Interesting piece by the always-interesting John Nichols in The Nation Online:
Sectarian Extremists Versus Jefferson
Three protesters disrupted the first Hindu prayer ever to open a session of the United States Senate, on Thursday, July 12. Spokespersons for the group Save America/Operation Rescue subsequently issued a statement that claimed, “This would never have been allowed by our Founding Fathers.”
Nichols notes (excerpted):
On this point, the protesters are wrong.
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the concept that the United States should maintain a “wall of separation” in order to avoid the development of a state religion of the sort that had existed in the monarchies of Europe, was a student Hinduism. His library included Hindu texts, and when he wrote the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom, which laid the groundwork for the Constitution protection of religious practice and pluralism, he specifically avoided making reference to the Christian faith — though its adherents dominated the public life of Virginia and other colonies — because he wanted it to be known that all religions, including Hinduism, were respected and welcomed in the United States. . .
. . .Jefferson’s respect for religious pluralism in general, and Hinduism in particular, led him to compare notes with other founders of the American experiment. The third president and his predecessor, John Adams corresponded at some length about their respect for the teachings of the Hindu religion.
I am something of an admirer of John Adams, so I will have to look up that correspondence.
A more detailed report of the disruption itself may be read on Beliefnet.com.