Nuts in the Gallery

Rajan Zed is a Hindu chaplain who was invited to open the Senate with a prayer a few days ago, the first time for such an invitation to be extended to a Hindu chaplain. It was a notable occasion and reflected the fact that America is a religiously diverse nation.

But, predictably, it brought all the nuts out of the woodwork, screaming that America is a Christian nation and this is an insult to true Christians everywhere, blah, blah, blah...

Three of these nuts made their way to the Senate gallery, where they disrupted the prayer with a competing prayer of their own,"Lord Jesus, forgive us Father for allowing the prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight." They were arrested and led away. Buh-bye...

The group doing the loudest screaming was the American Family Association, who had been warning their followers for days that a shocking event was going to happen and they had to do something to save the nation from ruin. They were quoted as saying...

"It represents an official stamp by the government on paganism, a move which may draw God's anger according to biblical example."

So if anything really bad happens in the US, for instance, a tornado or an earthquake, you can go ahead and blame it on Senator Harry Reid. He was the guy that invited Mr. Zed to say his evil prayer.

But Mr. Zed need not worry. According to Buddy Smith, an AFA spokesman, Christians everywhere should "pray for the chaplain's salvation." I've racked my brain to try to think of a more condescending statement, but haven't found it yet.

These images of people shouting down a Hindu holy man (in the United States Senate, for crying out loud), are broadcast around the world, and we wonder why America is held in such low regard in much of the world.