My uncle is on the committee.

14 November 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:

Oriana. But don’t you think there is a great deal of Merit in dedicating a beautiful Face and Person to the Service of Religion? Bisarre. Not half so much as devoting ’em to a pretty Fellow: If our Feminality had no Business in this World, why was it sent hither?

In East Asia, the cult of Amitābha eventually became so widespread that it transcended sectarian distinction, and Amitābha became the most popular buddha in the region. In Tibet, Amitābha worship dates to the early propagation of Buddhism in that country in the eighth century, although it never became as prevalent as in East Asia.