Attached is the text of a letter Rep. McDermott (and other members of congress) had sent to the Southern Baptist Convention regarding their position on prayer for Hindus. Unfortunately, Congressmen who had signed the letter have been subject to heavy criticism. We need to support those who support our right to practice our faith - whatever that faith. It would be great if you could alert the community that our friends in Washington DC are under attack and need our support.

Letters need to be sent to their office thanking them for signing the letter. Also you will find a copy of article criticizing Rep. McDermott for his stance.

Thanks

Ram Narayanan

>
>
>
> November 5, 1999
>
> Dr. Morris Chapman
> Director, Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention
> 901 Commerce St.
> Suite 750
> Nashville, TN 37203-3699
>
>
> Dear Dr. Chapman:
>
> We were disheartened to learn that the Southern Baptists had published a
> pamphlet recently regarding prayer for Hindus that uses overly aggressive
> and insensitive language. We are particularly alarmed at the level of
> insensitivity displayed towards members of one of the oldest religions in
> the world.
>
> We do not take issue with your right to pray for whom and whatever you
> choose. However, we believe that the manner in which you have chosen to
> do this, in regards to Hinduism, goes beyond the bounds of decorum, tact,
> respect and understanding.
>
> In your recent pamphlet, you say that "Mumbai is a city of spiritual
> darkness...(Hindus are) slaves bound by fear...to false gods." We cannot
> understand how men and women, raised and educated in the world's bastion
> of religious freedom and tolerance, can characterize another religion as
> spiritually dark and false. The lack of respect that this statement shows
> for the basic rights of an individual to believe in whatever faith they
> choose is perhaps the most disturbing. India has been one of the great
> bulwarks in her commitment to secularism and the belief that all men and
> women have a right to believe in their own faith. To be sure, India has
> had secularist problems; however, there has never been a question of India
> backing down from that commitment. Hinduism has lasted for thousands of
> years and espouses a fundamental respect for all creeds and ways of life.
>
>
> Your pamphlet has demonstrated a lack of understanding of these facts and
> a lack of understanding of the right of every individual to pursue their
> religious beliefs. We would respectfully request that you end the use of
> this pamphlet. Please understand that we do not oppose your
> organization's efforts to educate non-Baptists to your views, however, we
> would hope that in the future you adopt a more tolerant and enlightened
> method. India, as Hinduism's birthplace, is a wonderful, diverse land
> that prides itself on a long tradition of freedom for all faiths and
> worldviews, including Christianity (in fact, the oldest Christian mission
> worldwide is in India). We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you
> and to discuss the great contributions of India and Indian culture to our
> global community.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> [Original signed by members]
>
> Jim McDermott, Member of Congress
> Gary Ackerman, Member of Congress
> Frank Pallone Jr., Member of Congress
> Henry Waxman, Member of Congress
> Merrill Cook, Member of Congress
> Alcee Hastings, Member of Congress
> Tom Lantos, Member of Congress
>
>
> ARCHIVE FROM: Dec. 18, 1999, Volume 14, Number 49
> NATIONAL
> Your tax dollars at work
> A cease-and-desist warning against Christian evangelism arrives on
> congressional stationery
> By R. Albert Mohler
> U.S. congressman Jim McDermott is a man on a religious mission. The
> Washington Democrat has thrown himself into a controversy over Southern
> Baptist prayer guides for the conversion of Hindus, and he has even put
> the weight of his congressional office behind his mission. But the
> congressman's mission is not what one might expect of a man who graduated
> in 1958 from the evangelical Wheaton College, whose slogan boasts "Since
> 1860, for Christ and His Kingdom."
> Mr. McDermott, in an Oct. 28 "Dear Colleague" letter distributed to all
> 434 of his fellow House members, charged Southern Baptists with "an
> aggressive, intolerant approach" and "an intolerant view that has inflamed
> Hindu communities worldwide." Mr. McDermott's letter, sent on official
> congressional stationery, called on fellow House members to join his
> effort to urge Southern Baptists to "end your conversion campaign directed
> to members of the Hindu faith."
> On Nov. 5, the congressman sent a slightly less hysterical letter, signed
> by six other members of Congress, to Morris Chapman, president of the
> Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. Nevertheless, the
> toned-down letter included this ominous statement: "We cannot understand
> how men and women, raised and educated in the world's bastion of religious
> freedom and tolerance, can characterize another religion as spiritually
> dark and false. The lack of respect that this statement shows for the
> basic rights of an individual to believe in whatever faith they choose is
> perhaps the most disturbing."
> It is Mr. McDermott's letter that should disturb American taxpayers, who
> should be outraged at the intrusion of governmental officials into the
> evangelism efforts of American Christians, who are, after all, supposedly
> protected by the Bill of Rights.
> Mr. Chapman responded to Mr. McDermott in a Nov. 18 letter that defended
> conversionist missions, taking the gospel "to every person, of every
> ethnic background, in every place in the earth." Further, "your letter
> presents us with a real dilemma. Do we attempt to obey God, or do we take
> our signals from some Hindu spokesmen ... or from persons such as you who
> counsel 'a more tolerant and enlightened' approach?"
> "We believe the attempt to use any governmental office to pressure
> Christians to change their doctrines or practices is improper and
> reprehensible," Mr. Chapman emphasized.
> Mr. McDermott's letter also rewrites India's history in terms of religious
> liberty. "India has been one of the great bulwarks in her commitment to
> secularism and the belief that all men and women have a right to believe
> in their own faith," Mr. McDermott wrote. "Hinduism has lasted for
> thousands of years and espouses a fundamental respect for all creeds and
> ways of life."
> Anyone aware of the intense sectarian strife that has marked India from
> its beginning as a nation must find Mr. McDermott's statements uninformed,
> if not ludicrous. Recent massacres and the murder of Christian
> missionaries are a strange way to demonstrate "fundamental respect."
> Interestingly, Mr. McDermott's congressional stationery lists him as
> co-chairman of the "U.S.-India Interparliamentary Working Group" a
> loose-knit organization that sponsors exchanges between U.S. and Indian
> politicians.
> Mr. McDermott's efforts come amid an already roiling controversy over
> Southern Baptist outreaches. Late last month, a group of Chicago religious
> leaders asked Southern Baptists to cancel plans for an evangelistic effort
> planned for next summer as a part of the SBC's "Strategic Focus Cities"
> initiative (see WORLD, Dec. 11). The "Council of Religious Leaders of
> Metropolitan Chicago" lectured Southern Baptists: "While we are confident
> that your volunteers would come with entirely peaceful intentions, a
> campaign of the nature and scope you envision could contribute to a
> climate conducive to hate crimes."
> Evangelism is now the cause of "hate crimes"? Are these Chicago church
> leaders so afraid of gospel evangelism that they will hide behind the
> politically correct ethic of tolerance and thus oppose what the New
> Testament commands? This groups sounds like the Sanhedrin judging Peter
> and John in Acts 4: "We must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone
> in this [Jesus'] name." Do they really believe that conversion is a "hate
> crime"?
> This is theological cowardice posing as courage and compassion. These
> so-called religious leaders have thrown their lot with Congressman
> McDermott and his offensive against Christian evangelism. What they oppose
> is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their greatest fear is that someone,
> somewhere, for some reason, may be offended by gospel witness. The result
> of their cowardice and compromise-if followed by others-would be that no
> one, anywhere, by any means, would be confronted with the authentic
> gospel.
> Evangelical Christians now face a critical time of testing. Today it is
> the Southern Baptists, but the attack is directed to any church or
> denomination that believes in what the late Francis Schaeffer called "true
> truth'" and obeys the Great Commission. In post-Christian America, the
> gospel is an offense to reason and a threat to civic order. To preach
> Christ is to risk being charged with a hate crime, and to pray for the
> conversion of non-Christians is intolerant. To describe those without
> Christ as "lost" and in "darkness" is outside the pale of enlightened and
> acceptable conduct, according to Mr. McDermott and the Chicago "religious
> leaders."
> The church has heard all this before-and heard it early. The apostles
> faced the same charges and bore the same burden. We should respond to
> these modern inquisitors just as Peter and John responded to the
> "religious leaders" in Jerusalem: "Judge for yourselves whether it is
> right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help
> speaking about what we have seen and heard."
> The McDermott letter is a wake-up call for evangelical Christians. This
> warning to the Southern Baptists came on congressional stationery. What
> comes next?
> (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 WORLD Magazine.
> mailbag@worldmag.com
>
>

It has been done.

Thank you Sri Ram for that information. I will be sure to pass it along to my aunt and uncle, they will be able to keep the message spreading.