Often, the discussion of religions and their contribution to social well-being revolves around the question of how political action can be motivated by religious belief. Among Christians, the voluminous literature having to do with the theology of liberation bears witness to this fact. Among Buddhists, the growing literature having to do with engaged Buddhism does as well.
This essay, however, charts a different course. While the importance of liberating Christian praxis and engaged Buddhist practice are not to be gainsaid, I want to reflect on an aspect of religions and their contribution to social well-being that has received scant, if any, attention. Buddhism and Christianity, each in their own way, promote social well-being by gathering Americans into communities of religious practice. In doing so, they provide Americans with a communitarian alternative to the individualism which drives so much of public life today. By forming social networks of a religious character, Buddhists and Christians contribute what sociologists call “social capital” to American society at large. Social capital contributes to social well-being by increasing levels of trust, cooperation, mutual aid, and collective action. I will also underscore the fact that religious communities contribute social capital to society by cultivating virtues in their adherents.
With this in mind, I want to reflect on American Buddhism and its maturation as a recognizable religious community here in the United States. As Buddhist communities become more established as institutions, Buddhism’s contribution of social capital to American society increases. Therefore, I want to reflect on the communitarian aspect of Buddhism and the challenges facing it here in the United States. In order to appreciate Buddhism as social capital, I want to understand Buddhist communities in terms of what Christian theologians call a “community of character.” Although I will have more to say about Buddhism in this essay than about Christianity, much of what I have to say about American Buddhism as a community of character applies mutatis mutandis to American Christians as well.
