Have false gods infiltrated American politics? 'Politics in the Pews' podcast explores
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In the most recent episode of The Christian Post's new podcast "Politics in the Pews," host and Christian Post reporter Ian Giatti explored the concerns some Christians might have regarding the faith of the candidates running for president and the potential spiritual dangers of religious syncretism in politics.
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In the third episode, titled "Kamala, Waheguru, and Other False Gods: The Identity Campaign of 2024," Giatti discusses these issues with GOP official Harmeet Dhillon, British Catholic cleric Fr. Calvin Robinson, Family Research Council Senior Fellow Meg Kilgannon, Pastor Rob Ketterling of River Valley Church in Minnesota, CatholicVote.org president Brian Burch and political consultant Ryan James Girdusky.
Giatti begins with the backlash to Dhillon's formal invocation of Waheguru — the supreme deity of Sikhism — at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last month.
The last prayer offered during the convention's opening night featured Dillon warbling a Sikh prayer to Waheguru while dressed in traditional Indian garb. A Dharmic religion that originated in India, Sikhism claims approximately 25 million adherents worldwide, though only about 500,000 live in the United States, according to the Sikh Coalition.
Dhillon's prayer to the Sikh god, whom she described as "the one true god" during the prayer, drew backlash from some who accused the pro-Trump attorney of effectively invoking a demonic entity masquerading as God, prompting Dillon to claim to detractors that "we all believe in the same God."
Dillon also pushed back on her critics during an interview with CP, rejecting the notion that her prayer was a symptom of encroaching multiculturalism and diversity.
"We need all the blessings we can get," she said. "This country is in dire circumstances right now. President Trump was just shot. My husband and I prayed together when he was shot, and that is what we do, faithful people in this country."
Noting how her prayer to Waheguru was preceded at the convention by Christian prayers, she said, "If you're Christian, I don't know how you could feel left out. There was something for everyone in that program, and I have bobbed my head and said 'amen' literally thousands of times at Republican events because I respect all people of faith."
"My faith respects all people of faith. We don't proselytize. It does not bother me that the majority of Americans pray differently than me," she added.
British Catholic cleric Calvin Robinson, however, warned that any attempt to conflate false gods with the biblical God ignores the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ and risks leading people into error and damnation, even if done so in the name of political unity.
"We've reached an age of universalism, where everyone thinks that all gods the same, all religions are the same; we're all worshiping the same thing, it doesn't really matter," said Robinson, who left the Church of England over its increasing liberalism to join the Old Catholic Church.
Noting how Christ claims to be "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and that nobody comes to the Father except through Him, Robinson said that "the loving thing to do is to challenge these pagan ideas of universalism and Hinduism, Sikhism, Mohammedanism — all of all of the -isms. As good Christians, as faithful Christians, as loving Christians, we should be challenging them."
Ketterling, the founder and lead pastor of River Valley Church in the Minneapolis area, said he was discouraged to see GOP leaders "promoting the prayer in the name of a false deity."
"But then I realized that I could share the platform with somebody who has a different view of me, even religiously, even somebody who I believe would be worshiping an idol or a false god," he added, noting the importance he would place on having his own ideas represented on the platform too.
He noted, however, that had he been at the RNC Convention, he would not have bowed his head during a prayer to another god and would likely have started to make for the exit.
Giatti went on to note how just days after the Sikh invocation at the RNC, President Joe Biden stepped aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee to be replaced by Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, whose given names also allude to goddesses of the subcontinent.
Giatti noted that for her supporters, Harris' diverse background "represents a historic opportunity when it comes to identity politics," but noted her support for far-left legislation such as the Equality Act.
Meg Kilgannon, who serves as a senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council, suggested supporters of the Equality Act such as Harris try to use civil rights as a "skin suit" to enshrine sexuality and gender identity protections into law, which she warned would infringe upon religious liberty.
"It's not just that we want to go to church on Sunday, it's that our faith informs every part of our lives, and so it's impossible for us to segregate our beliefs from our everyday life," Kilgannon said. "We can't do that, not if we're living authentically, right? And do we get to be who we are? Do we get to love who we love? I love God, right? I love my fellow man."
Noting how The Associated Press has described Harris as "Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi," Giatti said that Harris used the Bible in an attempt to buttress her radically liberal position on abortion.
CatholicVote.org President Brian Burch described Harris as "the most anti-Catholic nominee in history" because of her views on abortion and other key issues.
"Kamala Harris represents the most vile anti-Catholic threat of any leading candidate for president in American history. She is a candidate of the hard left, and her record and her words demonstrate a gross anti-Catholic bias and bigotry," Burch said.
Ryan James Girdusky, a political consultant and Roman Catholic who worked for the Protect Ohio Values PAC that helped elect Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, maintained to CP that he questions whether Harris has a deep faith at all.
"I don't even know if Kamala is Christian, I actually don't know that answer," he said. "She is obviously in an interfaith marriage with a Jew, which is fine, but she is also somebody who said she has celebrated Kwanzaa, although that is clearly a lie, because the years when she said she had celebrated, it wasn't invented yet — it's a completely made-up Afro-nationalist holiday."
Girdusky pointed out that Harris "has never hinted really around faith very much whatsoever," and that such was likely unnecessary in the liberal San Francisco political world from which she emerged.
"But I don't believe Kamala Harris has a deep faith, nor has she ever hat tipped to people of faith. I don't believe Trump has a very deep connection to faith, either. However, he knew where the voters were, so he had no problem making peace with their issues. I don't think Kamala is going to do that," he added.
Girdusky also touched on the far-left radical views of Harris' running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a member of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He said Walz's views reflect the "lunatic" concerns of "the online left, people who say insanely nutty things" such as demanding tampons in high school boys' restrooms.
"There's nothing that he doesn't try to chase the most lunatic, insane portion of the left down, and that's extremely problematic."
Ketterling remembered how his church was straining under the boot of Walz’s “authoritarian” COVID-19 mandates, prompting him to join forces with Catholic Archbishop Bernard Hebda to declare their churches essential and reopen regardless of gubernatorial decree.
"What I told the church, I said, 'We're not defying our authority. We're defying the governor who has stepped out from authority,'" Ketterling recalled. "When I think about him on a national level, it was very authoritarian. It was not bipartisan."
Ketterling also suggested that Harris is the epitome of religious syncretism, which he defined as the "false belief [that] all roads lead to God and everything is good." If she is elected, he said, "I do think that it'd be a step in the direction of saying we're rejecting the things of God."
Harmeet Dillon, however, suggested that part of the political process necessitates the "building of relationships" even among people with differing theological beliefs.
Calvin Robinson echoed Dillon by asserting that Christians can by all means work together with those of other beliefs insofar as they align on their politics, but warned against compromising on the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ as an expression of "one, universal truth."
Closing on the idea of "universal truth," Giatti observed that "in an election chock-full of political and theological syncretism — one in which politicians often strive to be all things to all people — it just may be the one thing that could inspire Christians to cast their vote this November."
