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Hindu shouted down while offering opening prayer for Senate session

A Hindu chaplain from Nevada was shouted down before and during his prayer to open up the U.S. Senate this morning.



History was made in the Senate today. "Let us pray. We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the heaven."

Those were the words of a chaplain with the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, Rajan Zed, who delivered the first Hindu prayer ever on the floor of the U.S. Senate. However, that prayer did not go off without a hitch. As Zed was approaching the podium to speak, a man in the gallery interrupted the ceremony and had to be escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant-at-arms.

When the Hindu chaplain finally began to speak, there was yet another interruption, this time from two women in the gallery. Both interruptions, which included references to scriptures found in the Bible, were eventually silenced.

Zed, who was noticeably shaken by the loud shouts from the gallery, then proceeded to give his prayer, which included a pantheistic view of God.

Former Navy chaplain labels Hindu Senate prayer 'idolatry'

A former Navy chaplain says he was in the Senate gallery this morning when two Christians were escorted out of the chamber for disrupting the opening prayer given by a Hindu chaplain.



Gordon James Klingenschmitt says when he heard that the Hindu man, who is affiliated with the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, was invited to give the opening prayer for July 12, he went to the U.S. Senate in hopes of gaining equal access. On Tuesday, he went to the office of Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) office seeking permission to offer a Christian prayer in the Senate at some future date. Not being from Nevada, Klingenschmitt was turned away and directed to the office of one of his senators -- Hillary Clinton (D-New York) -- whose staff also reportedly declined his request.

The former chaplain says he then attempted to get an audience with Senate Chaplain Barry Black. "I went to Chaplain Black's office, and they must have known I was coming because they had already informed security not to let me in," he says. "And so they wouldn't give me an appointment with Chaplain Black. They said his personal calendar is booked until 2009."

Klingenschmitt was in the Senate gallery earlier today to witness the prayer being given by the Hindu chaplain -- a prayer that was interrupted twice by individuals in the gallery. "About 50 feet away from me there were these other Christian people [who] stood up like everybody else ... and they began to pray also," he recalls. "But [they] prayed Christian prayers, and they prayed out load -- and they prayed in Jesus' name. They said 'God have mercy on our nation. God have mercy on America.'""

He explains what he then witnessed in the Senate chamber. "Would you believe that the security office immediately escorted them out and hauled them off to jail because they prayed in Jesus' name, out loud, when this other man was praying a Hindu prayer out loud?" he shares. "He was praying a prayer of idolatry, violating the First Commandment [which says] 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me," he continues. "In contrast, these Christian people, they stood up and they just prayed in Jesus' name."

Klingenschmitt says the Hindu chaplain finished his prayer after the two were escorted from the gallery. He offers this assessment: "[A]pparently one kind of prayer is permitted and even honored on the floor of the Senate; the other kind of prayer is seen as disruptive."

Pro-Israel ministry outraged over Hindu prayer in Senate

Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries says she's absolutely outraged that Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed was pegged to deliver the opening prayer of the U.S. Senate this morning. The director of the pro-Israel ministry is concerned about the consequences of allowing someone to open the day's business in the Senate by referencing Hindu scriptures and praying to over 300 million gods.



Markell, who heads up the Minnesota-based ministry, believes leaders in Washington are "out of touch" with reality. "They are caving to multi-culturalism and diversity rather than honoring the God who founded this nation," she asserts. "[We are] one nation under God -- not one nation under 300 million gods, small g."

Markell says this reminds her of what happened in the Old Testament when the people of Israel turned to other gods. "When Israel went straying and worshiping other gods, very, very serious consequences came down upon her," the ministry leader points out.

"I think that America is at a turning point," Markell continues. "The head of Homeland Security himself, [Michael] Chertoff, said he's very concerned about some sort of a major strike here this summer in America. And so instead of turning to the God who defends and protects America, just like Israel we go chasing off after other gods who cannot protect us."

Markell says America needs to learn from Israel and the Bible -- and America's leaders need to pray to the one, true God.