In 1980, I was living in Taiwan.  The English-language press there was then reporting the discussions in the U.S. about teaching religion or religious subjects in our schools.  One morning, I was riding to his office with a young Taiwanese executive with whom I had been working for some months.  As we passed a big, ugly brick building I was told by my friend that it was a school for all grades up through what we called high school.  I asked him if the students there were taught about the Confucian faith.  His answer — "Certainly. That's who we are." — has stuck in my mind since. I realized that morning that the defining glue that bound the Taiwanese, and much of Eastern cultures, together was a common understanding of "who we are."  I have wondered since, especially during the last decade or so: do we know "who we are"?  Or is there any "who we...(Read Full Post)