Hindu Prayer in Senate Disrupted By CHARLES BABINGTON Associated Press Writer
July 12,2007 | WASHINGTON -- A Hindu clergyman made history Thursday by offering the Senate's morning prayer, but only after police officers removed three shouting protesters from the visitors' gallery. Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., gave the brief prayer that opens each day's Senate session. As he stood at the chamber's podium in a bright orange and burgundy robe, two women and a man began shouting "this is an abomination" and other complaints from the gallery. Police officers quickly arrested them and charged them disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor. The male protester told an AP reporter, "we are Christians and patriots" before police handcuffed them and led them away. For several days, the Mississippi-based American Family Association has urged its members to object to the prayer because Zed would be "seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god." Zed, the first Hindu to offer the Senate prayer, began: "We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds." As the Senate prepared for another day of debate over the Iraq war, Zed closed with, "Peace, peace, peace be unto all." Zed, who was born in India, was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Speaking in the chamber shortly after the prayer, Reid defended the choice and linked it to the war debate. "If people have any misunderstanding about Indians and Hindus," Reid said, "all they have to do is think of Gandhi," a man "who gave his life for peace." "I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace," said Reid, a Mormon and sharp critic of President Bush's Iraq policies. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the protest "shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion." Capitol police identified the protesters as Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar. Their ages and hometowns were not available. --- In [email protected], "do.rflex" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Bush's religious right friends say Hinduism is not the kind of > religion the Founding Fathers had in mind for America > > The group publishing this slur on Hindus is none other than the > American Family Association, one of the biggest religious right groups > and a big supporter of the Republicans. The AFA is made up of equal > opportunity bigots: they slur gays, Catholics, Hindus and just about > everyone else who isn't a conservative Christian fundamentalist. Their > vision of America is a country made up of Southern Baptists, or at > least a nation in which everyone has to live under laws that conform > to Southern Baptist preachings. > > > From the American Family Association: Hindu to open Senate with prayer > > Send an email to your senator now, expressing your disappointment in > the Senate decision to invite a Hindu to open the session with prayer. > > On Thursday, a Hindu chaplain from Reno, Nevada, by the name of Rajan > Zed is scheduled to deliver the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate. Zed > tells the Las Vegas Sun that in his prayer he will likely include > references to ancient Hindu scriptures, including Rig Veda, > Upanishards, and Bhagavard-Gita. Historians believe it will be the > first Hindu prayer ever read at the Senate since it was formed in 1789. > > WallBuilders president David Barton is questioning why the U.S. > government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton > points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be > completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the > American motto "One Nation Under God." > > TAKE ACTION Call your Senators at 202-224-3121 > > "In Hindu, you have not one God, but many, many, many, many, many > gods," the Christian historian explains. "And certainly that was never > in the minds of those who did the Constitution, did the Declaration > [of Independence] when they talked about Creator -- that's not one > that fits here because we don't know which creator we're talking about > within the Hindu religion." > > TAKE ACTION Click here to send your E-mail today! > > Barton says given the fact that Hindus are a tiny constituency of the > American public, he questions the motivation of Senate leaders. "This > is not a religion that has produced great things in the world," he > observes. "You look at India, you look at Nepal -- there's persecution > going in both of those countries that is gendered by the religious > belief that is present there, and Hindu dominates in both of those > countries." > > And while Barton acknowledges there is not a constitutional problem > with a Hindu prayer in the Senate, he wonders about the political side > of it. "One definitely wonders about the pragmatic side of it," he > says. "What is the message, and why is the message needed? And will it > actually communicate anything other than engender with folks like me a > lot of questions?" > > Barton says he knows of at least seven cases where Christians have > lost their bid to express their own faith in a public prayer. > > Zed is reportedly the first Hindu to deliver opening prayers in an > American state legislature, having done so in both the Nevada State > Assembly and Nevada State Senate earlier this year. He has stated that > Thursday's prayer will be "universal in approach," despite being drawn > from Hindu religious texts. > > http://www.afa.net/Petitions/issuedetail.asp?id=257 >
