Harmeet Dhillon, the conservative activist who closed the first night of the RNC with a Sikh prayer, is responding to criticism from conservative Christians about the prayer. “The Republican party is not a church,” she said. “I come from a family of Sikh immigrants and I’m honored to share with you, my fellow Republicans and guests tonight, a prayer from my faith and tradition practiced by over 25 million worldwide,” she announced on the first night of the RNC as she covered her head with a head covering. She opened her prayer, “Dear Waheguru, our one true God.”
Despite saying that reactions at the convention were “100 percent positive,” Dhillon did face backlash online. Ben Zeisloft, editor at the Republican Sentinel who previously worked at the Daily Wire until its co-CEO Jeremy Boering blasted him for an article that was critical of “The Chosen,” called it a “prayer to a demon.” “The RNC featured a prayer to a demon. Did anyone turn their backs? Did anyone leave the room? Was there any resistance to this at all?” he wrote on X. Another user responded saying, “The RNC last night featured a Sikh prayer to a pagan mother/father god, are there any Christians out there that are bothered by that? Does the Republican Party now need a #coexist bumper sticker? Jesus shares His glory with no one. Revelation 1:8 KJV.”
Dhillon said she offered the prayer to show others like her that they are welcome in the Republican party. “I think it is important that I communicate to my community that we are welcome in this party and our votes are welcome and our support is welcome. Our candidacies are welcome and we are welcome. And how do you make that clear? And I think one of these ways to do that is to show that there are people of our faith on the stage and that we are welcome,” she told The Christian Post. She said criticism was coming from a much smaller extreme group within the party. “And it’s mainly been some, frankly, hateful antisemitic people who are using the opportunity to attack me. They would have the same reaction to a rabbi doing a prayer, I believe.” She wrote on X her belief that Waheguru, the Sikh name for god, is the same God. “There is one God. We all believe in the same God.” Several users on X, however, pointed out that the Sikh religion does not recognize Jesus Christ as God. “Respectfully and kindly, No. OT or NT didn’t give any other names besides YHWH and Jesus,” wrote one user. “Jesus is the only way to Heaven – John 14.6. The ten Commandments are His Commands. Sikhism and Indian Religion are part of the Romans 1 creature worship.”