[NYTr] Christian Group Takes Cheap Shot, Disrupting Hindu Prayer in Congress

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Freedom From Religion Foundation 
http://www.ffrf.org

Those interested in hearing an audio of the disruption of the
first-ever Hindu prayer in Congress, and FFRF's analysis of the problem
with Congressional prayers, can listen to the first segment of
Freethought Radio on July 21) here:
http://ffrf.org/radio/podcast/archives/2007.php#brianflemming


Wisconsin State Journal - Jul 20, 2007
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/wineke/index.php?ntid=202183

Christian group takes cheap shot

By Bill Wineke

The U.S. Senate has, for the first time, invited a Hindu to deliver its
opening prayer.

Rajan Zed, director of public affairs and interfaith relations for the
Hindu Temple of Northern Nevada, delivered the prayer on July 12.

Clergy have been delivering prayers to open the Senate and its
predecessor body sessions since the first Continental Congress met in
1774 and Anglican clergyman the Rev. Jacob Duche read Psalm 35.
However, no Hindu, it is believed, has ever had the honor.

So you might think it to be a good thing that a member of the world's
third-largest religion would be honored by our Senate. After all, we're
trying to convince the world we are a tolerant society that welcomes
people of all faiths.

If you thought that, you would be wrong.

Just ask Coral Ridge Ministries, the outreach arm of the Rev. D. James
Kennedy and his Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

"The prayer offered by Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed was directed not to the
God of the Bible but to what Zed called the 'Deity Supreme, who is
inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside
the soul of Heaven.'" said Jerry Newcombe, senior producer at Coral
Ridge Ministries.

Christians don't pray to that kind of God, Newcombe noted. Christians
pray to a God who offers Heaven as a "consequence, to all who believe,
of what Jesus Christ has done."

Besides, Newcomb added, Hindus in India persecute Christians and Dalits
(untouchables).

All this is enough to make one want to join the Freedom From Religion
Foundation.

A week ago, many of us were grumbling that the Roman Catholic Church
questions the validity of Protestant Christian churches. Now we see one
of the nation's most powerful Christian broadcasters suggesting that
non-Christians need not apply when it comes to praying in public places.

Because he's not a Christian, that's why.

Why a spokesman for a supposedly Christian organization would want to
use a simple civic prayer (no one would ever call the Senate a
religious body) as a means of denigrating an entire religion and
suggesting its practitioners have no right to display their faith
before the Senate is just beyond me.

Whatever problems Hinduism may have in India — and Hinduism has its
nut-cases just as Christianity has its own — we are not in India. We
are in the United States. Here, we ask only that people live out the
best of their faith. We do not judge Hindus or Buddhists or Christians
in America by what their counterparts might do in other countries.
There was a time when we didn't judge American Muslims by Muslims in
other lands, but we increasingly seem to be willing to forget our
principles when it comes to Islam.

The criticisms of Hinduism get a little bizarre. Newcombe snorted that
Hinduism has a multitude of Gods, while Christianity has but one: "God
in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit." A non-Christian might
count that as three, not one. But we do like to feel superior.

At any rate, what we need is more religious understanding, not less.
Coral Ridge Ministries might do well to rejoice when any believer is
welcomed to pray before our public bodies. Instead, it takes a cheap
shot at a Hindu.