About a month ago, for the first time in the history of the U.S. Senate, a Hindu clergyman was invited to deliver an invocation as a guest chaplain. Regrettably, three Christian fundamentalists disrupted the proceedings by heckling the morning prayer. It was an embarrasing spectacle that made the United States look awful on the international stage, as news of the disruption made its way around the world.
Worse, the kind of brain-dead bigotry that dominates much of the religious right is also found among some members of Congress. Take, for example, Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho), who told a right-wing “news” outlet this week that Congress should have prohibited a Hindu prayer, and that the Founding Fathers would not have wanted a duly-elected Muslim lawmaker from joining Congress.
“We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes — and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers,” asserts Sali.
Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through “the protective hand of God.”
“You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike,” says the Idaho Republican.
According to Congressman Sali, the only way the U.S. can continue to survive is under that protective hand of God. He states when a Hindu prayer is offered, “that’s a different god” and that it “creates problems for the longevity of this country.”
I’m not an expert, but I think the clinical name to describe Sali’s condition is “stark raving mad.”
I’m trying to wrap my head around the notion that an actual member of Congress could be this spectacularly stupid. A man who is helping write the laws of the nation is about as sophisticated in matters of constitutional law and religious liberty as a deranged person shouting at pigeons on a street corner.
The Founding Fathers would want to prohibit a Muslim from joining Congress? Perhaps Sali has forgotten that the Constitution strictly prohibits a religious test for public office. There is no asterisk for Islam.
The Constitution was inspired by scripture? Name one example, because the Constitution’s text is entirely secular — without a single reference to the Bible, God, Christianity, Jesus, or the Ten Commandments.
Religious diversity “creates problems for the longevity of this country”? How, exactly?
If these incoherent rantings were broadcast on the Christian Broadcasting Network, it would be just another day on The 700 Club. But Sali is, alas, a member of Congress. Will any of his Republican colleagues have the courage and the character to denounce his lunacy?
It’s unlikely. As mcjoan noted, “[T]his is the guy the GOP freshman picked to be their class president.”
Note to all of my friends on the other side of the aisle: when I talk about how your party has been radicalized to the point of tragedy, this is what I’m talking about.