Geeez…talk about playing to stereotypes
Three people were arrested Thursday after staging a noisy protest as a Hindu chaplain read the opening prayer at the US Senate, branding his appearance an “abomination.”
US Capitol Police said the protestors, apparently Christian religious activists, were ejected from the chamber and charged with an unlawful disruption of Congress.
I received a ridiculous email from the American Family Association on Tuesday about this prayer, saying that while it wasn’t unconstitutional it still wasn’t a good thing.
Give. Me. A. Break.
Here is part of the email, quoting David Barton, whose previous work on separation of church and state I have actually enjoyed through the years:
Barton says given the fact that Hindus are a tiny constituency of the American public, he questions the motivation of Senate leaders. “This is not a religion that has produced great things in the world,” he observes. “You look at India, you look at Nepal — there’s persecution going in both of those countries that is gendered by the religious belief that is present there, and Hindu dominates in both of those countries.”
And while Barton acknowledges there is not constitutional problem with a Hindu prayer in the Senate, he wonders about the political side of it. “One definitely wonders about the pragmatic side of it,” he says. “What is the message, and why is the message needed? And will it actually communicate anything other than engender with folks like me a lot of questions?”
David: I’m not 100% positive, but I think that maybe, just maybe, we could have let the moment communicate the tolerance of Christianity.
Their are tens of thousands of Hindus in America. If we (Christians) like having manger scenes at City Hall the least we can do is show a little tolerance and let a Hindu representative pray in the halls of Congress for the first time ever.
On top of it, if you honestly want to talk about being pragmatic, what kind of image does this give the Christian conservatives? An extremely poor one.
The pressure group Americans United for Separation of Church and State condemned the protest.
“This shows the intolerance of many Religious Right activists,” said the group’s executive director, Reverend Barry Lynn.
“They say they want more religion in the public square, but it’s clear they mean only their religion.”
It almost makes me think that the bozos in the Senate gallery were actually AU plants…almost, but not quite.
And yeah, the three people removed were bozos and aren’t representative of Christianity at large. I know. But when organizations like the AFA start emailing folks as if stopping a Hindu prayer should even be on the political radar….geez….talk about playing to stereotypes.
amen. much-needed post.
those “christians” make me sick. they sound like they might go to church with scott ott. they have certainly been indoctrinated in a similarly intolerant fundamentalist sect.
This isn’t the first time the AFA has gone to the extreme on issues. Sometimes I wonder if they are trying to push their cause or gain visitors/members. I think they are selling out by exaggerating issues they shouldn’t be reporting about to gain popularity.
Matt,
I’ve felt the same way getting their emails. Some issues are very important, while others…not so much.
Doug, were these the same people that initially accused WalMart of donating to a gay group which was later discovered to simply be have “merchant” account that gets a small percentage of sales if directed from their website?
Yes! Haha.