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Take it backHindu Prayer Shouted Down in US Senate
Chaplains from various faiths and religions are sometimes invited to provide the opening prayer for the US Senate. While traditionally this has been done by a Christian Chaplain, this Thursday was unique in that it was the first time a Hindu Chaplain was invited to say the opening prayer in front of the US Senate. Unfortunately, this was marked by protests by some religious Christian folks who shouted down the prayer and kept interrupting it periodically. A video of the incident can also be viewed.
And as a side note, it is interesting how the right seems to want more religion, but only if it were their own. It is rather unfortunate that for a religion that is supposed to teach tolerance, its most fervent followers seem to be showing very little of it.
AM I A HINDU? Said,
July 13, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Namasthe: They are protesting out of fear, fear that many will be interested in a CULTURE/RELIGION like Hinduism; fear that people will try to educate themselves about other religions and cultures.
They shouted…. “There’s only one true God!” Very true.
Hindu scriptures state, “There is ONE & ONLY God and that God expresses itself in trillions of forms.
NOBODY HAS MONOPOLY ON TRUTH OR GOD. God and truth are universal. There is no such thing as a Christian God and a Hindu God or a Jewish God.
That is the reason why Hindus have no problem worshiping that God as Krishna, or Jesus or Allah or Jehovah…
A person should be able to read and enjoy the immortal teachings of Jesus Christ along with Bhagavad Gita, Koran as well as all other great religious scriptures in the world. That is the only way, we can have peace on this planet.
Mark P Neyer Said,
July 17, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
I don’t think the right has ever prided itself on ‘tolerance’ – that’s been more of a liberal ideal.
kk iyer Said,
July 18, 2007 @ 6:22 am
It was more like a sermon than a hindu talk.It proved not only islamic followers are intolerant..even christians..Intolerance is rampant and it is more in western nations than in east.
metlin Said,
July 20, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
It was not supposed to be a talk – it was the opening prayer.
While large sections of society are indeed intolerant, I doubt if I’d go as far as saying that the West is more intolerant than the East.
For instance, even in Tamil Nadu, non-Tamil speakers are taken advantage of and put down. South Indians have trouble accepting successful North Indians in their midst and vice-versa. Can you see Indians accepting people from various nationalities in their country and living amongst them, successfully at that?
No, no matter which way you look at it, East has a lot farther to go in terms of tolerance and civilization. While both sides have a lot to learn from each other, the day when India and China open up their immigration to poorer countries the way US and UK have will be the day that I will believe the two to be equal.
The East preaches a lot, and that’s about it.