"Today," begins a disturbing article from Talking Points Memo, "was a historic first for religion in America's civic life: For the very first time, a Hindu delivered the morning invocation in the Senate chamber."
Indeed, a Hindu cleric named Rajan Zed, who hails from Reno, Nevada, stood up to deliver the morning prayer today. He was immediately interrupted by crazed, hysterical zealots, shouting, "Lord Jesus, forgive us, Father, for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight! This is an abomination! We shall have no other gods before you!" The presiding officer, Senator Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) "immediately ordered them taken away," according to TPM, "though they continued to yell at the Hindu cleric as they were headed out the door, shouting out phrases such as, 'No Lord but Jesus Christ!' and 'There's only one true God!'" Mr. Zed "was visibly nervous and uncomfortable as he then delivered the morning prayer," but "soon regained his footing and was able to make it through in a dignified fashion."
The three deranged "protesters" (Ante Pavkovic, Kathy Pavkovic, and Kristen Sugar) were members of Operation Save America -- a well-known group of criminally insane ideologues who take mythology literally and subscribe to an alternate, fictitious version of American history. In their bizarre little world, America was founded as a Christian theocracy. This is almost too insipid to take seriously, but when you consider some of the other nonsense they believe, you have to concede that they do believe what they claim to believe.
"The Senate was opened with a Hindu prayer placing the false god of Hinduism on a level playing field with the One True God, Jesus Christ," the release goes on to explain. Then there's a lengthy quote from the group's director, the ridiculous Reverend Flip Benham: "Not one Senator had the backbone to stand as our Founding Fathers stood. They stood on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There were three in the audience with the courage to stand and proclaim, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' They were immediately removed from the chambers, arrested, and are in jail now. God bless those who stand for Jesus as we know that He stands for them."
Before we go any further, let's laugh at them. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Now, I don't have to tell you that Reverend Flip and his cult are dead wrong, that the Founding Fathers made perfectly clear that they were instituting a carefully and deliberately secular system, that Thomas Jefferson removed from his personal Bible all references to Christ's supposed divinity, etc. Nor do I have to point out the obvious limits of religious tolerance among fundamentalists.
But what I do take away from this story is a larger and less popular point: That the Senate should not be starting its day with a formal prayer of any kind. Presidents shouldn't be sworn in on Bibles. Nobody should have to say "so help me God" in court, and the words "in God we trust" should not appear on our currency. Unlike many other governing bodies -- the Nazis, for example, or the Taliban -- the United States is supposed to be free from the bigotry and delusion inherent in all religious fundamentalism. Freedom of religion means that in your home or church, you're welcome to get down on your knees and imagine that you are communicating with an absurd mythological character. It's not bothering me; go right ahead. Some people are just eccentric. But when you step into a government building, a little dignity, please; a little less make-believe.
When these ill-informed simpletons scream about how there is no God but the one true God, who do they remind you of? Why, Islamic terrorists, of course. Substitute "Allah" for "Jesus," and their words are almost exactly the same. So are their beliefs: We are right, and everyone else is wrong; God will reward us and punish everyone else; our mythological text is sacred and infallible, and all others are abominable. This is the standard rhetoric of people who are full of shit.
A lot of people wrongly believe that "in God we trust" is the official motto of the United States. It's not. Our official motto is "e pluribus unum;" it means "out of many, comes one." Out of many religions, out of many races, out of many ideologies, out of many lifestyles, comes one -- America. We are pluralistic, tolerant, and inclusive. Except for the religious lunatics.
UPDATE: Talking Points Memo has posted video of the disturbance on YouTube:
Let me make this clear: I am an evangelical Christian. And I agree with quite a bit of what you say here.
Forced oaths, forced prayers should have NO PLACE in the system. If Mr. Pavkovic - with whom I've had some celebrated run-ins on the Net (look at my blog and you'll see what I mean) - were praying over the Senate, he'd find it rude, possibly even blasphemy, if some Hindu, Catholic, or Muslim interrupted his prayer.
I simply don't recall Jesus telling us to go waltzing into places and break the law in the process. But you see, Mr. Pavkovic is a KJV Only advocate - so perhaps that version says that somewhere, but I've never read it in either the original Greek or Hebrew.
People like Mr. Pavkovic give all Christians a bad name. But he's gotten the attention he wanted to fulfill his ego.
Too bad it is writing a check his lawyers won't be able to cash.
I completely agree with you. I am obviously being snarky about religion, but the true problem is just as you say -- not what anyone chooses to believe or how anyone chooses to live, but the attempt to theocratize our government. I like your blog. Thanks for your comment and keep up the good work.
