Pay attention…this is very important, Satveer. Have you noticed Jesus for yourself…at some moment in time, yet???
That is the advice offered to newly re-elected Minnesota state senator Satveer Chaudhary by his defeated opponent, Rae Hart Anderson, in the concession e-mail she sent him in lieu of the customary phone call. (Thanks, tipster “pardesi”!)
Minneapolis-St. Paul TV station WCCO helpfully provides verbatim text of the e-mail. A true light for Christ, Ms. Anderson proffers an odd form of congratulations before giving our heathen brother some news he can use:
I’ve enjoyed much of this race, especially the people I’ve met…even you! I see your deficits–not all of them, and your potential–but not all of it. Only your Creator knows the real potential He’s put in you. Get to know Him and know yourself…you’ll be more interesting even to you!
The race of your life is more important than this one–and it is my sincere wish that you’ll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine–and especially for those who accept His forgiveness.
The message continues in this vein, with quotes from Scripture, before ending as follows:
There’s nothing like belonging to Christ…not winning, not money, not degrees…it’s the best.
Good wishes and better wishes…until you wish for the best!
“To get a sermon is definitely a surprise,” Chaudhary told WCCO. (Perhaps he should write back: “Tat tvam asi, Rae!”) Incidentally, Chaudhary’s state senate district overlaps with the US Congress district of Keith Ellison, the nation’s first Muslim congressman, who was asked this gem of a question a couple of days ago on CNN Headline News. It seems that in Minnesota, much of the Lord’s work remains shamefully undone.
jaw dropping
How do you get to be stupid enough to put this in writing?
further evidence, that if you can’t conduct yourself well, emails have a really bad habit of resurfacing and biting you in the ass…
You guys are assuming that Rae Hart Anderson wouldn’t want this stuff public. I think you misunderstand the evangelical mindset. It’s likely that, as far as she’s concerned, the ensuing tamasha is an opportunity to preach salvation through Jesus Christ. Wish for the best, indeed.
To get a sermon is definitely a surprise,” Chaudhary told WCCO. (Perhaps he should write back: “Tat tvam asi, Rae!”)
Hellz yeah. But I agree with bidismoker: There is nothing scandalous or unusual about this; many of us grew up with this.
Argh – I grew up there (actually lived in Shoreview where Anderson lives) and am reminded of why I left.
As a Christian who married a Hindu this kind of thing annoys me. I can remember a sermon once in which the pastor quoted Gandhi something to the effect of “I have no problem with Christ, it’s the behavior of Christians that’s the problem”.
She definitely wants this publicized and made public. It appears that this woman is merely pandering to her constituents. I am sure she believes that she is being sincere, the tone of the letter comes off a bit smug and self-serving. Religious conversion is a personal issue and should not be coerced or flaunted. Actions speak louder than words and in my opinion letters, handouts, etc are relatively ineffective in terms of conversions. Christ himself cautions against overtly public and ostentious displays at least in terms of prayer.
Live and let live. If someone asks you about your religion fine, but don’t shove it in their face.
Such mawkishness….yuk! They need something like the bad sex writing award for spiritual stuff too.
this country needs a (viable) third party, desperately. a libertarian party.
Easy with the hating on Minnesota — don’t forget who actually won this race! (And some other fantastic folks have been elected in Minnesota — Mee Moua and Mark Ritchie, for example, and of course a few years back the late Paul Wellstone.)
My experience in the Midwest wasn’t anything like that at all. And don’t lull yourself into thinking that we are somehow immune from this kind of thing on the coasts….
Minnesota’s former Governor’s comment on religion comes to mind…
Wow. That is my only reaction. I think she should be pained to think that a non-xian is actually being her “ruler”, her “king”, who is being forced upon her because of democracy. If she has her way, she would amend the constitution to the affect that only xians can run for office. Hmm, about xian variation of jijia tax?
It annoys me to great length that whenever I meet a xian, that he might be thinking of saving me and when I meet a muslim that he might be thinking that I am a kafir. Enough of these insults already.
I wanna say what Abhishek says in Sarkar – “Mein tumhara bhagwan pe viswaas nahi karta”
those who can only see darkness in others from which they want to save them will never see the light.
Prey.
Thanks for the Jesse Ventura link, an honest politician there!
Who will Jesus condescend to today?
😀 . That was hilarious.
My Dad always tells me this story about how when he first came to the states (for grad school) he ended up in the south. The year that he started his program, they rounded up all of the Indian graduate students and tried to covert them to Christianity. I guess some things never change.
my answer to all these people has always been:
Your God, being omniscient and all, still put me in a Hindu family knowing that I would never convert…what does that say to you about your God/religion etc.
this usually baffles people enough to keep em quiet. It doesn’t hurt that I can quote the Bible back to them when challenged 😛
a side note: did you know that the text “John 3:16” is printed on the bottom of Forever 21 shopping bags. Because the owner is religious. So religious infact, that he wants young girls to show off as much of their God-given bodies as possible, in slutty slutty clothing (I love this store :P, but I always refuse to take the bag)
Honestly guys, is this such a big deal?
I don’t exactly have the same perspective, being Catholic, but why does this admittedly irritating phenomena have to be anything other than a low-level annoyance?
Unless the same person keeps bugging you after you’ve made it clear you’re not interested, just consider it part of the background noise of society. I wouldn’t make massive generalizations based on it like “she would amend the Constitution” or “they think we’re savages.”
This email just seems like an overenthusiastic, pushy woman doing a little evangelizing in a private email to someone she never expects to see again. Just smile, nod, and move on.
CS
OMHG!!!(Oh my heathen God) Ignorant fool and one HELL of a sore loser!!! The thing about the US is that many Americans donÂ’t want to learn about other religions or learn to swallow the fact that the concept of religious tolerance exists. My sob story for being a hated hindu…. I was chatting with a colleague and in response to a statement I said “You have my word on that”, his response was, “Why would I trust your word when you arenÂ’t a Christian.” I usually would not dignify that with a reply, but I was shocked, you donÂ’t usually get this shit in diverse DC, so I replied, “So you donÂ’t think my word is worth much because I pray to god and not his son.” And yes, it was wrong but it made me feel better!!! Overall people like that arenÂ’t really doing the work of god; Mr. Anderson had better come up with a good excuse to explain his behavior when he meets his maker.
Kenyandesi – never noticed that about the Forever 21 shopping bags! Jesus would be pissed to be associated with cheap, poorly-finished, trendy, revealing clothing (much as I LOOOVE that store 😉
Remember that Britney Spears was evangelical too…and Jessica Simpson started out as a Christian singer.
ooppss, Sorry Ms Anderson!
I’m sure Jesus told him to put Asian and Latina women and girls in sweatshops to work all day for hardly any money.
The burger joint In-N-Out also prints Bible verses on its cups and wrappers.
Monotheism is the problem. If you are an honest/true believer in one of the Abrahamic faiths, you have no option but to proselytize. And to crow about the superiority of your god/prophet etc.
CS:
It would be just a minor annoyance because you dont have to feel and re-live the indifference that I do, when someone would insinuate that you are praying to a ‘false god’ or that that ‘many gods doesnt make sense’ etc. When someone says, “I dont want my daughter to marry a muslim, but if she likes a hindu boy, then it would be great if he goes to church also. About you name, you are a good man, I will pray for you, because I dont want you not to go to heaven just because you dont believe in jesus”.
Come on seriously, are these people for real?
I guess this was what she thought was meant by losing “with grace”. 😉
I would totally forgive them because they got such good taste in making fresh cut fries.. yumyum :)) Also, their minimum wage policy is unmatched by any other fast food joint.
Yeah it kindda is.
What she’s basically saying is, “you may have won this race, but you’re going to hell so nyeah nyeahnyeah nyeah nyeah!” it reeks of being a sore looser, and just like we don’t allow this kind of attitude/behaviour on a sports field, it shouldn’t be part of any civilized exchange between people.
I have no issue if I’m going through a tough time if anyone of any religion says “I’m praying for you”, but it’s very different from praying for my salvation/soul…I had a French teacher who would spend half of class time everyday praying for my and my Catholic friend’s souls (She believed Catholics were going to hell too). There was a girl who lived across the hall from me freshman year who had a prayer list by her bed. I was often on it (for the salvation of my soul, not because I was having a tough time)…
I have come to a point where I can ignore these kinds of people, but if I was to be put in a position where I had to listen to this kind of condescending drivel all the time (like in highschool) I’m not likely to be quiet about my discontent 😛
Exactly. Good old traditional MN passive-aggressiveness.
“You won the race, and that makes you petty because Jesus is what matters, not the race or your superior intelligence, etc.”
If I was Satveer, I’d send back a reply:
Thank you for your concern about the state of my afterlife. At this time however, it seems that God, yours if you insist, has decided that my time should be spent taking care of the state. Here’s wishing you lots of luck finding constructive things to do with all your spare time.
I think we should all be thoughtful and pitch in to send her one of those “What Would Krisha Do?” t-shirts. 😉
honestly, even a WWJD shirt would do, because like someone else mentioned, Jesus surely wouldn’t behave so badly…just his followers need reminding of that occasionally (as we all do 😛
Craig ThompsonÂ’s Blanket comes to mind.
Lonely kid raised in a strict evangelical family in the Midwest. Tries really hard to follow the scriptures. It all comes crashing down when he realizes that it is possible to have more than one interpretation of the Bible, due to complexities of translating from Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek etc.
The book is, among other things, a fair and compassionate portrayal of this culture. Worth checking out.
what a crappy conciliatory letter. definitely a sore loser.
what i don’t understand about minnesota is the how such disparate strands of political ideology co-exist prominently. there’s anderson types and then there is the whole wellstone camp. it makes no sense to me!
“He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine”
This has always been a point of contention for me. How can it make sense, both spiritually and logically, that a being could exonerate another’s transgressions or ‘sins’? Would it be acceptable for an innocent individual to stand in lieu of a guilty person in a court of law in this realm? How is that just and fair?
True, true. Y’know, I think someone should remind her that Jesus was not a good Christian, he was a nice Jewish boy.
Imaginary absurd convesation:
Random Guy: Hey there, Jesus
Jesus: What’s up, Dude?
Random Guy: Hey, I was wondering…um, have you noticed Jesus for yourself at any point in your life?
Jesus (confused): Um, I looked in the mirror this morning.
Random Guy: I mean have you REALLY and SERIOUSLY noticed Jesus for yourself?
Jesus: Do I have something on my face?
Random Guy: No, I mean…
Jesus: ‘Cause I just ate a mallowmar. Do I have chocolate or something on my face?
Random Guy: No. Listen, I just want to make sure that you have accepted Jesus..I mean yourself..I mean Jesus, you, know as your Lord and Savior and everything.
Jesus: Uh. Ok.
Oh that cheeky Jesus! 😉
Since as some would have it here, I am genetically inclined to call most of you kaffirs, being a Muslim, I have a question thats not directly related to the post but indirectly related.
Do some of you have problems with this kid of comment due to the let’s say simple rudeness and the implications of the comment only? Or is that many of you don’t hold your own inherited religous beliefs strongly or don’t care much about the varied theologies of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism? (I focus on Hinduism because it seems like most people responding are Hindu)
Being Muslim, when I have encountered a situation like this, I usually say something about the Trinity not being coherent and other theological arguments which gets them angry or introspective.Most Hindu cats I know don’t seem to really be concerned with their religion. The only Hindus I knew that consistently went to temple were Guyanese and Trini. Would it be accurate for me to say that most of you range from secular to agnostic to athiest? Also, most of you don’t know the theology of religio/philosophical ideas of Hinduism well enough to debate?
I hope my tone doesn’t come off as arrogant but I couldnt think of a better way to word what Im thinking.
This is probably only somewhat accurate as a whole. Speaking for myself, it is wholly accurate. Its a nice feature that allows us secular, thinking people to not go around blowing ourselves and others up in the name of a fairy tale.
SemiDesiMasala
I’d be totally suprised if she knew that Jesus was not only Jewish (but also a rabbi).
Anyways, here’s a really funny story about the lack of knowledge that he was Jewish (and a rabbi to boot). There is an English Prof who gives (at least 10 years ago was giving) amazing tours of the Chartres church in France. He has spent his life studying the church and writing about and also creating documentaries about it. He told us that on one of the documentaries on Channel 4 in UK, he talks about Jesus’ background including the fact he was jewish (and all the jewish stuff that is in Christainity including the fact that early christians had to get circumcized to convert to Christianity and obviously why this custom was quickly dropped with great relief to all the men converting over).
So after this particular documentary aired, the TV channel was flooded with calls about “the nonsense of Jesus being a Jew and what an idiot that person on the documentary was!!!!!
sp
As a born and raised Minnesotan Hindu who is just now getting out and about the rest of this country, I am glad that Satveer is making such a good example of a Hindu who is engaged in the civic processes of his community, rather than just critiquing how messed up the US, American and/or basic Western culture is.
I am learning that regardless of your faith, others will always try to pull you down when they are jealous of how they perceive your position in the community relative to theirs. There is a difference between being a civic individual and being one who finger points to get attention. Most of us unfortunately fall into the second category, and are folks who (like Kenyandesi keeps alluding to) canÂ’t let misguided venting of the ignorant passÂ…
I agree. It absolutely crushed my feelings when a high school “friend” once told me that it was impossible for me to be biracial and that I had to “pick” either my American side or my Indian side and that he thought I should pick the American side because if I chose to embrace being Indian (and in my case also learn about Hinduism), I would go straight to hell. He also firmly believed that Gandhi was going to hell because he wasn’t a christian. He was completely ignorant. He also tried to convince my biology teacher that the male skeleton has a rib missing on one side because the rib was taken to make eve.
It made me angry and things like that certainly still hurt my feelings but I’ve sort of accepted that there are a great many people like that in this world and I will have to put up with them from time to time.
Ghazali:
I am well aware of the nuances of my religion (the differences of various school of thoughts, etc), but I dont have time/patience/desire to debate with a stranger. In other words, I dont need to prove that I am superior because I am not taught to believe that other faiths are inferior.
To give a crude/nonreharsed example: Supposed you sneezed (due to dust) on subway and someone offered you cold medicine when you know you’re not cold, do you hold your next sneeze just to prove that you dont have cold? When I am not willing to accept an assumption at a “base/bodily” level, how do you make an assumption about my spiritual level?
Comprehendo?
“couldn’t fathom that there was a whole world where non-Christian people lived without spontaneously combusting due to the weight of their sin.”
chuckle.:)
I have no problem with the e-mail, other than I disagree with the contents. I’d feel the same way if Ms. Anderson asked Mr. Chaudury to become an enviromentalist. But of course, the prevailing opinion is that religion is a private matter and should not be part of the public discourse. I disagee. Religion is a public matter and should be up for debate just like every other subject. Many great politicians, like MLK and Reagan, tryed to impose their religious beliefs on others. As gandhi, who i ususally don’t agree with, once said…if you don’t think religion is political, you understand neither. (i can’t find this quote on the web so maybe i’m wrong)
But the rib should be missing only in Adam’s skeleton, no?
Sakshi,
😉 his reasoning skills were in need of improvement. (wink wink)
Sonya,
That is HI-larious!!! They don’t seem to get the absudity that if Jesus was Christian, he would be worshiping himself!! Funny. 🙂
What language is this?
Wow! This IS amazing. The she thinks its an acceptable way to respond. That some evangelizing sounds good. That evangelizing is the appropriate civic response when its time to concede. And if winning here is not important was was she, pray, in the race to begin with?
CS, Yes it is a big deal because it points to a fundamental difference in which religions permit their followers to behave. As Kritic points out, Abrahamic faiths by default require evangelizing, if not outright proselytization and conversion, because they are monopolistic. There’s only one right answer and followers are encouraged to act based on that belief. Hence this drivel about ‘save the heathens’, or ‘kill the infidel’, or unsolicited praying etc. are not just inconsequential noise, it often sets core state polity at a very deep level – observe throughout the last 2000yrs. Also, the monopolistic claim to ‘right-ness’ allows followers to interpret any behaviors (such as the drivel above) as permissive and true to faith. Quite simply, what you call noise is a symtom of basic intolerance. It may just be a crap email now, it was once the basis of inquisitions and crusades. This is why its a big deal.
Ghazali, Prasad’s post #43 basically states what I feel. If indeed your inquiry is honest, following is what I think: Reading your post, I interpret as being written from the baseline of how you read/see/follow your faith. Because Hinduism is pluralist, and sees the world as ‘there is one truth, sages see it in different ways’, I see your question coming from perhaps following your faith from one definitive source, with more or less literal interpretation (I could be wrong, but its based on my experience on friendships with self-described devout Muslims). Not decreeing the correctness of only one specific thing/concept/writing like in Islam does not mean a dilution of belief or indiffernce towards faith in Hinduism. Since Hinduism readily recognizes the possibility of multiple paths, and indeed umbreallas many variant paths itself, requires no more than benign indifference toward other paths from its followers. As Hindu, I really don’t care much about varied theologis of the various religions, or even within Hinduism. I am simply content to follow the path within it that makes sense to me WITHOUT evangelist onslaught, and believe such is the right of every other person. If I have interest in learning about other thoughts, it does not make me any less of a follower of Hinduism.
Going to Temple is another thing – going to the Mosque or Church is clearly of more import to the respective religions. Temples are important, but not AS important. A Hindu can have a shrine if he/she pleases, inside their home, or car, or whatever. Or not at all. Physical expression has no relationship to inner feeling of faith unlike some other religions.
By ‘most of you’ do you mean people on this board, or Hindus in general? There are like a billion Hindus give or take so most would mean about 1/2 a billion. I’m pretty sure the majority of Hindus would be able to debate the practical theology of their religion. I say practical because again, given the expanse of religious/spiritual thought Hinduism covers, and given that most Hindus cover a small subset of it, Hindus will debate from the philosophy they follow.
This kinda crap makes me want to take paint to my white skin. Absolutely ridiculous.
its ‘comprendo’ , spanish for “(you) understand”
I took an Art In Religion class in college. I once heard from the teaching assistant* that “you have to be born a Hindu and converting is not allowed or accepted.” He said some Brahmin told him that. That kinda runs contrary to what my Hindu friends and family say… So wassup with that? Anybody know the truth to it? Or was he just tryin’ to holla at yours truly by perpetratin like a mothafucker?
*arrogant white guy looking to impress this so-called exotic latina with his ‘eastern knowledge’