When Buddhists were Public Enemy No. 1

Yet it might also serve as a reminder that a religion now considered universally benign once endured suspicion, vocal protest and even government surveillancemuch as Islam has in recent years.

Already, 2015 has seen threats of violence canceling a call to prayer in North Carolina, anti-Muslim demonstrations in Texas and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal comparing non-assimilating Muslims to an “invasion.”

In the wake of these accomplishments, Japanese American veterans petitioned the military throughout the late 1940s to add a Buddhist designation to dog tags and grave markers, which before had offered only markings signifying Protestant, Catholic, Hebrew and Other. Their eventual victory opened up the U.S. armed forces to recognition of all other faiths.

Coming during a time of increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric, and during the month in which the internment of Buddhists and other Japanese Americans is commemorated, the Dalai Lama’s presence at the National Prayer Breakfast offers an opportunity for the politicians and faith leaders in attendance to reaffirm a basic truth too often forgotten in our history: In a nation that cherishes religious freedom and hopes to see it spread across the globe, targeting one spiritual tradition diminishes them all.

CNN