A Republican member of Congress launched an attack on a Sikh religious leader who in June had been invited to deliver a guest invocation before the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), who initially misidentified the man, Giani Surinder Singh, as a Muslim, insisted that his prayer “should never have been allowed to happen” because the United States was “founded as a Christian nation.” She called the prayer “deeply troubling.”
Miller later deleted the message, but Americans United said that was not enough.
“Today’s comments by Rep. Mary Miller are an affront to our nation’s ideals. This is what white Christian Nationalism looks like,” said AU President and CEO Rachel Laser.
“America was not founded as a ‘Christian nation,’ but as a nation committed to religious freedom for all,” Laser continued. “The separation of church and state is what guarantees that religious freedom and protects the sanctity of all religions, including Christianity. This episode is a clear reminder about why government-sanctioned prayers in Congress — or any state legislatures, city councils and school boards — are divisive, unwise and un-American.”
Laser concluded, “Deleting a social media post is not enough; Miller owes Giani Surinder Singh and the nation an apology.”
Opening invocations before the House and Senate are usually delivered by each chamber’s chaplains. But sometimes guest religious leaders are invited to offer them. In this case, Singh, leader of the Gurdwara South Jersey Sikh Center in Vineland, N.J., had been invited by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.).
Similar incidents have occurred in government bodies before. In 2000, after a Hindu priest was invited to deliver a guest invocation before the U.S. House of Representatives, the Family Research Council (FRC) published an article online bemoaning that “it has become necessary to ‘celebrate’ non-Christian religions — even in the halls of Congress” and incorrectly asserting, “Our founders expected that Christianity — and no other religion — would receive support from the government … .” (After Americans United criticized the comments, FRC officials insisted, rather implausibly, that the article had been published without authorization and removed it.)
In 2007, Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain, was invited to deliver an invocation before the U.S. Senate. Three extremists disrupted the event and had to be removed by Capitol Police. In 2015, three members of the Idaho Senate refused to enter the chamber until Zed was done offering a guest invocation.