Quote:
Originally Posted by Drifter
Remember without Gandhi the idea of non-violence doesn't have a big-name advocate.
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Gee, I thought Jesus and Buddha were pretty big names. Christian pacifism is a very old American tradition. It was a big factor in the Abolition movement of the 19th century, the Populist and Progressive movements, and the Prohibition movement, and, of course, the Civil Rights movement.
And I'm old enough to remember that it was Buddhist agitation in South Vietnam that began turning American public opinion against the anti-communist Diem regime. Of course, the Vietnamese Buddhists helped trade expoitation by a corrupt Catholic elite for a corrupt Communist elite, but at least they got the satisfaction of seeing the Catholics under the same thumb as themselves.