Hindu prayer in Senate defies nation's founding, some say

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Some Americans took offense when a Hindu chaplain led the morning prayer in the United States Senate July 12 because they said it defied the Judeo Christian heritage set forth by the nation's founders.

"We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May he stimulate and illuminate our minds," Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., said in his prayer.

Zed was the first Hindu to offer a Senate prayer since the formation of the governing body in 1789, and he was invited by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D.-Nev. But Zed was not the first Hindu to pray in Congress. That distinction belongs to a Hindu priest who prayed before the House in 2000. Also, a Muslim prayed before the Senate several years ago.

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