Hawaii Democrat poised to be elected first Hindu in Congress
Omar Sacirbey ("The Washington Post," November 1, 2012)
Hindu Americans have run America’s major companies and universities, won
Nobel prizes and Olympic gold medals, directed blockbuster movies, and even
flown into space. But one profession has so far been out of reach: Member of
Congress.
That may change next week in Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, where
Democrat Tulsi Gabbard is poised to win an out-of-nowhere bid over Republican
opponent Kawika Crowley. Gabbard was leading Crowley 70 percent to 18
percent, according to an Oct. 12 poll by the Honolulu Civil Beat.
The heavily Democratic district also elected one of two Buddhists to have
ever served in Congress, Mazie Hirono, who won her seat in 2006 but is now
running for the U.S. Senate.
Gabbard, 31, was born in American Samoa to a Catholic father and a Hindu
mother, and moved to Hawaii when she was 2. In 2002, at age 21, she was
elected to the Hawaii state legislature.
The next year, she joined the Hawaii National Guard, and in 2004 was
deployed to Baghdad as a medical operations specialist. After completing
officers’
training she deployed to Kuwait in 2008 to train the country’s
counter-terrorism units.
Not everyone would welcome a Hindu into Congress. When self-proclaimed “
Hindu statesman” Rajan Zed was asked to open the Senate with a prayer in 2007,
the American Family Association called the prayer “gross idolatry” and
urged members to protest; three protesters from the fundamentalist group
Operation Save America interrupted the prayer with shouts from the gallery.
Then-Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, said the prayer and Congress’ first Muslim
member “are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers.” Former
presidential candidate Rick Santorum told supporters this summer that equality
was a uniquely Judeo-Christian concept that “doesn’t come from the East and
Eastern religions.” Crowley, in an interview with CNN.com, said Gabbard’s
faith was incompatible with the Constitution.
Gabbard and her fellow Hindus obviously disagree.
“It is stunning that some people in Congress would so arrogantly thumb
their nose at the Bill of Rights,” Gabbard said in an email. “When I
volunteered to put my life on the line in defense of our country, no one asked
me
what my religion was.”
Had America’s Founding Fathers “wanted to found a Christian nation, they
would have said as much, but instead they founded it on the principle of
religious freedom,” said Mihir Meghani, a co-founder of the Washington-based
Hindu American Foundation.
Gabbard, whose first name refers to a tree sacred to Hindus, fully embraced
Hinduism as a teenager, and follows the Vaishnava branch that believes in
the Supreme Lord Vishnu, and his 10 primary incarnations. Her primary
scripture is the centuries-old Bhagavad Gita, whose themes include selfless
action, spirituality, war, and serving God and humanity.
“The Bhagavad Gita is often considered a guide as to how to make decisions
in difficult situations, when the decision is often not clear cut,” Meghani
said. “Hinduism’s innate pluralism recognizes that there are various ways
to look at things, and its focus on dharma, or duty, guides those holding
positions of power or authority.”
Among Gabbard’s favorite verses, she said:
— “That which pervades the entire body you should know to be
indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.” (2:17)
— “The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be
burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.”(2.23)
Her faith, Gabbard said, helped her through Iraq, where there were daily
reminders that she could be killed any time.
“First thing in the morning and the last thing at night, I meditated upon
the fact that my essence was spirit, not matter, that I was not my physical
body, and that I didn’t need to worry about death because I knew that I
would continue to exist and I knew that I would be going to God,” she said.
Gabbard said her faith would be an asset in Congress, where she hopes to
work on veterans’ affairs, environmental issues, and developing relations
with India, the world’s largest democracy and a growing economic and nuclear
power.
“It is clear that there needs to be a closer working relationship between
the United States and India. How can we have a close relationship if
decision-makers in Washington know very little, if anything, about the
religious
beliefs, values, and practices of India’s 800 million Hindus?” said
Gabbard.
“Hopefully the presence in Congress of an American who happens to be Hindu
will increase America’s understanding of India as well as India’s
understanding of America.”
The two highest-profile Indian-American politicians are both Republicans
and converts to Christianity: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was raised Hindu,
while South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was raised Sikh.
While Gabbard has welcomed Indian-American support, her campaign noted that
their contributions account for less than 3 percent of the total it has
raised.
Still, her potential election has electrified the Hindu American community,
which is estimated to be from 600,000 to 2.3 million, most of them
Indian-Americans. Vijay Pallod, who hosted a fundraiser for Gabbard in his
Houston home last Sunday (Oct. 28), is one of them
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