Is America ready for a Hindu sweetheart?

The Washington Post reports in the column, On Faith, that Julia Roberts has recently made public that she and her family are practicing Hindus. This seems to be a recent development tied in with her role in the movie adaptation of the book, 'Eat, Pray, Love.' Roberts is certainly not the first celebrity to garner attention for proclaiming a faith that is seen as outside the mainstream by Western society. Examples range from Richard Gere, a practicing Buddhist, to more infamous examples, such as Scientologist Tom Cruise and Madonna's practice of Kaballah.

What is interesting is that Julia Roberts has, for a couple of decades, inhabited a particular role in American pop culture: That of "America's sweetheart." While someone like Madonna can practice Kaballah without raising too many eyebrows, and Buddhism is viewed as eccentric, if not largely benevolent, in the West, Hinduism is dotted by a landscape of religious practice that most Protestant Americans would not be comfortable with. It is distinguished with a rich, full history and practice including temples, chanting, material offerings, etc. that, at least on the surface, appear to be very alien to most of Christendom. The comments at the bottom of the column seem to take the stance that this is all irrelevant. I'm not so sure that it is as irrelevant as it first seems. When Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010, won her current title, she was immediately put on display for public scrutiny because of her heritage linking her with Islam. Granted, there is a quite a bit of Islamophobia currently present in our culture for various reasons. However, the same could be said for laying flowers down at the feet of deities who most Protestant Americans would view as polytheistic in nature, despite the monotheistic self-identification of Hindus.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if there is any backlash for her apparent conversion. If there isn't, then maybe we are ready for more spiritual diversity, even among the places we most expect people to fit a particular mold.

The Washington Post
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