Nuxoll: 'Evidence of America's Christian foundation is clear'

by From staff and wire reports
| March 7, 2015 8:00 PM

Religious leaders of various faiths are seeking a public apology from Idaho Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll for a statement she made regarding the Hindu faith.

Nuxoll told members of the media in Boise Friday that she would not apologize for her comments.

Rajan Zed, a Hindu leader who delivered the invocation at the start of the workday Tuesday in the Idaho Legislature's Senate chamber, issued a press release Friday calling for the apology. Zed noted Nuxoll said: "Hindu is a false faith with false gods."

Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, and two other state senators, including Steve Vick of Dalton Gardens, refused to attend the invocation.

Nuxoll said she did not attend the prayer because she believes the United States is a Christian nation, according to the Associated Press.

She said she didn't mean to call Hinduism a "false religion."

The religious leaders calling for an apology include an Episcopal bishop, a Roman Catholic official, a Jewish rabbi, a United Church of Christ pastor and a Buddhist leader.

Rabbi ElizaBeth Beyer, a Jewish leader in California and Nevada, said Nuxoll "should be called upon to offer a public apology and perhaps even be sanctioned by the Senate for her inappropriate, insensitive and insulting remarks."

"I am a Christian. And I don't feel that my faith and my relationship with God would suffer in any way by being present at and grateful for an opening prayer offered by a Hindu," said Andy Hill, director of For Goodness Sake Spirituality Center in California.

Nuxoll said she thinks Zed can say a Hindu prayer anywhere in the state Capitol, but she cannot support a Hindu prayer during a floor session.

"It is a Christian nation based on Christian principles," she said. "I would've been fine if we had also had a Christian prayer."

David Adler, a constitutional law professor at Boise State University, said Nuxoll's view of the United States is incorrect.

"She has betrayed the very constitutional justification for legislative prayer - religious pluralism," he said. Adler said if all legislators agreed with Nuxoll, it would represent an establishment of religion and violate the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Nuxoll said she has received several negative emails on the issue, but also some positive.