NEW YORK, February 25, 2008: A wholehearted apology from a Christian community to Hindus worldwide, which also denounced proselytization by Christian missionaries, has triggered a debate among pastors across the United States.
The apology, tendered by Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles, is arguably the first of its kind by a major Christian congregation, and was issued “for centuries-old acts of religious discrimination by Christians, including attempts to convert them.”
While some Episcopal Christians have protested against the apology, made during a special Mass on January 19 in the presence of over 100 HIndu spiritual leaders and lay people, organizers of the event insist it was the right step in the right direction.
“I believe that the world cannot afford for us to repeat the errors of our past, in which we sought to dominate rather than to serve,” Bruno said in a statement. “In this spirit, and in order to take another step in building trust between our two great religious traditions, I offer a sincere apology to the Hindu religious community.”