Science of Identity Foundation
{{short description|New religious movement based in Hawaii}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Science of Identity Foundation
| abbreviation = SIF
| predecessor =
| established =
| founder = Chris Butler (aka Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa)
| founding_location = {{nowrap|Hawaii, United States}}
| type = Religious organization; 501(c)3 organization
| tax_id = 99-0177647
| status =
| purpose = Education, philanthropy, religious studies, spirituality
| headquarters = Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
| region_served = Worldwide
| services = Yoga classes
| website = {{Official URL}}
| formerly = {{plainlist|
- Hari Nama Society
- Holy Name Society}}
}}
The Science of Identity Foundation (SIF) is a new religious movement started in the 1970s. It was founded by Chris Butler after he broke from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It is based in the US state of Hawaii.
Its theology combines yoga with aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and adherents must practice vegetarianism. It includes condemnation of homosexuality and hostility toward Islam. A secretive group, it has come under a great deal of media focus due to politician Tulsi Gabbard's ties to the group.
History
Chris Butler, son of a communist anti-war activist, had entered the 1960s counterculture while enrolled at the University of Hawaiʻi. Soon, he joined the burgeoning Hare Krishna movement as a guru, with the name Sai Young, and soon acquired disciples.{{Cite news |last=Sanneh |first=Kelefa |date=October 30, 2017 |title=What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/what-does-tulsi-gabbard-believe |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607114820/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/what-does-tulsi-gabbard-believe |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |access-date=January 13, 2019 |newspaper=New Yorker}}{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=Walter |date=August 22, 1977 |title=Rebel against power trips. Chris Butler, maverick --with 1,000 followers. Hawaii's other Krishnas. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-rebel-against-p/159245232/ |access-date=November 17, 2024 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=1}} Butler joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and received the name Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa.{{Cite web |last=Han |first=Yoonji |date=2022-10-18 |title=Tulsi Gabbard's ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, a controversial religious sect that some call an abusive 'cult' |url=https://www.insider.com/tulsi-gabbard-science-of-identity-controversial-religious-sect-2022-10 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}{{Cite magazine |last=Howley |first=Kerry |date=2019-06-11 |title=Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-campaign.html |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-05-09 |magazine=New York |language=en-us}}{{Cite journal |last1=McMaster University |last2=Lagace |first2=Marc Lodge Andrew |date=May 2024 |title="Mother of Yoga": Zhang Huilan, Chris Butler, and the Popularization of Yoga in the People's Republic of China |url=https://journalofyogastudies.org/index.php/JoYS/article/view/JoYS.V5.002 |journal=Journal of Yoga Studies |volume=5 |pages=39–67 |doi=10.34000/JoYS.2024.V5.002|doi-access=free }} Within a few years, Butler began to deviate from ISKCON's ways, choosing to marry and allowing his disciples to keep their heads unshaved, leading ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to publicly denounce him. After the death of Prabhupada in 1977, Butler broke away from ISKCON and founded SIF, then known as the Hari Nama (lit. Holy Name) Society.{{cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Siddhaswarupananda, Jagad Guru |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&dq=%22Science+of+Identity+foundation%22&pg=PA411 |last1=Jones |first1=Constance A. |series=Encyclopedia of World Religions. J. Gordon Melton, Series Editor |pages=411–412 |isbn=978-0-8160-5458-9 |quote=[Butler] remained with ISKCON until after Prabhupada died in 1977. [...] He founded the Science of Identity Foundation as a vehicle to facilitate his teachings. [...] The Science of Identity Foundation (originally the Hari Nama or Holy Name Society) is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. |last2=Ryan |first2=James D.}} Simultaneously, he began to deemphasize ISKCON's rigid adherence to Vaishnava texts and promoted a range of eclectic views.
In 1976, Butler's disciples launched a new political party — called the Independents for Godly Government — presenting themselves as a "multifaith coalition of conservative-minded reformers", and ran candidates for the House of Representatives and mayoral elections; the candidates did not disclose their links with Butler and explicitly claimed to have no affiliation with any religious organization including the Hare Krishna faith. The party was funded by a variety of businesses, including two local newspapers and a health-food store chain, run by the disciples themselves.{{Cite web |last=Friedrich |first=Pieter |date=2019-08-01 |title=How the American Sangh built up Tulsi Gabbard |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/american-sangh-affair-tulsi-gabbard |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=The Caravan |language=en}}
In the 1980s, he ran a late-night television show called Chris Butler Speaks on Channel 13.{{cite news |last=Christensen |first=John |date=November 23, 1982 |title=Chris Butler: About this guru business |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |page=B-1}} Since the 90s, Butler has kept a low profile, rarely speaking in public; in 2017, The New Yorker reported that Butler presents himself less as a Hare Krishna dissident and more as a member of a worldwide Vaishnava movement. Butler's wife Wai Lana has received acclaim for popularizing yoga through the Wai Lana Yoga show; in 2016, she was conferred with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.{{Cite book |last=Sarbacker |first=Stuart Ray |title=Tracing the Path of Yoga: The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781438481210}}
Theology
The organization combines the teaching of yoga with aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology. Followers must practice vegetarianism and are not allowed to gamble, smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs or have "illicit sex".
Butler's teachings included condemnation of homosexuality, hostility towards Islam, and skepticism of science.{{Cite web |last=Hurley |first=Bevan |date=2022-10-16 |title=Tulsi Gabbard's ties to secretive cult may explain her perplexing political journey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tulsi-gabbard-cult-putin-democrat-science-of-identity-b2058196.html |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=The Independent |language=en}} The New Yorker notes that Butler's teachings from the 1980s assert that engaging in bisexual relations would lead to pedophilia and bestiality.
Multiple ex-members of SIF have described it as a cult; Butler's status has been characterized as "akin to a god" and not willing to be questioned.{{Cite web |last=Wiseman |first=Oliver |date=2019-10-29 |title=Whose side is Tulsi Gabbard on? |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2019/whose-side-is-tulsi-gabbard-on/ |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=The Critic |language=en-GB}} They say Butler regularly mocked his devotees, publicly, calling it "a form of Krishna’s mercy". Butler denies these allegations; he threatened to sue the Honolulu Star-Advertiser when it planned to publish accounts of ex-followers in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Cocke |first=Sophie |date=2019-01-27 |title=Chris Butler and Science of Identity Foundation criticize media, decline interviews |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/01/27/hawaii-news/butler-and-his-organization-criticize-the-press-decline-interviews/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |language=en}}
Association with Tulsi Gabbard
SIF has received a great deal of media coverage due to Tulsi Gabbard's strong ties with SIF.{{cite news |last= Bowles |first= Nellie |author-link= Nellie Bowles |title= Tulsi Gabbard Thinks We're Doomed |newspaper= The New York Times |date= August 2, 2019 |access-date= September 21, 2019 |page= A1 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-race.html|archive-date=September 26, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926014900/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-race.html}}{{cite web | last=Godfrey | first=Elaine | title=What Everyone Gets Wrong About Tulsi Gabbard | website=The Atlantic | date=2025-01-21 | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/is-tulsi-gabbard-a-mystery/681398/ | access-date=2025-02-06}}{{cite web | last1=Feng | first1=Brett|last2= Forrest|first2= Caitlin|last3= Ostroff|first3=Rebecca | title=As a Rising Political Star, Gabbard Paid to Mask Her Sect’s Ties to Alleged Scheme | website=WSJ | date=2025-01-29 | url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/tulsi-gabbard-science-of-identity-qi-group-ed51c890 | language=en-US | access-date=2025-02-06}} Gabbard was raised in the SIF community in Hawaii and considered Butler her mentor.{{Cite news |last=Grube |first=Nick |date=2024-12-10 |title=Senators Urged To Examine Gabbard's 'Deep and Intense' Ties To Hawaiʻi Sect |url=https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/12/senators-urged-to-examine-gabbards-deep-and-intense-ties-to-hawaii-sect/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |work=Honolulu Civil Beat |language=en}} Her parents, Mike Gabbard{{Cite web |last=Bolante |first=Ronna |date=2004-08-01 |title=Who is Mike Gabbard? |url=https://www.honolulumagazine.com/who-is-mike-gabbard/ |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=Honolulu Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Issenberg |first=Sasha |title=The Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |year=2021 |isbn=9781984898517 |pages=112–114}} and Carol Gabbard, are members of SIF.{{cite web | last=Williamson | first=Elizabeth | last2=Homans | first2=Charles | title=Tulsi Gabbard’s Unorthodox Path to Trump’s Intelligence Team | website=The New York Times | date=2025-01-27 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-trump-national-intelligence.html | access-date=2025-02-06|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250130023242/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-trump-national-intelligence.html|archivedate=2025-01-30}} In 2015, she acknowledged Butler as her guru in a video statement for an ISKCON anniversary event. Butler has likened her to a star pupil. Gabbard has worked to minimize and hide her relationship to Butler and SIF.{{cite web | last=Lubin | first=Rhian | title=Gabbard 'paid to mask connections’ to alleged pyramid scheme tied to her Hindu sect | website=The Independent | date=2025-01-29 | url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/tulsi-gabbard-senate-hearing-sect-b2688454.html | access-date=2025-02-06}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{official website}}
- {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|990177647}}
{{Portal|Hawaii}}
{{Modern Gaudiya Vaishnavas}}
{{Yoga}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Hindu organizations based in the United States
Category:Religious organizations based in Hawaii
Category:Hindu new religious movements
Category:Religious organizations established in 1977
Category:1977 establishments in Hawaii
Category:International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Category:Anti-Islam sentiment in the United States
Category:Homophobia in the United States