Healing the Interfaith Gap in Alabama with Dharmic Seva

The play of faith and interfaith became center stage on the very day that America was celebrating Dr. King's legacy when Alabama's governor, Robert Bentley, said, "Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother". These words highlight the continuing chasm of understanding between faith traditions in the USA.

Albeit two days later, Gov. Bentley apologized and vowed to work for people of all faiths and colors. Most Hindu Americans are pleased with this apology and hope the governor will take concrete steps to not only understand but respect and work collaboratively with the diverse and pluralistic reality of today's America. Hindu Americans are ready and willing to assist in building communities.

Many Hindu leaders who I spoke with expressed their concerns over the governor's statements.

Ved Chaudhary said, "Whatever may be one's personal belief or religious affiliation, a Governor or political leader must understand and accept their responsibility to treat equally well all people in their jurisdiction irrespective of their religious affiliation, and speak and act accordingly."

And Dr. Siva Subramanian commented, "A governor represents, after the election, the entire State and all the people within including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, nonbelievers and others. United States of America stand for democracy and pluralism and the First Amendment clearly forbids any government official from establishing or promoting any one religion. He can not govern as a representative of one denomination of a religion. We are indeed glad that he has retracted that statement but could have been even more clear and explicit about the apology. I hope this will provide opportunities for intense interfaith dialogue and collaborative service projects in Alabama and rest of USA. This can be a great opportunity to bring together people of diverse faiths in our increasingly pluralistic country"

While, on the advice of his political mentors, Gov. Bentley has offered apology for his comments, it remains to be seen from his actions whether this fervor in his heart continues to dominate his future speeches and decisions in the same way as it did in his inaugural address.

At such occasions, the importance of interfaith collaboration to increase mutual understanding becomes most evident. It is only through the coming together of diverse faith traditions, bringing an awareness of the pluralistic reality of today's America, that the tendency of such leaders who favor their own faith tradition only, and rail against all others, can be changed.

This month, many Hindu Americans are serving through "ShantiSeva," a program to promote peace and respect among all faiths through seva (community service), and doing collaborative interfaith service through our UtsavSeva (FestivalSeva) initiative.

In our tradition, Vedic Hindu scriptures clearly state all faith traditions should be treated with equal respect (Sarva Dharma Sam Bhava) and we are striving to do so.

Can we , Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, believers, non-believers -- all -- come together to make this value a reality in the pluralistic mosaic of America? Can each one of us become agents of change that Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi propagated?

Yes, we can!!!

And these are the values that the inclusive, pluralistic America I believe in stands for.

 

Follow Anju Bhargava on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hindusevausa

Comments

[Wes Isley]

01:26 PM on 01/26/2011

It isn't surprising that Bentley said what he said. He's from the South, not exactly a place where different faiths have traditionally existed together (I'm from the South). And traditionally, Christianity has at best labeled other faiths as inferior or, at worst, evil. Add to that the relative religious homogeneity of America; sure, we have religious freedom, but it's been majority Christian for the most part until the last 50 or so years. Given all that, those of us who see the value and importance of interfaith cooperation and understanding need to keep working. But I doubt we'll change folks like Bentley, and I don't really believe his apology. He apologized because it was politically smart to do so, not because he really believes the apology. You don't just mistakenly exclude entire religions from your worldview without believing down deep that they simply don't belong. But regardless, we should all continue working toward more interfaith respect and dialogue because we know of the great value it has for our society.

[crparke]

03:44 PM on 01/24/2011

"The First Amendment clearly forbids any government official from establishing or promoting any one religion."

No it simply says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The governor of Alabama is not part of Congress nor is he trying to pass any sort of law establishing Evangelical Christianity as the official religion of the state of Alabama. He just said some stuff that pissed people off. If this were a legal issue the courts would already be involved.

[Allan Richter]

11:11 AM on 01/24/2011

“In our tradition, Vedic Hindu scriptures clearly state all faith traditions should be treated with equal respect (Sarva Dharma Sam Bhava) and we are striving to do so.” (Anju Bhargava)

The term Noahides’ refers to all mankind. By Jewish tradition one of the seven commandments given to the children of Noah is the commandment to establish a just legal system (denim). A just legal system is one that is applied with fairness and before whom all are equal. Today, this principle is universally recognized and known as the “rule of law”. The obligation to establish a just legal system constitutes a point of commonality on the most fundamental level of social existence. (paraphrase: Nahum Rakover).

It is at this level that public discussion and debate is appropriate. The constitution and law of the United States provides an excellent mechanism to resolve pragmatic issues. Issues in the realm of Metaphysics are best left to individual conscious as enshrined in the first amendment. Public officials have an obligation to tread cautiously in their statements.

I do agree “Sarva Dharma Sam Bhava”.

“This month, many Hindu Americans are serving through "ShantiSeva," a program to promote peace and respect among all faiths through seva (community service), and doing collaborative interfaith service through our UtsavSeva (FestivalSeva) initiative. “ (Anju Bhargava)

Keep up the good work.

[DoesItMatter]

04:40 PM on 01/21/2011

Seriously, people fall for this type of apologies? How can anyone be pleased?

[LintLass]

10:57 AM on 01/23/2011

Yeah, saying stuff like that for the Religious Right, then 'apologizing' to mollify everyone else (so the Right can then whine about PC) is something that just makes for tactics.

It's not hard to find out how many of these 'Values' candidates will speak or dog-whistle extremism to their own 'base' and think that's *OK,* as long as no one in the corporate media turns the microphone in that direction.

While apologies are nice, there's more to it than that: people need to really be look and be careful before they put people like this in office in the first place: if you have government favoring 'Saved Christians' it quickly goes from disenfranchising and oppressing religious minorities, to fighting over who 'counts' as the 'saved Christians' and who's the 'correctest' Christians, and that leads to just the kind of things the framers of our Constitution were trying to avoid by not having religious power in government.