Representative Sherrod Brown of Ohio invited Samuldrala to offer the opening prayer on September 14, 2000, to coincide with an address to a joint session of Congress by the Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
I requested the House Chaplain and Speaker to invite Mr. Samuldrala to give today's prayer as a testimony to the religious diversity that is the hallmark of our great nation.
I want to thank Mr. Samuldrala for his thoughtful prayer that reminds us that, while we may differ in culture and traditions, we are all alike in the most basic aspiration of peace and righteousness.
[1] On September 21, 2000 the Family Research Council (FRC) published a response to the prayer on their website and in mailings of their weekly newsletter.
", Robert Regier and Timothy Dailey said: A Hindu priest was recently invited to give the opening invocation in the House of Representatives.
What's wrong is that it is one more indication that our nation is drifting from its Judeo-Christian roots...Alas, in our day, when 'tolerance' and 'diversity' have replaced the 10 Commandments as the only remaining absolute dictums, it has become necessary to 'celebrate' non-Christian religions – even in the halls of Congress...Our founders expected that Christianity – and no other religion – would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate people's consciences and their right to worship.
[2] Brown personally responded to the FRC statement, saying "I'm disappointed the Family Research Council doesn't understand what this country is all about.
[7] Chuck Donovan, the Executive Vice President of the FRC, issued a press release on September 22, 2000, which said, "It is the position of the Family Research Council that governments must respect freedom of conscience for all people in religious matters ... We affirm the truth of Christianity, but it is not our position that American's [sic] Constitution forbids representatives of religions other than Christianity from praying before Congress."
[9] Lamer warned Christians that they should "Get ready for Mormons, Muslims, New Age shamans, and, with the rise of Wicca, even Wiccans leading congressmen in prayer on the floor of the House."
"[10] Neuhaus noted that "Skillen thinks the chaplaincy program in the military, government support for faith-based social services, and parental choice in education are indicative of the ways to go in a pluralistic society."
He agreed with Skillen and maintained that: Mr. Lamer is wrong, I think, to claim that bowing one's head in respect means that one is joining in a prayer to Hindu gods.
Lamer's editorial is a 'distant early warning' signal of the sort we hear and read ever more frequently: not all evangelicals – the camp that has agitated most for school prayer, football-game invocations, and legislative chaplains – are pleased with the bargain they'll be getting in a richly pluralist America....Lamer may do a disservice to civil religion, chaplains, tolerance, amity, and public-prayer advocates.
The authors of "The Raden Report" maintained that recent statements of the Roman Catholic Church downplayed Christianity's traditional claim that belief in Jesus is necessary to achieve an afterlife of eternal bliss.
They sought to point out to Lamer and like-minded readers that: F.Y.I... Roman Catholic priest Daniel Coughlin is the official chaplain for the US House of Representatives, a position funded annually by tax payers to the tune of $138,000.00.
And if that heresy isn't clear enough, earlier this month the Pope restated his position, saying that among the saved are 'All who seek God with a sincere heart, including those who do not know Christ and his church.
'[11] In 2007, after it was announced that Hindu cleric Rajan Zed would be the first to offer a Hindu prayer to the United States Senate, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) recalled the controversy over Samuldrala and called on the Family Research Council (FRC) to live up to its statement of 2000, saying: Now the FRC gets a chance to really make amends.
We challenge the group to issue a public statement affirming religious diversity in America and welcoming Hindus to our rich tapestry of faiths.