Prayer protesters arrested in Senate

Three protesters were arrested in the public gallery of the Senate and charged with unlawful conduct yesterday for shouting down the opening prayer, which for the first time ever was being conducted by a Hindu.

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who was presiding in the chair, had to call on the sergeant at arms repeatedly to restore order as the protesters denounced the presence of Rajan Zed, who was standing on the dais wearing saffron robes.

{mosads}The three people arrested were Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar, said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police.

Zed, of the Hindu Temple of Northern Nevada in Reno, was invited to Washington by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The opening prayer is normally given by the Senate chaplain, Barry Black, a Seventh-Day Adventist, but senators are permitted to invite guest chaplains from their home state.

The Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America/Operation Rescue, lambasted the decision to turn the prayer ceremony over to a non-Christian.

He said that the protesters recited the First Commandment and offered prayers. They were not part of an organized group but were Christians who happened to be in Washington to fight the hate crimes bill. They did not know there was to be a Hindu prayer, Benham said.

As soon as Zed began his prayer, the protests began, Casey stepped in and banged his gavel, and police entered.

 “It was a shocking event for all of us Christians,” Benham said. “For all of these years we have honored the God of our Founding Fathers. It wasn’t a group of Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims that came here. It was Christians.”

The Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance, commended the Senate yesterday for inviting Zed.

“I applaud the United States Senate for inviting Chaplain Rajan Zed to deliver the opening prayer in the Senate,” Gaddy said. “If religious leaders are tasked with delivering prayers before our elected officials, they should reflect that rich diversity. I hope that Chaplain Zed’s presence will foster greater appreciation for religious pluralism.”