The U.S. House and Senate both open each day with an official prayer — which no one attends. Each chamber has an official chaplain, but guest religious leaders are frequently invited to deliver the invocation. At least 99% of the time, no one notices or cares.<\/p>\n
But there are exceptions. Back in September 2000, I took on a highly entertaining project while working at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Venkatachalapathi Samuldrala, a Hindu chaplain, was invited to be the very first Hindu in American history to lead a congressional chamber in prayer. AU opposes official congressional prayers, but nevertheless believes that if lawmakers are going to have one, they better be even-handed about it.<\/p>\n
The Family Research Council didn’t see it that way. The group flipped out, said Samuldrala’s prayer could lead to “moral relativism and ethical chaos,” and explained its belief that religious liberty “was never intended to exalt other religions to the level that Christianity holds in our country’s heritage.” In other words, as the FRC saw it, minority faiths are separate and unequal, First Amendment be damned.<\/p>\n
I had a blast mocking the FRC for this, calling reporters and making the far-right group look pretty silly for demanding more religion in the public square and then balking at a religious invocation on the House floor. Eventually, the FRC not only backpedaled<\/a>, it said the announcement condemning Samuldrala’s prayer was distributed by accident.<\/p>\n Seven years later, Christian fundamentalists have regressed. Yesterday, the Senate hosted its first Hindu chaplain in chamber history for the official invocation. It didn’t go well<\/a>.<\/p>\n Three people were arrested in the Senate visitor’s gallery Thursday for disrupting the chamber’s morning prayer, led for the first time by a Hindu clergyman.<\/p>\n As Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Nevada, began to lead the brief prayer, two women and one man shouted, “This is an abomination,” according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n Capitol Police Sergeant Kimberly Schneider tells CNN that the three were arrested in the Senate visitors’ gallery for “disruption of Congress.”<\/p>\n While their religion is not clear, one of the protesters told the Associated Press they were “Christians and patriots.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Christian, maybe. Patriots, definitely not. In this case, the three prayer critics were Ante and Katherine Pavkovic, and their daughter Kristen Sugar, all of whom apparently believe state-endorsed prayers are fine, just not Hindu prayers. It’s a view endorsed by a disturbing number of unhinged religious groups.<\/p>\n Operation Save America’s Flip Benham<\/a>:<\/p>\n “They thought they needed to go and represent the Lord who made this nation great,” Benham said. The event, he said, is emblematic of the modern tendency of “other religions being held on a par with Christianity. Of course, we have said that is not true, that indeed Christianity is one way.” […]<\/p>\n “When you stand up and are arrested, and the Hindu is allowed to go free, this country has gone upside-down,” Benham added — though when asked, he later clarified that he does not believe people of other religions should be arrested for their beliefs. “Now, why are Hindus allowed here? Why are Muslims allowed here? Because we are a nation that’s free, built upon the principles of almighty God.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n David Barton’s Wallbuilders<\/a>:<\/p>\n “In Hindu, you have not one God, but many, many, many, many, many gods,” [David Barton of WallBuilders] explains. “And certainly that was never in the minds of those who did the Constitution, did the Declaration [of Independence] when they talked about Creator — that’s not one that fits here because we don’t know which creator we’re talking about within the Hindu religion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\nAs a rule, it takes quite a bit of gall to heckle a religious leader during an invocation. If a non-believer mocked a Christian invocation in the Senate, one suspects it would be the lead story on Fox News every day until the end of time.<\/p>\n