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Sikh offers opening prayer in
Pennsylvania Senate
WSN Network
 Pennsylvania:
Ek
onkar satnam. There is but one God,”
began the prayer
that opened the Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday, as Nirmal Singh of
Fairview Twp. became the first Sikh to perform that traditional
duty.
“Join me in the
prayer. Ek On Kar, Sat Nam, There is but One God, True is His
Name.
We pray, to the
One God, Who created this universe, with all its colorful diversity,
rang, as we call it.
We pray to the
One God, under whose Divine Ordinance, Hukam, this Universe
abides.
We pray to
sabna jia ka ik data, the one God who provides for and sustains
all this creation.
Pray, give us
the understanding that this world is a dharamsal, an arena
for righteous living – much of what people can accomplish in life,
happens through their own Kal, their endeavor.
We pray for
kirpa, thy divine mercy, to enable us all to be prayerful, to
enable us all to provide for our families, enable us all to share
with those in need, and enable us all not to shy away from doing
what is right that truly is the righteous way.
Help us pray,
help us nurture a society, where we all live as a fraternity, with
none feeling excluded or treated as a stranger Where we say some,
and listen some, where we bring harmony peace, caring and sharing to
our corporate, communal lives, and help each and every one of us, to
grow, develop, and contribute towards a common good.
We pray for this
sangat, this assembly, heavy is your responsibility and difficult
are the choices you have to take as leaders of the people.
We pray for you
individually and collectively to be blessed with the wisdom to
conduct your business today and everyday in service of and for the
well being of the citizens of this commonwealth.
We close this
prayer as always seeking tere bhane sarbat ka bhala — that
the well being of one and all in this world be thy will.
Waheguru Ji Ka
Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!”
prayed Singh.
The Senate’s
tradition of opening with prayer drew a complaint from a watchdog
group last year that the prayers often contain language only a
Christian would use -- for example, “in Jesus’ name.”
Prayers in civic
settings are constitutional only when they’re nonsectarian, said
Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Senate
officials said they comply with the law by ensuring prayers come
from a variety of faiths, not by monitoring prayers.
Singh’s prayer
included phrases from Sikh scripture.
“Sikh teachings
are very universal, and I have tried to structure this prayer around
its universality,” he said in an e-mail. “My concern obviously was
to try and offer an invocation that is universal in spirit and
intent but can be traced back to its Sikh linkage.”
Drew Crompton,
counsel to Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson
County, said he’s heard no more from Americans United since an
exchange of letters late last year, but a spokesman for the group
said the Senate’s prayer policy still has a problem.
“We’re glad that
a handful of religious minorities” have been invited to the Senate,
said spokesman Joe Conn, but “many of the prayers still have a
sectarian slant.”
In recent
months, prayers have been given by Jews, a Unitarian, and a
Buddhist.
Atheists have
asked for an invitation. “I couldn’t say fervently no,” Crompton
said. “But I don’t know how atheists pray.”
Steve Neubauer
of Mount
Wolf, president of Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, said he wrote an
invocation that opened a York County Commissioners meeting three
years ago.
Singh is a
retired Indian Army colonel and business executive who has lived in
the U.S.
since 1987. He belongs to the Blue Mountain Gurdwara in Bethel Twp.,
Berks County.
(www.pennlive.com)
18
June,
2008
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