LOS ANGELES: Hindu American Foundation honors clergy with Gandhi award
Episcopal News Service. September 28, 2009 [092809-02]
Pat McCaughan
The Hindu American Foundation honored two Los Angeles area priests with its 2009 Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism September 23 at the foundation's sixth annual Capitol Hill banquet.
The foundation also acknowledged the efforts of Bishop Jon Bruno of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles along with the Rev. Canon Gwynne Guibord and the Rev. Karen MacQueen, for "electrifying Hindus last year after issuing a formal apology for centuries-old acts of religious discrimination including attempts to convert them."
Suhag Shukla, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an advocacy group devoted to religious diversity, said: "Our shared message could not be clearer -- pluralism and human rights are universal concerns. Looking back on five years of bringing a loud and clear voice to our nation's leaders, we are optimistic that Hindu Americans across our nation see this foundation as a key stakeholder and an institution that reflects their own coming of age."
Guibord, who is the diocesan officer for ecumenical and interreligious concerns, told the gathering, "We must continue to bear witness to the truth that it is simply not possible to say with any integrity or authentic witness to the values that undergird our two great faiths, that one loves God but hates another human being."
MacQueen, who is an associate rector at St. Paul's Church and is active in the international interfaith community, was unable to be present at the banquet. Guibord accepted the award on her behalf.
Also honored was the American Jewish Committee (AJC), represented by Richard Foltin, legislative director and counsel in the AJC's Office of Government and International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and Nissim Reuben, program officer on Indian-Jewish American Relations, for their work in building bridges between the Jewish and Hindu communities.
Bruno, who was unable to be present, sent a letter expressing gratitude for recognition of efforts "to build bridges of cooperation between the great religious traditions ... [and] assist you as your community strives for justice and equality.
"The world cannot afford for us to repeat the errors of our past, in which we Christians often sought to dominate rather than to serve," according to the letter, read to the gathering by Guibord, who is also the consultant for interfaith relations for the Episcopal Church.
"In order to take another step in building trust between our two great religious traditions, I renew the apology that I have offered to the Hindu community for the religious and racial discrimination that Christians have directed towards Hindus for far too long. Such discrimination is wrong; it is a sin. There is no justification for it."
Bruno committed to working together to put an "end to racial and religious discrimination against Hindus. We desire to work together in the great divine task of our time: to build reconciliation and peace, honoring the God-given dignity of each person, sharing and learning the wisdom of each other's traditions, recognizing God's equal love for each of us, and sincerely responding to God's desire to bring us together into one human family, rich in diversity and mutual respect."
About 260 people attended a January 2008 Indian Rite Mass honoring the traditions of both Christians and Hindus in India at St. John's Pro-Cathedral in Los Angeles.
During the service, trays of flowers were offered to God, as is traditional in India. MacQueen, who is an oblate of Shantivanam Ashram, a Camaldolese Benedictine community in India made famous by its former prior Bede Griffiths, celebrated the mass.
Guibord, who is chairperson of the diocesan Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Concerns, organized the event in conjunction with the diocesan Hindu-Episcopal Dialogue Group.
"We in the Episcopal Church are committed to eradicate fear and falsehood by linking arm-and-arm and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you in dialogue, education, and speaking truth to power on behalf of the Hindu community," Guibord said when accepting the Gandhi award.
"Now more than ever we, as a community that seeks to protect the integrity of both our religions and our democracy, must stand firm in our collective commitment to eradicate hate, discrimination, defamation and the dehumanization of any and all of God's created," she said.
MacQueen could not be reached for comment.
The award, named in honor of Mahatma Gandhi, the late Indian independence movement leader and proponent of nonviolent activism, last year was awarded to the Rev. Barry Lynn and Americans for the Separation of Church and State.
Founded in 2003, HAF is an advocacy group providing a voice for more than two million Hindu Americans. It promotes understanding, tolerance and pluralism.