The following statement by the Right Reverend J Jon Bruno, bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles (Episcopal Church), was read out at the interfaith meeting and Indian-style Mass on January 19.
Reverend Bruno could not attend the service due to a family emergency. The event was held to mark three years of dialogue between Hindu monastics and the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles:
"The dialogue, in which representatives of our two great religious traditions have been engaged, represents what is possible when we give ourselves to the journey of mutual understanding, with absolute respect for each other's religious values and beliefs. Such mutual respect has not always been the case.
Members of the Christian tradition have often shown great disrespect for the Hindu faith. Too often in history, Christian clergy have treated Hindus as the subjects of our efforts at conversion, rather than as equally beloved children of God and equal partners in the moral, philosophical, and religious dialogue that we must engage in, if we are to serve the human race and respond to the call of the Divine in our time.
It is my prayer and my request that we continue to engage in such a dialogue, seeking to build up the Beloved Community, envisioned by both Hindu and Christian religious leaders. I hope that more leaders of both of our communities will become involved in this dialogue.
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. 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 for the religious and racial discrimination that Christians have directed towards Hindus for far too long.
Such discrimination is wrong; it is a sin. There is no justification for it. No matter who was responsible for this discrimination, it is the duty of Christian leaders to take a stand publicly and to exercise the influence of our offices to declare that this discrimination must not be supported in any way.
As Christians in the tradition of the Episcopal Church, we recognise in our Baptismal Covenant that God calls us to 'strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being.'
We pledge our efforts to assist you as your community strives for justice and equality. We commit ourselves to renounce proselytizing of Hindus. We seek to engage with you in the great divine task of our time: to work for reconciliation and peace, honouring the God-given dignity of each person, sharing and learning the divine wisdom of each other's traditions, recognising God's equal love for each of us, and sincerely responding to God's desire to bring us together in one human family, rich in diversity and mutual love."
