Hindus and Baptists

[Will Esser]

An interesting piece listed on CNN this morning.
Apparently, the Southern Baptist Convention has issued
a large number of booklets urging its members to pray
for the souls of "the millions of Hindus 'lost in the
hopeless darkness of Hinduism.'" Among other things,
the booklet says that Hindus have no concept of sin or
personal responsibility.  The booklets are being
issued to coincide with Divali, the major Hindu
festival of lights.

Needless to say, many Hindu leaders are upset about
the whole thing.  The question I would address to the
list is this:

Are there circumstances in which religious speech such
as this would rise to the level of fighting words?
Many religious groups seem to target other religions
for conversion during big festivals and events.  An
example was the recent visit of the Pope to St. Louis
in January.  Seventh Day Adventists made a large
appearance handing out literature denouncing the
Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon.  Perhaps not
a pleasant experience for the attending Catholics but
it never was more than a peaceful distribution of
literature.

At what point do we reach a borderline though?  Is
this a situation in which we follow Smith and merely
apply generally applicable laws or do we need to delve
into hybrid analysis?

The CNN piece can be found at:

http://www.cnn.com/US/9910/21/prayers.for.hindus.ap/index.html

Will Esser
Law Clerk

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Will Esser
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Trail/3096
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