A Hindu Prayer in the Senate Meets Protest

A Hindu clergyman made history by offering the Senate’s morning prayer, but only after police officers removed three shouting protesters from the visitors’ gallery. The clergyman, Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., gave the brief prayer that opens each day’s Senate session. As he stood at the lectern, two women and a man began shouting “this is an abomination” from the gallery. They were arrested and were charged with disrupting Congress. The man told a reporter, “We are Christians and patriots.”