Congressional Chanting

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from cnsnews.com June 26, 2007, with a headline:“Hindu prayer will open Senate session.”The following are excerpts:“For what is believed to be the first time in its history the U.S. Senate will be opened with a Hindu prayer, the Senate chaplain’s office confirmed on Monday.”Ruzon Zed, a Hindu chaplain from Nevada will become the first Hindu to deliver the morning prayer.In a statement announcing his scheduled appearance, Zed called the occasion “an illustrious day for all Americans and a memorable day for us.”Zed had previously offered prayers to open sessions of a NevadaState assembly and Nevada State Senate.According to reports he was the first Hindu to deliver opening prayers in any state legislature in the U. S.“I believe that despite our philosophical differences we should work together for the common objectives of human improvement, love and respect for others,” Zed said in an e-mail to cybercast news service.Zed, a U.S. citizen originally from India said he has not finalized the prayer but that it will likely quote Hindu scriptures including the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.He said he plans to start and end the prayers with “OM”, the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.Zed is not the first religious figure outside the Judeo Christian tradition to offer the daily prayer.In 1992, Wallace Muhammad became the first Muslim leader to deliver the invocation.

Tom:

Dave, many people may think, Well, this is wonderful.Look how diverse we are here, and pluralistic, and so on.But for a Christian there are some problems praying along with this Hindu chaplain.For example, just what we said in the last segment, what Hinduism is all about hopefully many understand that, grasp that.So, we have this leader now praying before the U.S. Senate, praying “OM”, which is, again, according to their view, the universal vibration.Now, the reason “OM” is prayed, or people are to repeat that, to say that out loud, is because they are to become part of the universal vibration.What does that say to a Christian?Can a Christian go along with that?

Dave:

Tom, it’s blasphemy.Look, here’s the problem, we couldn’t object if you have a Hindu chaplain in the army or navy or whatever, for Hindu sailors or marines, or whatever, or if you have a Hindu chaplain in the prison system who has services for the Hindus.Well, we have freedom of religion, so we couldn’t complain about that, but now to bring this to the Senate, the United States?There is probably not a Hindu, I’m sure there wouldn’t be a Hindu who is a member of the Senate of the United States.Now what does this say—

Tom:
Maybe some New Agers, Dave.

Dave:

A lot of which are really basic Hinduism.What does this say?Well, it’s just as good as praying to the God of the Bible—I mean, after all it doesn’t matter.You know what they say, Tom, one God called by many names, with many faces.

Tom:
Dave, who is this chaplain praying to, or what is he praying to?

Dave:

Well, he’snot really praying, he’s chanting OMmmmm, and then he’s chanting whatever he is going to quote from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and so forth.So, he’s really chanting these things.There is no one to pray to, Tom, there’s no one to ask anything for.

Tom:

So, anybody in the Senate, or maybe this is also before Congress, can those there, who claim to be Christians, true Christians, can they go along with this?

Dave:

No, they should stand up and say, STOP, this is an abomination!It would be like, can you imagine, in Israel the days of Elijah.Well, I think that the prophets of Bael, they should have their opportunity to pray also.Tom, it’s part of the National Day of Prayer, is it not?They encourage everyone, let’s get everyone in the United States, pray to your god.Okay, we’re not incorporating you in our Christian prayers, but we want this to be a National Day of Prayer, we want everyone to pray, whatever your god is, pray to God.So, this is wide spread, and it’s infiltrating everyone, but Tom remember, last week we began with a commendation.There was a Congressional Declaration honoring Yogi Bhajan, and honoring what wonders, what good Hinduism has done, yoga has done, and so forth.Tom, I guess the next step, I suppose, they will have the members of Congress kind of bowing, and show respect to—

Tom:

Dave, you’re a few years older than I am, but somehow, some way your memory is much better than mine, but I’m thinking about the movie, Gandhi.You remember a scene in the movie, Gandhi, in which he is sitting in a car, I believe, I’m trying to reconstruct this, I know what he said, I know what the scene was, I don’t quite remember, but he was indignant.He said, I am Hindu, I am Buddhist, I am Muslim, I am Christian, and then he should have said, I am also loony.Why do I say that, is it disrespect?No, if you claim to hold two contradictory views at the same time, it’s like saying, I believe in God, I don’t believe in God.Well, which is it?In other words, this is an absolute contradiction, and to state that his religion, or his religious views can reconcile religions that are antithetical to one another, contradictory to one another.Dave, that’s where we are today.

Dave:

I’m afraid words don’t mean anything anymore, you just feel good about it and try to be kind to everyone, go along with everyone.