DES MOINES, IOWA, USA, March 25, 2006: Although it didn’t receive a lot of fanfare, something historic happened this month at the Capitol. For the first time, a Hindu priest offered the opening prayer at the legislative session in the Iowa House and Senate. Pandit Krishna Pandey prayed in Sanskrit and English for brotherhood and peace in the universe. That Pandey was invited and welcomed is a tribute to lawmakers’ recognition of Iowa’s growing religious diversity. That it didn’t cause a stir is an important signal that minority religions are respected and accepted in this predominantly Christian state. The invitation extended to Pandey and Suren Gupta, chairman of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center, came from Sen. Herman Quirmbach and Rep. Lisa Heddens, Ames Democrats. Quirmbach, Heddens and Rep. Swati Dandekar, a Democrat from Marion who is of Indian descent and Hindu, attended the June, 2005, dedication of the Hindu temple outside Madrid. “We decided at that time to invite them to do the opening prayer as a way to welcome them to Iowa and celebrate the congregation’s establishing the temple,” Quirmbach said. “As far as I know, it is the first time a Hindu priest has ever led the prayer. It was a unique experience, and everybody was thrilled.” Heddens said she, too, received favorable response from House colleagues for the March 15 prayer. “I was very moved by the singing or chanting of the prayer,” Heddens said. “The priest talked about recognizing one another and promoting peace. That’s a bond that we, as a people, have.”
Although construction of a temple may have put the Des Moines and Ames Hindu community on the map, those who worship there are not new to Iowa. The Hindu presence is well established. Gupta, for instance, has lived in Iowa for four decades. His children and grandchildren were born in the United States. The congregation membership includes doctors, Iowa State University professors, Des Moines-area business executives and scientists. The temple membership hovers around 500, with at least that many celebrating the Hindu Festival of Colors on March 18. Gupta estimates 1,200 Hindus live in the area and about 4,000 reside elsewhere in the state. “The temple made a difference,” Gupta said. “It is doing what it was supposed to do, provide a place of worship, establish a peaceful environment and a way of introducing Iowans to our religion.” It’s just another piece of Iowa religious history, something a majority of Americans believe should be taught in public schools.
A recent national poll conducted by the Sacred Heart University polling institute found that 79 percent of those surveyed believed strongly or somewhat strongly agreed that “textbooks should include our religious past and religious traditions in order to understand the present.” Should U.S. religious history become part of Iowa public school curriculum, students would learn that our nation was founded on religious exclusion. The Naturalization Act of 1740 required people to live here seven years, to swear loyalty to the Crown and to show evidence of Christianity. No Catholics could apply. In 1790, naturalization was restricted to “free white persons.” The 1917 Immigration Act excluded people born in India, Indochina, the East Indies, Polynesia, parts of Russia, Arabia and Afghanistan. In 1924, 82 percent of visas went to northern and western Europe, 16 percent to southern and eastern Europe and 2 percent to the rest of the world. In 1948, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act, giving preference to people coming from the Baltic states while excluding more than 90 percent of displaced Jews. It wasn’t until passage of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 that religious diversity took off. It opened immigration to Asians, stressed family reunification, allowed 120,000 immigrants from the Western Hemisphere and 170,000 from elsewhere each year.