Former Navy chaplain labels Hindu Senate prayer 'idolatry'

Former Navy chaplain labels Hindu Senate prayer 'idolatry'

Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
July 12, 2007

A former Navy chaplain says he was in the Senate gallery this morning when two Christians were escorted out of the chamber for disrupting the opening prayer given by a Hindu chaplain.

Gordon James Klingenschmitt says when he heard that the Hindu man, who is affiliated with the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, was invited to give the opening prayer for July 12, he went to the U.S. Senate in hopes of gaining equal access. On Tuesday, he went to the office of Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) office seeking permission to offer a Christian prayer in the Senate at some future date. Not being from Nevada, Klingenschmitt was turned away and directed to the office of one of his senators -- Hillary Clinton (D-New York) -- whose staff also reportedly declined his request.

The former chaplain says he then attempted to get an audience with Senate Chaplain Barry Black. "I went to Chaplain Black's office, and they must have known I was coming because they had already informed security not to let me in," he says. "And so they wouldn't give me an appointment with Chaplain Black. They said his personal calendar is booked until 2009."

Klingenschmitt was in the Senate gallery earlier today to witness the prayer being given by the Hindu chaplain -- a prayer that was interrupted twice by individuals in the gallery. "About 50 feet away from me there were these other Christian people [who] stood up like everybody else ... and they began to pray also," he recalls. "But [they] prayed Christian prayers, and they prayed out loud -- and they prayed in Jesus' name. They said 'God have mercy on our nation. God have mercy on America.'""

He explains what he then witnessed in the Senate chamber. "Would you believe that the security office immediately escorted them out and hauled them off to jail because they prayed in Jesus' name, out loud, when this other man was praying a Hindu prayer out loud?" he shares. "He was praying a prayer of idolatry, violating the First Commandment [which says] 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me," he continues. "In contrast, these Christian people, they stood up and they just prayed in Jesus' name."

Click here for the full story! (may need to disable pop-up blocker)