"Christian" right insult Hindus in US Senate

Three right-wing "Christian" activists disrupted a prayer given by a Hindu in the U.S. Senate.

Watch the heckling and insulting of a Hindu as he prays in the US Senate

They seem to believe that we live under a Christian theocracy, and that the U.S. Senate is some kind of a Christian temple. They actually made the trip from North Carolina to disrupt this ceremony.

Some of the insulting comments that they made:

Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," the first protester began. "This is an abomination," he continued. "We shall have no other gods before You." "No Lord but Jesus Christ!" and "There's only one true God!"

And this is what their organization wrote in a press release:

I stressed interesting parts in bold.

Theology Moved to the Senate and was Arrested Theology has moved from the church house onto the floor of the United States Senate, and has been arrested. 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

Press Release

Ofcourse it's a fanatic minority! These Christian fundelmentalist groups have become more of a problem recently though.  Demanding that certain groups of people aren't deserving of rights because their holy book says so, protesting funerals, stopping childrens books from going into the school libraries catalogues, preventing sciences from being taught and substituting their own, and now this. Seems they don't understand that most of the society has other groups in it besides Christians, alittle difficult for them to grasp.

A couple of observations...

The video weighs heavily on my heart for several reasons.

First, I am concerned for the Hindu "chaplain" who entered the Capitol believing that he would be given the dignity to which all human beings are entitled when they conduct themselves in a civilized manner behind a podium. It was not the place of these inconsiderate, misguided Christians to disrupt this poor man. It almost brought tears to my eyes; here was an individual who probably spent a great deal of time preparing a statement that would be inoffensive to almost everyone in attendance, who probably expended a great deal of energy steeling himself for the daunting task of speaking before the United States Senate, and who was treated contemptuously by those who, if they disagreed with him, should have remained silent and quietly prayed for both the speaker and the nation.

Second, however, I must explain the other source of the sorrow I felt when I watched this video. I am not so much sad that a Hindu--or, more to the point, a non-Christian--was granted the honor of offering a prayer before the United States Senate; rather I am sad that we live in an era of such syncretism that the difference between Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and other religions/faith groups can be easily glossed over. I deeply regret the fact that we, as a society, no longer feel the need to "take sides" in the inter-religious/ inter-denominational debate because we no longer see that there are sides.

So, as I see it, while this event was a despicable example of intolerance on the part of those who disrupted the prayer, the reaction to the disturbance is an example of the irrational form of ridiculous relativism that masquerades as tolerance today. Either way you cut it, everyone should be appalled.

One final thought: Can all of you honestly say that you would be equally outraged if the most rabid, reprehensibly intolerant, uncharitable "Christian" fundamentalist were interrupted, in an official setting, by insults from protestors?

-Akolouthos


Edited by Akolouthos - 13-Jul-2007 at 16:20

Originally posted by King John Akolouthos, I can honestly say I would be just as appalled if the roles were reversed. Everybody deserves a right to express they're views no matter how much we disagree with them. The "Christians" here did their cause great damage by showing their intolerance. They protested, which is with in their rights, however the manner in which they went about their protest was poorly chosen.

I completely agree with you. Those who interrupted the poor speaker should be ashamed of themselves.

I feel the need to qualify my initial question, as it could undoubtedly be interpreted in a manner more harsh than I had intended it. I asked what I asked to illustrate that the two situations would be analogous, rather than to accuse anyone of being hypocritical. Anyway, I'm glad you took it as I had intended it. Thank you for your reasoned response.

I also don't understand why people protest something with out hearing or seeing it first. How can one form an informed opinion with out seeing or hearing the material in question; here a prayer given by a Hindu Chaplain?

Well, I do think that they understood what they were protesting--though their understanding by no means justifies their actions. They were protesting the fact that a non-Christian was allowed to pray in the Senate; what he would say, to them, was an afterthought. Prejudiced? Yes, but with an understanding of what they were prejudging.

-Akolouthos

Edited by Akolouthos - 13-Jul-2007 at 18:59

I'm still awaiting the days of fanatical rationality, when all the irrational religious fools on earth are sent to the afterlife they value so much. Science wills it in the name of source criticism and empirical reasoning!