goldberg on the influence of Swami Vivekananda in introducing Hinduism to America, stating that “Countless Americans have been influenced by Swami Vivekananda, even if many don’t know who he is.”

“I often compare Swami Vivekananda to Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player to break through the color line of Major League Baseball. Like Robinson, Vivekananda shattered barriers, overturned misconceptions and stereotypes, paved the way for others like him…. At the time of Vivekananda’s historic triumph at the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions, few Americans had even met a Jew or a Muslim, much less a Hindu monk in orange robes and a turban. India was perceived by most as a backward outpost of the British Empire, and Hinduism as a primitive, polytheistic, idol-worshiping religion in need of Christian missionaries….”