Yesterday, three members of Operation Save America, an anti-abortion conservative Christian group, disrupted the opening prayer in the United States Senate. The prayer was being offered by guest cleric Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest.

"Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," the first protester began. "This is an abomination," he continued. "We shall have no other gods before You."

As a Christian, this makes me sick. As an American who believes that separation of church and state is good for BOTH the church and the state, I'm appalled.

According to the federal government, there are approximately 1.5 million practicing Hindus in the United States, or 0.05% of the U.S. population. The Senate has opened virtually every morning with prayer since its inception. If we assume that is at least 100 prayers a year for at least 200 years, that's 20000 prayers. One prayer in 20000 is 0.005% Perhaps we should apologize to our Hindu sisters and brothers for NOT inviting them to pray ten times more often.

Starting later this month, I'm doing a series of sermons called "For the Bible Tells Me So..." looking at come controversial issues (marriage, hell, etc.) through the prism of a Reformed approach to scripture. The fourth of those sermons will be "The Bible and Separation of Church and State." Perhaps I just got my opening illustration.

This is just embarrassing.