13 Jul 2007
Protesters disrupt Hindu's Senate prayer

Well, this is illustrative of exactly how Christianity views religious freedom: you're free to have any religion you want, as long as it's Christianity, or at least monotheistic:

WallBuilders president David Barton is questioning why the U.S. government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto "One Nation Under God."

The distortions here are nothing short of outrageous: Hindus claim to be monotheistic (of a sort, pantheism would probably be a better description) but more importantly, the US motto is "In God We Trust" - see this article for a complete discussion.

Then there's the who "disapproval of the Founding Fathers" thing: has this Barton character ever read his history? Thomas Jefferson wrote (in his Autobiography), in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom:

"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."

I think Old Tom was pretty clear here, no matter how you spell it.

Ed over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars has video and more reactions - and he also hit's the nail on the head regarding the ultimate goal of the Christian Right (and, I would argue, of any monotheistic faith):

It all goes back to the same thing that should be painfully obvious to everyone by now: it doesn't have a damn thing to do with religious freedom. Their goal is an exclusively Christian country where only Christianity gets recognized and endorsed by the government.

Three protesters disrupted a prayer by a Hindu chaplain Thursday at the opening of a Senate hearing, calling it an abomination and shouting slogans about Jesus Christ.

(link) [CNN.com]

06:56 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link