The Intolerable Right

Oh kay, this is the type of thing that really gets under my skin.

This morning, a Hindu clergyman was to lead the Senate in their prayer. The Hindu, Rajan Zed, began to lead the prayer when a man got up inside the gallery and shouted. He yelled that allowing a Hindu to lead the prayer was an "abomination" and that there was only one true God.

He was arrested.

Zed began again, when, yet again, another interruption- this one in the form of two feminine voices, declaring the same Christian values of complete intolerance and the inability to accept something that is not their own. The Hindu clergyman seemed a bit taken aback, but did not get overwhelmed by the situation, and let the right people handle it.

They, too, were arrested.

This show of intolerance is an illustration of something that happens everyday. The people on the Christian right can not deal with diversity. The Hindu clergyman came, not only out of the kindness of his heart, but as a picture. The picture of the American People- the diversity we hold, and the acceptance that many of us have. The fact is that the Senate is, overwhelmingly, a place for Christians to run the country. But the fact is that having that Hindu come to say their prayer would show something great- these Christians would accept a Hindu's lead in prayer.

I don't really understand why we must have a prayer to open the Senate at all. But, if we must, what better than to have people of many different religions saying it? We have a huge fight in this country about whether the words "under God" should be in the Pledge of Allegiance. Shouldn't this be a bit of a bigger priority? Most religions have a God, or Gods, or a higher power, or something of that nature. But, ever since the Senate has opened, the opening prayer has long been monopolized by Christians. I think, to show the diversity of this great nation, we should have many people from various religions and various places in America to open the Senate.

But, as I said, this shows a much bigger problem in America than just who says the opening prayer in the Senate.

This shows the unwillingness of the religious right to accept something that is different from them. For a great example, look no further than the other House in Congress, the House of Representatives, where the first ever Muslim, Keith Ellison, is now serving his first term. One of his fellow Congressmen said something against Ellison's election, saying that the Muslims will soon take over. Come on!

I am so sick and tired of hearing about the right's attempts to demean other religions. But it happens. A lot. This is just a part of the ongoing assault against every religion that does not believe in the "Holy Trinity".

If we don't do something about this, it won't be the Muslims we will have to worry about. It will be the tyranny of the right, and the creation of a nonsecular state where, instead of the Constitution shaping our government, the Bible will.