I recently read a blog entry that dealt with the idea that Westerners following Hinduism could be a form of cultural appropriation. I had not intended to write on this, as the post covered the issue well. The post concluded that taking things out of context and using them as an adornment to another culture is cultural appropriation. The Rastafarian dreadlocks and colours in the picture are an example of cultural appropriation, as is the Disneyfication of Mulan .
Respectful study and following of elements of another culture is not. I fully agree with this conclusion and I thought that there was not much more to be said on the matter.
(Mulan Images from Wikipedia, film still under fair use.)
Then I read a Hindu Press International article about a stone in Hawaii that was worshipped by Hindus being taken away. This stone the Healing Stone of Wahiawa was sacred to the Hawaiian natives, but worshipped by a Hindu group.