The Shield of Prayer and Obedience
As reported in "From Unreal to Real," three Christian protesters interrupted the first ever Hindu opening prayer in the US Senate by loudly praying.
Since then, the persons responsible have explained their actions.
Pavkovic says he knew beforehand he would likely be arrested for what he planned to do from the Senate gallery. "My hope was that our prayer to the Lord God may have provided a shield, lest the wrath of God come down on our nation for allowing pagan prayers to false gods to be offered," he explains. "We just felt like we've got to go stand in the gap, and cry out to the Lord for mercy for what we're allowing in our government."
The activist claims he and his family members did not shout or disrupt the Hindu man's prayer.
"We were praying," he asserts. "If our prayer disrupted anything, then so be it, but we were not shouting." And they were not there to harass Zed, he says. "I don't want it to be mischaracterized as we were there just heckling this man. We were not," says the North Carolina activist. "We prayed to the Lord, and we were obedient to the founding fathers and the first few generations afterwards."
Video of the event can be found here. You can judge for yourself as to whether their prayers could be considered disruptive, but from where I'm listening, I have to concur. They were loud and posed a disruption.
I'm also interested in the notion of being obedient to the founding fathers, as they put it. Here I always thought the idea was to be obedient to one's Gods and give men their proper due, but not revere them as idols. The Founding Fathers weren't perfect by any stretch, but they gave us a chance - through the Constitution - to shape our own destiny as a country. That's worth our respect and admiration, but to be 'obedient' to them is to embrace the worldview of their time, which held that slavery was a necessary evil, and only white men should vote or hold office.
Like I said, not perfect, but wise enough to look ahead and give us something that can change with time.
Here's Operation Save America's take on it.. At the end, they say "May the hallowed halls and chambers of the Congress of the United States of America never again entertain the false religions of this age."
Kind of funny when you consider that Hinduism is the oldest religion currently being practiced, isn't it? ;)
Since then, the persons responsible have explained their actions.
Pavkovic says he knew beforehand he would likely be arrested for what he planned to do from the Senate gallery. "My hope was that our prayer to the Lord God may have provided a shield, lest the wrath of God come down on our nation for allowing pagan prayers to false gods to be offered," he explains. "We just felt like we've got to go stand in the gap, and cry out to the Lord for mercy for what we're allowing in our government."
The activist claims he and his family members did not shout or disrupt the Hindu man's prayer.
"We were praying," he asserts. "If our prayer disrupted anything, then so be it, but we were not shouting." And they were not there to harass Zed, he says. "I don't want it to be mischaracterized as we were there just heckling this man. We were not," says the North Carolina activist. "We prayed to the Lord, and we were obedient to the founding fathers and the first few generations afterwards."
Video of the event can be found here. You can judge for yourself as to whether their prayers could be considered disruptive, but from where I'm listening, I have to concur. They were loud and posed a disruption.
I'm also interested in the notion of being obedient to the founding fathers, as they put it. Here I always thought the idea was to be obedient to one's Gods and give men their proper due, but not revere them as idols. The Founding Fathers weren't perfect by any stretch, but they gave us a chance - through the Constitution - to shape our own destiny as a country. That's worth our respect and admiration, but to be 'obedient' to them is to embrace the worldview of their time, which held that slavery was a necessary evil, and only white men should vote or hold office.
Like I said, not perfect, but wise enough to look ahead and give us something that can change with time.
Here's Operation Save America's take on it.. At the end, they say "May the hallowed halls and chambers of the Congress of the United States of America never again entertain the false religions of this age."
Kind of funny when you consider that Hinduism is the oldest religion currently being practiced, isn't it? ;)
posted by J. Edward Tremlett at 8:12 AM
1 Comments:
Stuff like this makes me sad. And I don't like that in the video no one apologized to Zed for the disruption either. I hope they at least did afterward. Also, I like your perspective on it.
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