Duncan Ryuken Williams, a religion professor who directs the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California, won the prize for ideas set forth in “American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War,” his 2019 book published by Harvard University Press.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government forcibly relocated more than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry and imprisoned them in detention camps on U.S. soil. Two-thirds were practicing Buddhists.

Some were sent to live in former fairgrounds where stables were hastily converted into living quarters. Others were crowded into dwellings of tarpaper-roofed, Army-style bunkers. Many lost their homes, farms and businesses along with their possessions.

As reviewed diaries and other records of their stay in the camps, he learned Buddhists continued to worship even in confinement. One family celebrated Buddha’s birthday by pouring coffee over a carrot carved in his likeness when they could not perform the traditional ritual of pouring tea over a Buddha statue.

“Their imprisonment became a way to discover freedom, a liberation that the Buddha himself attained only after embarking on a spiritual journey filled with obstacles and hardships,” he said.

The Buddhists’ steadfast devotion to faith in such conditions showed it was possible to be both Buddhist and American and helped launch a less sectarian form of the religion in the United States, Williams found.

“Williams’ work opens the way for a discussion that values religious inclusion over exclusion,” said Tyler Mayfield, who directs the Grawemeyer religion award. “He shows how Japanese Americans living in a time of great adversity broadened our nation’s vision of religious freedom.”

The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary jointly give the religion prize.

Recipients of next year’s s were named this week pending formal approval by university and seminary trustees. The $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, world order, psychology and education. Winners will visit Louisville in April to accept their awards and give free talks on the winning ideas.

Samet will deliver the University of Louisville’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences inaugural on Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held at the Kosair Charities Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) Building, 505 S. Hancock St., with a reception at 5:30 p.m. in the same location.

The timely topic is a reminder of Kentucky’s dismal health statistics related to tobacco, such as facing the highest rate for cancer in the United States, especially lung cancer. From 2009 through 2013, 118 men and 80 women out of every 100,000 individuals were diagnosed with lung cancer compared to 75 men and 53 women per 100,000 nationally. The death rate for lung cancer is 70 per 100,000 in Kentucky compared to 46 per 100,000 nationally. Kentucky’s death rates for other tobacco-related health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and non-cancer chronic lung disease, also are higher than national averages.

Samet’s research is focused on smoking, pollution, and cancer causes and outcomes, to name a few. Throughout his career, he has maintained a commitment to using research findings to support policies that protect population health. Samet has been part of numerous committees related to the use of scientific evidence in characterizing risks and policy-making, including chairing the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). For three decades he has authored and edited reports of the Surgeon General related to smoking and health, including serving as Senior Scientific Editor for the 50th Anniversary report in 2014. 

A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Samet has been the recipient of many honors. In 2004, he received the Prince Mahidol Award for Global Health awarded by the King of Thailand, and the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 1990 and 2006.

Samet is the first national public health leader to lecture in Louisville through the Woodson Lectureship Endowment established through an anonymous gift in 2014. The school plans to bring in speakers annually as part of the Woodson Lecture series.

“Our ability to bring high profile speakers to our campus helps build the reputation of the school and speaks to the caliber of our programs,” said Craig Blakely, PhD, MPH, dean of the UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences.

The public is welcome to attend Samet’s lecture, but must reserve a seat via email or by calling 502-852-6655.