Some Government Prayers Bring Lawsuits, Others Ignored
The city of Lancaster, California, has been criticized by the ACLU and sued by the Jewish Defense League for “sectarian Christian prayers” at city meetings. In an interesting contrast, it does not appear either the ACLU or the JDL have said anything about the city of Vacaville doing the same thing in Sanskrit:
Acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed will deliver invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Vacaville City Council on [July 27th]. After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayer.
Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.
Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures.
Rajan Zed is the same Hindu leader (once referred to as a “chaplain”) who prayed in the US Senate in 2007, during which three people were removed from the chambers for protesting.