# American Family Association bigots disrupt first-ever Hindu prayer in Senate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 13, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695 "2007-07-13T19:48:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/1 "2007-07-13T19:48:37Z")
Story [here.](http://www.thedailybackground.com/2007/07/12/non-christian-allowed-to-bless-senate-floor-bigoted-conservatives-protest/)
Video [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbMtpUPFPoo)
Shiva forgive us.
---
### Author:  [@dannyness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dannyness)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/2 "2007-07-13T19:56:25Z")
Damn. You beat me to it. I’ll vent later when I can do it uninterrupted by work.
---
### Author:  [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/3 "2007-07-13T19:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Story [here.](http://www.thedailybackground.com/2007/07/12/non-christian-allowed-to-bless-senate-floor-bigoted-conservatives-protest/)
Video [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbMtpUPFPoo)
Shiva forgive us.
[/QUOTE]
Man, I know I’m naive when it comes to a lot of things, but… I didn’t know the Senate opened each session with a prayer.
Why hasn’t there been a stink raised about this in the past (at least on this level)?
LilShieste
---
### Author:  [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/4 "2007-07-13T20:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=LilShieste]
Man, I know I’m naive when it comes to a lot of things, but… I didn’t know the Senate opened each session with a prayer.
Why hasn’t there been a stink raised about this in the past (at least on this level)?
LilShieste
[/QUOTE]
There has. The Supremes have declared such practices “ceremonial deism,” which is supposed to mean that it doesn’t really _mean_ anything religious, it’s just a custom or ceremony.
I say bollocks, but I don’t wear the robes.
---
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/5 "2007-07-13T20:01:34Z")
Was THAT who it was protesting? Holy crap.
Although, what the hell is a Hindu-American? Is Joe Lieberman a Jewish-American? Is Ted Kennedy a Catholic-American? Since when were we linking religion to nationality? 😕
---
### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/6 "2007-07-13T20:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Although, what the hell is a Hindu-American? Is Joe Lieberman a Jewish-American? Is Ted Kennedy a Catholic-American? Since when were we linking religion to nationality? 😕
[/QUOTE]
An American who is a practicing Hindu, yes, yes, and for decades now, in some quarters.
---
### Author:  [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/7 "2007-07-13T20:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna]
There has. The Supremes have declared such practices “ceremonial deism,” which is supposed to mean that it doesn’t really _mean_ anything religious, it’s just a custom or ceremony.
I say bollocks, but I don’t wear the robes.
[/QUOTE]
Wow, I’m with you there. I could call a duck a pig, but it’s still a freakin’ duck.
LilShieste
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/8 "2007-07-13T20:04:53Z")
What Would Jesus Disrupt?
---
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/9 "2007-07-13T20:07:36Z")
Just seems to be more divisive silliness to me, trying to pigeonhole people on the basis of their religion. Lieberman, Kennedy, Zed, they’re all Americans. What religion they practice is moot.
---
### Author:  [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/10 "2007-07-13T20:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=Miller]
An American who is a practicing Hindu, yes, yes, and for decades now, in some quarters.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t mean to steer this thing away from the OP, but geez! I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone referred to as “Baptist-American”. I wonder why that is?
LilShieste
---
### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/11 "2007-07-13T20:18:37Z")
Dudes, you don’t fuck with someone called **Director Zed**.
---
### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/12 "2007-07-13T20:19:15Z")
Am I the only one who went to that link, saw a blurry photo of someone in bright orange with their head bowed, and thought “hey, they arrested one of the protestors, and there he is in bright orange prison garb with his head bowed in shame”?
In any case, to the protestor who said “I am a Christian and patriot”, you’re a poor excuse for one, and a hollow shell of the other.
---
### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/13 "2007-07-13T20:32:53Z")
As a believer in religious liberty, I’m outraged and disgusted at this bigoted protest.
As a believer in religious liberty, I’m also a little bit pleased about it. The more the theocratic bigots make it plain that they’re unwilling to tolerate other religions, the more likely it is that this “ceremonial deism” crap will be recognized as inappropriate in the context of a secular government.
Let everybody who wants to pray pray all they want. Let’s not have our ostensibly secular and tolerant government officially sponsoring and directing it, though.
---
### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/14 "2007-07-13T20:41:24Z")
[QUOTE=LilShieste]
I don’t mean to steer this thing away from the OP, but geez! I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone referred to as “Baptist-American”. I wonder why that is?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve never heard that particular , but on the other hand, I’ve heard any number of people (including, apparently, the protestors being pitted here) attempt to specifically link being an American with being a Christian, which goes to **ivylass** ’s question about since when we’ve been linking religion to nationality.
As for Hindu-American, I honestly don’t see why this is a noteworthy construction. There are citizens of this country who are Hindus. Consequently, there will be issues that effect them because they are Hindus, that will not effect other Hindus because they don’t live in this country. So, Hindu-American is a useful label to describe the group that will be effected by whatever issue is under discussion. Why is this an issue for anyone?
Serious argument out of the way, I just want to state my hope that the director of interfaith relations from Reno opens his call to prayers with, “Kneel before Zed!”
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/15 "2007-07-13T20:53:39Z")
Do we know who the protesters were?
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/16 "2007-07-13T20:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold]
Dudes, you don’t fuck with someone called **Director Zed**.
[/QUOTE]
Zed’s dead, baby.
Man, what a bunch of intolerant fucks those guys in the gallery were!!
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/17 "2007-07-13T20:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
Man, what a bunch of intolerant fucks!!
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but I don’t know if three constitutes a bunch. Then again, had they not been arrested, I wonder how many more would have joined in.
---
### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/18 "2007-07-13T20:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Just seems to be more divisive silliness to me, trying to pigeonhole people on the basis of their religion. Lieberman, Kennedy, Zed, they’re all Americans. What religion they practice is moot.
[/QUOTE]
So they are mootist-american then.
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/19 "2007-07-13T21:11:33Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Yeah, but I don’t know if three constitutes a bunch. Then again, had they not been arrested, I wonder how many more would have joined in.
[/QUOTE]
It was only 3? I guess in any group of 300M people there are going to be 3 nut-cases.
---
### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695/20 "2007-07-13T21:15:38Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Jewish-American?
[/QUOTE]
You’ve _never_ heard the term “Jewish-American Princess”?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-family-association-bigots-disrupt-first-ever-hindu-prayer-in-senate/411695.md?page=2)