varnam

In 1864, a group of sailors were castaway in Auckland Islands, some 300 miles south of New Zealand. Very few had survived shipwrecks in that area and one such group was led by Capt. Thomas Musgrave of Britain. Eight days after surviving the wreck  the sailors came out of the tent on seeing the sun and when the captain read a passage from the Bible in which Christ asks his disciples to love one another, the group consisting of a French gold miner, a leprosy-deformed Portuguese cook, a  Norwegian and an Englishman burst into tears. Some modern days followers of Jesus have forgotten or have chosen to ignore this message.

All you need is ask Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., who recently gave the brief prayer that opens each day’s Senate session. His prayer was disrupted by some anti-abortion activists who shouted "No Lord but Jesus Christ", "There's only one true God," and ''this is an abomination''. While the Indian Parliament does not open with a prayer, legislative assemblies in United States have opened with prayers since the early sessions of Congress, but so far the prayers had been only of the monotheistic religions.

Christian historian David Barton said that the prayer was unconstitutional since Hindus worship multiple Gods and it violates the motto, One Nation under God. Mr. Barton would have to spend a lifetime to understand the concept of Brahman to realize the shallowness of his statement, but much simpler for him would be to read Ann Althouse's explanation that the motto isn't in the constitution and by protesting Mr. Barton is foolishly asking the motto to be declared unconstitutional.

While  intolerance for other faiths has been accepted without any introspection by some of the foot soldiers, it is also worth looking at the leadership of some of these sects as well. A 16-page document prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict XVI headed when he was a cardinal has declared that Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic Church are not full churches of Jesus Christ. The document also claims that Roman Catholic Church alone is the mediator of salvation while other defective Christian faiths, like the Protestants, can be just instruments.

The Pope is also planning to issue a decree allowing wider use of the Tridentine Mass, the Latin rite which was codified in 1570 and and used till the 1960s when the  second Vatican council reformed it. The Tridentine mass is supposed to be more beautiful with Gregorian chants and a much dignified service than the present day mass. The Jews are not very happy about it since there are prayers in the Mass which calls for their conversion and the Pope's explanation is that whatever was held sacred by ancient generations remain sacred to us too and cannot be forbidden. Imagine for a moment what would have happened in India if such argument was used for reviving the caste system.

When the leadership lacks sensitivity to other monotheistic religions and even members praying to the same God, it is too much to ask for some of their brain washed followers to respect a religion which they don't even understand. Fortunately a vast majority of the people think the ant-abortion protesters are idiots,  and stupid jerks