The first part of Lewis Lancaster's lecture, in which he discusses the factors that make a religion "portable," is the most compelling, especially addressing what he calls "pollution" issues.

Mormonism, like Buddhism, has a compelling death theology. But it is plagued institutionally (temple rites) and culturally by pollution phobias that could prove debilitating in the long term.

Lancaster nicely sums up Buddhist metaphysics, especially in terms of perception and causation. He gets fuzzy-wuzzy at times and overstates his case, but that's the nature of religion.

Labels: buddhism, japan, lds, religion, social studies