RNC official blames 'hateful, antisemitic people' for response to Sikh prayer
“The Republican party is not a church.”
Attorney and conservative political activist Harmeet Dhillon isn’t mincing words over criticism of her Sikh prayer at the conclusion of the first night of last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
She says feedback was “100 percent positive” at the convention despite backlash from public figures and others on social media.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Dhillon’s prayer, which included the statement, “Dear Waheguru, our one true God,” came on the heels of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“I come from a family of Sikh immigrants and I'm honored to share with you, my fellow Republicans and guests tonight, a prayer from my faith and tradition practiced by over 25 million worldwide,” she told the crowd before covering her head with a traditional religious covering.
Dhillon, 55, rose to national prominence after she filed a series of lawsuits against California's stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus emergency, and later ran unsuccessfully for chairperson of the Republican National Committee. She now serves as RNC National Committeewoman for California and Western Region Vice Chairwoman of the RNC.
When asked about her Sikh prayer, Dhillon told CP she “has sat through thousands of prayers of other denominations over the years” and believes her prayer was part of a key effort to “get as many votes as possible from Jews, from Sikhs, from different kinds of Christians, Hindus, Muslims” ahead of the November election.
“I think it is important that I communicate to my community that we are welcome in this party and our votes are welcome and our support is welcome. Our candidacies are welcome and we are welcome,” she said Thursday via Zoom. “And how do you make that clear? And I think one of these ways to do that is to show that there are people of our faith on the stage and that we are welcome.”
As a delegate for Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention, Dhillon, who was raised in a devout Sikh family, offered a similar prayer which was received with far less controversy. She says the RNC asked her not to deliver the prayer during the 2020 convention, which was held online.
Dhillon says while she’s not sure why this particular prayer was criticized, she rejects the suggestion that it was part of a GOP “diversity” effort.
“The RNC was fully supportive of [her praying] in 2016 and 2024. I was not asked to do it in our truncated convention in 2020,” she said. “I am a member of the RNC. And so the one thing that offends me is people suggesting this is some kind of a diversity issue.
“And it's mainly been some, frankly, hateful antisemitic people who are using the opportunity to attack me. They would have the same reaction to a rabbi doing a prayer, I believe.”
While raising some eyebrows among the GOP faithful, Dhillon’s Sikh prayer at a Republican convention was not unprecedented: in 2012, Florida businessman Ishwar Singh became the first Sikh American in U.S. history to deliver the invocation at a national convention.
Singh, who is the president of the Sikh Society of Central Florida, delivered the invocation just weeks after a shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, left six dead and three others wounded.
Dr. Richard Land, executive editor of The Christian Post and former head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said in his Friday column that "Ms. Dhillon’s prayer should serve as a classic example of the 'pluralism' that we say we believe in in America."
Land explained that pluralism "is the belief that everyone in America has the right, based on the Constitution and its First Amendment, to express their religious beliefs according to the dictates of their own consciences in the public square without fear of censorship, bias or prejudice."
Progressives, he added, "have attempted to achieve religious 'neutrality' in the public square by enforcing a religiously sanitized public square. Alternatively, many have tried to exclude all but the majority religious viewpoint. Both of these approaches are flawed and wrong, and both violate some citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of religion."
The reaction from Republicans and other Trump supporters to Dhillon’s prayer ranged from calling her speech “inappropriate” to “satanic,” while others suggested the event itself promoted questionable theological statements.
Calvin Robinson, a former Anglican priest, current Catholic cleric and co-host of the "Fox & Father" podcast with Laurence Fox, praised Dhillon's track record of working toward conservative causes even as he criticized her "one true God" statement.
Harmeet Dhillon has done great work. She should be invited on stage to speak about that and to support President Trump.
— Fr Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) July 16, 2024
But to invite her to pray to a pagan god, leading those prayers with “Dear Waheguru, our one true God” is entirely inappropriate.
What is worse is all the… https://t.co/C9WvsCWLbS
Conservative commentator Stew Peters accused the RNC of promoting "satanic chants and multiple prayers to FALSE GODS" with Dhillon's prayer.
Day 1 of the RNC was complete with satanic chants and multiple prayers to FALSE GODS. pic.twitter.com/Bb6vbeOIbk
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) July 16, 2024
Thomas S. Kidd, research professor of Church History at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, contended that allowing such prayers could suggest "all religions are equally valid."
If (say) a political convention is not an appropriate venue to affirm one religion as uniquely true, it is also improper to offer *acts of worship* by people of multiple faiths. Doing so suggests all religions are equally valid, especially in our diversity-obsessed culture.
— Thomas S. Kidd (@ThomasSKidd) July 16, 2024
Others, such as Pritpal Singh, American Sikh Caucus Committee member, hailed Dhillon's prayer as a "remarkable achievement" for Sikh Americans.
Truly inspiring to see a Sikh American leading the opening of the Republican convention with an Ardaas. This powerful testament to our faith and values fills us with immense pride. Thank you, Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, for this remarkable achievement! @pnjabanpic.twitter.com/dqvEW2VJC0
— Pritpal Singh (@PritpalASCC) July 16, 2024
Later that evening, Dhillon stated that Waheguru, the deity which she invoked onstage at the RNC and what Sikhs believe to be the "the distinctive name of the Supreme Being in the Sikh dispensation, like Yahweh in Judaism and Allah in Islam," is the “same God” as that of Christianity and other faiths.
There is one God. We all believe in the same God.
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) July 16, 2024
Despite the social media backlash, said Dillon, convention members showed “overwhelming warmth and support" after her prayer.
"People on the RNC who didn't vote for me, members of the Trump family, members of our legislatures, Congress, senators, governors, I have just received overwhelming warmth and support,” she said. “People who are elected, they get it. They get that. We need to welcome everyone into our party if you want to win elections.”
Although the U.S. Census does not ask respondents to identify their religion, nearly 70,700 Americans — representing roughly 0.02% of the U.S. population — identified Sikh as their ethnicity in the 2020 census.
While a number of different religions and faith traditions were represented at the 2024 RNC, including Catholicism, Judaism and Islam, Dhillon’s prayer stood in stark contrast to a prayer from Evangelical preacher Franklin Graham, who delivered his trademark Gospel message from the RNC stage.
“One thing I do know is that God loves us and he wants us to be with him in heaven one day. And that’s through faith in his son, Jesus Christ,” Graham told the audience. “Sadly, as a nation, we have forgotten who is responsible for all the freedoms, the liberties and the bounty we enjoy.”
After praising Trump’s record of appointing conservative, pro-life judges, Graham closed his prayer by invoking the name of Jesus.
“We ask that you’ll unite our hearts, bring us together, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” he said in his prayer. “And we pray this in the mighty name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the lord of lords. Amen.”
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post and the author of BACKWARDS DAD: a children's book for grownups. He can be reached at: [email protected].
