Editing Science of Identity Foundation (section)

==History==
Chris Butler ({{b.|1948}}), son of a [[communist]] [[Anti-war movement|anti-war]] activist, had entered the 1960s [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] while enrolled at the [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa|University of Hawaiʻi]].<ref name="Sanneh" /><ref name=":3" /> Soon, he joined the burgeoning Hare Krishna movement as a [[ISKCON guru system|guru]], with the name Sai Young, and soon acquired disciples.<ref name="Sanneh">{{Cite magazine |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 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> Butler joined the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness]] (ISKCON) and received the name Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Han |first=Yoonji |date=October 18, 2022 |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=May 9, 2023 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |last=Howley |first=Kerry |date=June 11, 2019 |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=May 9, 2023 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":0">{{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 |editor-first=J.. Gordon |editor-last=Melton |editor-link=J. Gordon Melton |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.}}</ref> Simultaneously, he began to deemphasize ISKCON's rigid adherence to [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] texts and promoted a range of eclectic views.<ref name="Sanneh" /><ref name=":2" />

In 1976, Butler's disciples launched a new political party, 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.<ref name="Sanneh" /> The party was funded by a variety of businesses, including two local newspapers and a health-food store chain, run by the disciples themselves.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Friedrich |first=Pieter |date=August 1, 2019 |title=How the American Sangh built up Tulsi Gabbard |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/american-sangh-affair-tulsi-gabbard |access-date=October 1, 2024 |website=[[The Caravan]] |language=en}}</ref>

In the 1980s, he ran a late-night television show called ''Chris Butler Speaks'' on [[KITV|Channel 13]].<ref name="butler1982">{{cite news |last=Christensen |first=John |date=November 23, 1982 |title=Chris Butler: About this guru business |newspaper=[[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |page=B-1}}</ref> Since the 1990s, 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.<ref name="Sanneh" /> Butler's wife [[Hui Lan Zhang|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]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>