I had blogged about some negative reaction to the Hindu prayer in an earlier post, but had opined that the voices of dissent were few and extremist. Sadly, I might have underestimated the power of prejudice.
This news report on the Raw Story reported that
Three people were arrested Thursday after staging a noisy protest as a Hindu chaplain read the opening prayer at the US Senate, branding his appearance an "abomination."
US Capitol Police said the protesters, apparently Christian religious activists, were ejected from the chamber and charged with an unlawful disruption of Congress.
As Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed started to recite his prayer, one protest or was heard chanting "Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer which is an abomination in your sight.
"You are the one, true living God."
Ugh. I especially like the last line. I can just imagine Hollywood's Old Bearded Man conception of God calling back down "Dude! Thanks for the reminder."
Occasionally, ISKCON devotees or Hindus opine that we ought to befriend the Religious Right, reasoning that -- like us -- they favor religion in the public square and a more faith-based approach to engaging with the world. Which is all well and good, except that there is a very ugly double standard at work that becomes glaringly obvious at times like this. The Raw Story post highlights this nicely:
The pressure group Americans United for Separation of Church and State condemned the protest. "This shows the intolerance of many Religious Right activists," said the group's executive director, Reverend Barry Lynn. "They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."
A press release from the Americans United for Separation of Church and State gives Lynn's whole statement, and also includes this juicy food for thought:
Religious Right groups have been agitating against the Hindu leader’s prayer since it was announced. The Rev. Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association has asked his members to complain to their senators about the invitation. The group’s news service reported that “Christian nation” activist David Barton said that Hinduism has few followers in the United States and that prayer to a “non-monotheistic god” is “outside the American paradigm.”More than a few problems with Barton's enlightened view. For starters, there are anywhere from 1 to 2 million Hindus in the United States -- and possible more if you include followers of Hindu-based gurus and spiritual movements who are reticent to self-identify as an organized religion in the Western sense of the term. In any event, "few followers" is not quite an appropriate term. Secondly, how Barton can decide that Hindus pray to a "non-monotheistic god" (lower case g alert! lower case g alert!) is beyond me -- there are certainly Hindu monotheists (the list includes, but is not limited to me, Ramanujacharya, about 70% of all Hindus in North and South India). And finally, I wonder what "American paradigm" founding father Thomas Jefferson's leanings towards Deism fall under? Hmmmm.
Jesus promised that the meek shall inherit the earth, but til then a few self-righteous morons who claim to be His PR department had this to say:
WASHINGTON, July 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- Ante Pavkovic, Kathy Pavkovic, and Kristen Sugar were all arrested in the chambers of the United States Senate as that chamber was violated by a false Hindu god. The Senate was opened with a Hindu prayer placing the false god of Hinduism on a level playing field with the One True God, Jesus Christ. This would never have been allowed by our Founding Fathers.
"Not one Senator had the backbone to stand as our Founding Fathers stood. They stood on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There were three in the audience with the courage to stand and proclaim, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' They were immediately removed from the chambers, arrested, and are in jail now. God bless those who stand for Jesus as we know that He stands for them." Rev. Flip Benham, Director, Operation Save America/Operation Rescue
Again with the Founding Fathers being super-Christians? Cheese and rice!
I'll try to keep posting about this if there are any developments, especially since I am attending the SAJA convention in NYC right now. Til then, maybe we all need to say some prayers about the state of our "religiously plural" nation tonight.
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