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Speaking for Buddha

When I was asked what my religious beliefs were on the recent census form, I wrote 'Buddhist' in the 'Other' category. I argued with friends about that. They could see no proof that I was a Buddhist and thought I was pretending to be Buddhist to be cool. They thought I was feeding into John Howard's version of Australia: an Austra-lia where everyone has a religion, an Australia where religion has become a weapon to be used against people. I was contributing to what Gary Bouma, Professor of soci-ology at Monash University and an Anglican minister, has called a gross overestimation of Buddhist numbers. When I interviewed him several years ago Bouma thought many more people professed vague allegiance to the ideals of Buddhism than were card-carrying members. Buddhism was, he said, 'the religion to have when you're not having a religion'.

There Is No Proof This Actually Occurred

This article first appeared in Australian Book Review in November, 2004 In a poem called 'Sugar-Paper Blue', Ruth Fainlight, writes: After school, pushing a metal scoop through the shifting granular dampness inside a hairy sack of jute, they'll find bags,...