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The Hindu American Foundation
(HAF) wrote a letter in response to a India West letter, “Develop Domestic Religious Workers” published on Sept 15 , 2007.
Published in India West, October 4th 2007
FREMONT, Ca (Sept 15, 2007) - Raju George C. Thomas’s recent letter to the editor entitled “Develop Domestic Religious Workers” was deeply disturbing for its blatant attacks on the Hindu community in the US.
By emphasizing the “Christian character of the U.S.” and the immigrants who are Christian or have converted to Christianity, Mr. Thomas explicitly asserts that one needs to be Christian or accept Christian values in order to be American. This is a highly dangerous and divisive message that ignores the fact that America is a multicultural and pluralistic society, not a Christian nation.
Mr. Thomas also claims that Hindus are trying to change the “Christian face” of America and “should learn to become more Americanized like other immigrants.” Contrary to Mr. Thomas’s beliefs, Hindu immigrants are well assimilated into American society, and the fact that Hindus choose to practice their religion by building temples does not make them any less American. Hindus, like all other religious groups in the U.S., have the right to construct temples to serve the needs of their community.
Although Mr.Thomas’s letter only singles out Hindus, it implicitly attacks all non-Christians in the U.S. who seek to preserve and express their religious identity.
Regarding Mr. Thomas’s argument that the State Department is entitled to place limitations and quotas on the immigration of religious workers, he completely misses the point. Hindu Americans are not asking that religious workers be allowed into this country unrestricted or in unlimited numbers, as Mr. Thomas alleges, but rather that the R-1 Visa regulations take into account their unique religious traditions and temple occupations. In other words, Hindus merely want the R-1 categories to reflect America’s religious diversity, instead of being strictly based on a Judeo-Christian paradigm.
Mr. Thomas also contends that Hindu religious workers should be developed from the domestic Hindu population, and if there is a shortage, then Hindus should just stop building temples. Thus, according to Mr. Thomas’s reasoning, Hindus are only entitled to construct temples if they have a domestic supply of workers. This argument is illogical as it assumes that Hindu religious workers can be trained and developed overnight, when in reality this may take years. Consequently, there is the need to bring religious workers from India, who are already trained and highly skilled.
It is very unfortunate and disappointing that Mr. Thomas chose to use misleading arguments in order to distort and malign a legitimate issue of concern to Hindus.
Samir Kalra
Member, Hindu American Foundation Working Group
The Hindu American Foundation
is a non-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting
the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance
and pluralism.
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