When Gov. Dirk Kempthorne welcomed leaders of many faiths to a meeting here Wednesday with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he noted that he had decided to extend Idaho's welcome to the Nobel Peace Prize winner despite "pushback."
He said the Chinese government had called him to complain about Idaho's throwing out the welcome mat for the exiled leader of Tibet, now occupied by China. Some of Kempthorne's constituents had objected to mixing church and state because the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
Kempthorne, a Christian, participated in the Dalai Lama's five-day visit here anyway, because he said it is important to learn from other traditions.
The Dalai Lama's message of compassion and hope, and his call for peace and unity, contrasted starkly with the day's events elsewhere in the world.
The same day, on the other side of the world, Iraq's Sunni al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi declared war on Shi'ite Muslims—the majority of that country's citizens. The Sunni minority ruled under Saddam Hussein and many of them now fear rule by the majority Shi'ites under the country's new constitution.
While the Dalai Lama called upon people to solve problems through logical analysis and dialogue, Zarqawi boasted of attacks that killed at least 160 people and wounded 570 in more than a dozen bombings in north Baghdad in the deadliest day since the U.S. invaded the country.
The governor was right to refuse to bow to the critics. He put Idaho's best qualities as a place of diversity, peace and understanding on display. Every Idahoan should be proud.
