"Christian activists briefly disrupted a Hindu invocation in the US Senate on
Thursday, marring a historic first for the chamber and showing that
fundamentalism is present and shouting in the US too.
Invited by the Senate to offer Hindu prayers in place of the usual Christian invocation, Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest from Reno, Nevada, had just stepped up to the podium for the landmark occasion when three protesters, said to belong to the Christian Right anti-abortion group
Operation Save America, interrupted by loudly asking for God's forgiveness for
allowing the ''false prayer'' of a Hindu in the Senate chamber.
'Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination
in your sight,' the first protester shouted. 'This is an abomination. We shall
have no other gods before you.'
Democratic Senator Bob Casey, who was serving as the presiding officer for the morning, immediately asked the sergeant-at-arms to restore order. But they continued to protest as they were headed out the door by the marshals, shouting, 'No Lord but Jesus Christ!' and
'There's only one true God!'"
While this is far from being a representative of how all Christians believe and behave it is a big black eye for their faith and for America as a whole. This little stunt of their to belittle an honest man who is following his faith is in some ways as dangerous as the abuses at Abu Grab. When we as a nation ask for followers of Islam to be open and tolerant of other faiths and behave in this manner, it sends a mixed message. They are left wondering if the tolerance that we are preaching is just tolerance for them to convert to the Christian faith, and not tolerance of other faiths.
I hope that most people know that this is not America, but there are those that will use this as a tool of propaganda, just like Abu Grab, to say that America is anti-Islamic.
No comments:
Post a Comment