US lawmaker under fire for protesting Sikh prayer in Congress

File Photo: Republican lawmaker Mary Miller (Picture credit: X/@RepMaryMiller)

The TOI correspondent from Washington: A racist Republican lawmaker known for making inflammatory statements is under fire after misidentifying a Sikh religious leader as Muslim and declaring he should never have been allowed to deliver the morning prayer in Congress in a country she falsely claimed was “founded as a Christian nation.““It’s deeply troubling that a Muslim was allowed to lead prayer in the House of Representatives this morning. This should never have been allowed to happen. America was founded as a Christian nation, and I believe our government should reflect that truth, not drift further…” Illinois lawmaker Mary Miller said in a now-deleted post, after she had corrected the religious identity.The remark embarrassed the Republican Party beyond its racist MAGA base, particularly since it was a GOP Congressman who had invited New Jersey granthi Giani Singh to deliver the prayer. “I was proud to invite a Sikh chaplain to open the House with prayer this morning. The Sikh community is peaceful, generous, and deeply rooted in family and service, values we should all appreciate, no matter our religion,” New Jersey Congressman Jeff van Drew said, adding, “as a Catholic, I take my faith seriously and I also believe part of being American is respecting other people’s faiths too.”Miller was also castigated by the Democratic Party, which is more representative of America’s changing demographics.“It’s deeply troubling that such an ignorant and hateful extremist is serving in the United States Congress,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on X. “That would be you, Mary.”Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and public intellectuals also called out Miller for falsely claiming the US was founded as a Christian nation, a more recent fiction promoted by racist MAGA hardliners. The US was not founded as an explicitly Christian nation, and the First Amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of religion.In fact, the first Sikhs came to America around 1900, long before the forebears of many MAGA extremists. Early Sikhs settled down on the Pacific coast, and many of their descendants are now prosperous and politically influential farmers and business owners in California, a fact recognised by local lawmakers.“I’m troubled by my colleague’s remarks about this morning’s Sikh prayer, which have since been deleted,” California Congressman David Valadao, a Republican, wrote on X. “Throughout the country—and in the Central Valley— Sikh-Americans are valued and respected members of our communities, yet they continue to face harassment and discrimination.There are more than 500,000 Sikhs in the US, according to Sikh Advocacy groups, although the 2020 US census reported only 70,697 respondents identifying as Sikh. Many of them are in California’s Central Valley, where some towns have had Sikh mayors and Punjabi is commonly spoken. The GOP also has at least two prominent Sikhs in leadership positions: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former Trump campaign legal advisor and US assistant attorney general for the civil rights division Harmeet Dhillon. Dhillon in fact delivered the closing invocation (antim ardas) at the Republican National Convention last year, triggering a backlash from MAGA fundamentalists, one of whom posted this on X: “ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!! I have nothing but respect for Harmeet Dhillon but fire whoever invited her to pray to a foreign god, there is only one true God we pray to and his name is not whatever she said. His name is YAHWEH and his only begotten Son is Jesus Christ.“