Hindu, Sikh leaders take part in inter-faith service ahead of US prez election
THE CONVENTION WILL FORMALLY NOMINATE JOE BIDEN AS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
WASHINGTON: Scriptures from Vedas and Mahabharata rendered by a Hindu woman from Chinmaya Mission in Texas and prayer by a Sikh community leader from Wisconsin gurdwara echoed at an interfaith service held virtually to kick off the historic Democratic National Convention.
The four-day convention beginning on Monday will formally nominate former vicepresident Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate for the November 3 elections and Indian-origin senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.national Faith
Engagement director at Biden for President, Josh Dickson held an inter-faith service to celebrate America’s collective strength, diversity, and humanity.
The meeting was opened by Pardeep Kaleka, son of Oak Creek gurdwara founder Sawant Singh Kaleka, who died in a mass shooting at the gurdwara in 2012.
In August, 2012, the mass shooting has taken place at the gurdwara in Wisconsin, where a 40-year-old white supermacist shot dead six people and wounded four others. A seventh victim died of his wounds later. Accused Wade Michael Page committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he was shot in the hip by a responding police officer.
“Our unified prayers should inspire action. Action to continuously reform policies and governance, and commit to act for betterment of all. We ask God to give us courage to face the current challenges of 2020,” said Kaleka, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee. “Our inter-faith community is no stranger to the collective burden against hate and violence as we witnessed eight years ago at the Wisconsin gurdwara. But healing is much more powerful than hate,” he said. Other attendees include Marin Webster Denning, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin and member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin; Imam Noman Hussain, an Islamic studies instructor at Salam School, an Islamic school of about 1,000 students in Milwaukee; and Bishop William Murphy III, lead pastor of the Dream Centre Church of Atlanta.