( CNN ) When the Dalai Lama attends the National Prayer Breakfast this Thursday , it will not only be an implicit endorsement of the Tibetan Buddhist leader 's stand against China in the name of religious freedom , but also an acknowledgment that Buddhism is firmly established as one strand among many in the tapestry of American spiritual diversity . Yet it might also serve as a reminder that a religion now considered universally benign once endured suspicion , vocal protest and even government surveillance -- much as Islam has in recent years . Already , 2015 has seen threats of violence canceling a call to prayer in North Carolina , anti-Muslim demonstrations in Texas and Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal comparing non-assimilating Muslims to an `` invasion . '' All of this would have been familiar to some Buddhists not so long ago . Today , Buddhism is the model of a minority religious tradition that exerts an influence far beyond what its numbers would suggest . While the Buddhist population of the United States is not much larger than a million -- less than 1 % of the population -- the number of Americans inspired by the Buddha is estimated to be more than 10 times that size . The cultural position of Buddhism 73 years ago could not have been more different . When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 , authorizing the evacuation of all those of Japanese descent from the West Coast to war relocation centers , the Buddhist faith practiced by many Japanese Americans was itself regarded as a potential threat . After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the formal entry of the United States into World War II , the FBI compiled a list of suspected collaborators that included not only members of groups with political ties to Japan , but the leaders of Buddhist temples . FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover 's Custodial Detention List used a classification system designating the supposed risk of individuals on an A-B-C scale , with an `` A '' assigned to those deserving greatest suspicion . In Hoover 's system , Buddhist priests were designated `` A-1 '' : `` dangerous enemy aliens '' whose arrest was considered a matter of urgent concern . Even before the war , Japanese Buddhists were thought to be less `` Americanized '' than their countrymen who had converted to Christianity , and in some ways this was true . Within the Japanese immigrant community , Buddhists were more likely than Christians to maintain their native language , as well as their facility with customs and rituals performed in that language . They were also more likely than Japanese Christians to read publications concerned with political affairs in the country they left behind . Subscription rolls of such publications provided the FBI with a starting point for building its `` A '' list of suspects . Because of the connections and traditional knowledge Buddhist temples helped maintain , to be a Japanese Buddhist in America was to be considered a risk to national security . Facing such scrutiny , many Buddhists enlisted for military service to prove their loyalty and patriotism . The famous 442nd Combat Regiment was not only entirely Japanese , but it was largely Buddhist . It became the most decorated infantry regiment in Europe . In the Pacific theater , 6,000 American servicemen of Japanese descent -- again , many Buddhists among them -- worked as linguists and code breakers , hastening the end of the war . In the wake of these accomplishments , Japanese American veterans petitioned the military throughout the late 1940s to add a Buddhist designation to dog tags and grave markers , which before had offered only markings signifying Protestant , Catholic , Hebrew and Other . Their eventual victory opened up the U.S. armed forces to recognition of all other faiths . Coming during a time of increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric , and during the month in which the internment of Buddhists and other Japanese Americans is commemorated , the Dalai Lama 's presence at the National Prayer Breakfast offers an opportunity for the politicians and faith leaders in attendance to reaffirm a basic truth too often forgotten in our history : In a nation that cherishes religious freedom and hopes to see it spread across the globe , targeting one spiritual tradition diminishes them all .
The Dalai Lama will attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday with President Obama . Hide Caption 8 of 21 Photos