Can a Catholic pray with a Hindu?

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Lucretius

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I can understand how a Catholic could pray with a Jew, non-Catholic Christian, and even a Muslim (as the Church teaches that they all believe in the same God). However, how can a Catholic pray with a Hindu? Isn’t our view of Divinity too different that prayer would be fruitless? Furthermore, wouldn’t this be like a Catholic prayer to other gods?

Thank you for your responses.

Christi pax,

Lucretius
 
You may pray to the Christian god while in the presence of a Hindu who is praying to one of his gods. You may attend a hindu service, but you may not participate. You would be an observer only.
 
Lucretius said:
I can understand how a Catholic could pray with a Jew, non-Catholic Christian, and even a Muslim (as the Church teaches that they all believe in the same God). However, how can a Catholic pray with a Hindu? Isn’t our view of Divinity too different that prayer would be fruitless? Furthermore, wouldn’t this be like a Catholic prayer to other gods?

Thank you for your responses.

Christi pax,

Lucretius
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Lucretius, in the OT, it states clearly that we are to be patient with people who use other weird concepts to describe the Divine because our Creator says quite clearly that although they are muddled they are trying to reach Him. Our Lady of Guadalupe also suggested the same when a message was to be sent to the Aztec people. Point being, that you can pray to He Who has revealed Himself in fullness to you, and they can pray along too in their own way, although with an obscure version of who He is, because our Creator knows they are just trying to reach Him. But what we don’t do is to join in worshipping their idea of who our Creator is because that would be to renounce our own belief.
 
You mean as the Pope prayed this morning at Ground Zero?
 
fwiw, I have read here that praying along side is different than praying with.
 
mark_a said:
fwiw, I have read here that praying along side is different than praying with.
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It could be. My guess is that those men and women today prayed with. There was sacredness present in those prayers.
 
Well, to answer the OP.

To pray to a Hindu god, or any other god save the true God, would be an act of idolatry, and a mortal sin against the Faith without doubt. Idolatry is alsways and everywhere forbidden under all circumstances.

To pray with a Hindu, is a different situation, but to show any approval of it, would be a mortal sin, since it would be to counsel one to remain in the darkness of idolatry.

To simply say a prayer to God, while the Hindu prays to his own gods, for the sake of civility, in such a way that the idolatry is shunned, or at least not partaken in, or in any way shown approval, is no sin at all.

Benedicat Deus,
Latinitas
 
To pray to a Hindu god, or any other god save the true God, would be an act of idolatry, and a mortal sin against the Faith without doubt. Idolatry is alsways and everywhere forbidden under all circumstances.
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Technically, the Hindus do not engage in idolatry. They believe in a single Creator, with many divine manifestations.

In simplistic terms, the Creator has the ability to manifest Himself in hundreds of thousands of ways - as a Burning Bush, as Word Incarnate in the form of Christ, as the Holy Ghost, etc.

Just as in the Christian and Jewish faiths we have multiple names for the Creator - Elohim, Christ, Adonai, Holy Ghost, Yahweh, Hashem, etc. - the Hindus have different names for the varied manifestations of the Divine Creator. Ultimately, these Hindu “gods” are not gods - They are manifestations of the one Creator.

It’s always better to take a step back before we label others we don’t understand. Hinduism is, after all, thousands of years old, and many righteous saints and holy people have come from this faith. Speaking ill of others - referred to as “lashon hara” in the Jewish faith - is a mortal sin, after all.
 
The beauty of Hinduism is that they can fully embrace your God. Please turn this around. Ask the Hindu to pray with you. Their view is inclusive of the Christian God and they are comfortable praying with you even if you are not comfortable praying with them.

(Had a Hindi roommate)
 
mark_a said:
fwiw, I have read here that praying along side is different than praying with.
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I’d only caution about everything read on CAF. I’ve read a baptized Catholic is not a Catholic for this or that reason. And that’s not the Catholic Church’s answer on even something as basic as that. What I know is this Pope has made it clear he wants everyone to pray for him and even those of no belief to send him good wishes. He never said but only pray for me if your belief is Christian, Jew, or Muslim. So obviously he wants the prayers of Hindus. He wants to do unto others as others do unto you. He didn’t say except in prayer, you pray with me but I’m only going to pray alongside. In his speech to Congress he referenced Thomas Merton. Who the Holy Father said was a “man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions”. Religions. Plural.

Nothing in any of that sounds to me as if this Pope was not praying with them today. So I must agree with those who have said he was praying with and not just alongside. Then they embraced and gave each other the sign of peace. It was a very special and warm moment with as ComplineSanFran said, sacredness in the prayers. Peace.
 
I have been at many Interfaith gatherings, and usually the creators of the liturgy try to make the words and prayers and readings as appropriate as they can. Not everyone prays the same words. Not everyone understands what Divine/God means for each other. BUT, for people of faith, I do believe that everyone understands and recognizes what is sacred. what is holy.

And that is where we meet.

This morning, at Ground Zero, when Cantor Azi Schwartz sang El Maleh Rachamim for the souls of those who had died, you knew that it must have touched every person there, and that each person recognized the sacredness of that prayer. Even the Hindus, even the pagans, even the Native Americans. And of course the Pope himself. How could one not?

When the Pope spoke of Thomas Merton, I knew that in part it was because of his willingness to step outside of his Catholic tradition and listen to other faiths, learn something about them, and perhaps to pray with them. That was one gift that Merton gave us - how to engage with other people of faith.

I listen to this Pope, his language of listening and dialoging, and it makes my heart sing.
 
StGerardMajella said:
Technically, the Hindus do not engage in idolatry. They believe in a single Creator, with many divine manifestations.

In simplistic terms, the Creator has the ability to manifest Himself in hundreds of thousands of ways - as a Burning Bush, as Word Incarnate in the form of Christ, as the Holy Ghost, etc.

Just as in the Christian and Jewish faiths we have multiple names for the Creator - Elohim, Christ, Adonai, Holy Ghost, Yahweh, Hashem, etc. - the Hindus have different names for the varied manifestations of the Divine Creator. Ultimately, these Hindu “gods” are not gods - They are manifestations of the one Creator.

It’s always better to take a step back before we label others we don’t understand. Hinduism is, after all, thousands of years old, and many righteous saints and holy people have come from this faith. Speaking ill of others - referred to as “lashon hara” in the Jewish faith - is a mortal sin, after all.
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This is actually incorrect. We cannot say that our Creator is a mishmash of Avatars. Our Creator is who He has revealed Himself to be. Those Avatars are of human design. However, the Hindu reach for the transcendent is to be acknowledged as attempts to reach the one Creator.
 
Latinitas said:
Well, to answer the OP.

To pray to a Hindu god, or any other god save the true God, would be an act of idolatry, and a mortal sin against the Faith without doubt. Idolatry is alsways and everywhere forbidden under all circumstances.

To pray with a Hindu, is a different situation, but to show any approval of it, would be a mortal sin, since it would be to counsel one to remain in the darkness of idolatry.

To simply say a prayer to God, while the Hindu prays to his own gods, for the sake of civility, in such a way that the idolatry is shunned, or at least not partaken in, or in any way shown approval, is no sin at all.

Benedicat Deus,
Latinitas
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You need to read ‘Wisdom’ in the Bible. It is not just for “civility”. That would be disingenuous and dishonest. It is done for Love.

😉
 
This is actually incorrect. We cannot say that our Creator is a mishmash of Avatars. Our Creator is who He has revealed Himself to be. Those Avatars are of human design. However, the Hindu reach for the transcendent is to be acknowledged as attempts to reach the one Creator.
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We can agree to disagree. Most Hindus believe in a single Creator.

Hinduism has over 900 million adherents, and is the third largest religion on the planet. It is also considered the oldest religion - even older than Judaism.

My central point is that we should not be casting judgment on the faith of others by false labels, accusations, and stereotypes. Western civilization in general is not familiar with the religions of the East, and stereotypes are common, even in academia.
 
StGerardMajella said:
We can agree to disagree.
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Hi, Yes, of course. Though from a Catholic point-of-view there is no room for manoeuvre on this. 😉
Most Hindus believe in a single Creator.
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They believe in many avatars, or so I gather, that make up the different aspects of their one god, who is apparently a reflection of them which allows them to also become him.
Hinduism has over 900 million adherents, and is the third largest religion on the planet. It is also considered the oldest religion - even older than Judaism.
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Yes. Pope Benedict XVI said that the religions before Christianity were like fore- tasters of the Truth to come. Seeing as we understand that* all of* Creation came to be through our Lord this is not that revelatory.
My central point is that we should not be casting judgment on the faith of others by false labels, accusations, and stereotypes. Western civilization in general is not familiar with the religions of the East, and stereotypes are common, even in academia.
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Christianity is not a western religion. It began in the East. This is the mistake that many make.

You are right that no one should cast judgement. And Christians especially need to understand this. However, as well as respecting other people’s worship, reach of the Divine, and the customs that go with it, we are not meant to say that their ideas of who the Creator is, is the Truth. If we did, we would say that the pagan and Aztec sun gods were right in their practices and ideas about what their god desired and that the yellow sunin the sky is god, that the Egyptians were right in thinking there were three distinct and separate gods rather than three persons in One, that the Muslims are correct in thinking that our Lord is only a prophet on the same level as Muhammad, and that all these avatars are different parts of the character of our Creator; we should know, however, that we cannot put our Creator into man-made boxes containing our own ideas because what we know is what He revealed. What we know is Divine revelation via The Word Made Flesh. We know that other religions are looking at the world and its relationships and trying to draw conclusions about who He Is rather than accepting the knowledge of who He has revealed Himself to be in Judaism and brought to fulfillment in Himself via Scripture and His Church, the source being Himself. There may be many reasons for this. These other religious peoples are welcome to learn and join in too. And likewise, we are to think mercifully of them, and to offer bridges not build unclimbable walls - the Pope said something similar recently (not sure in this context). The Persons we know He Is has made Himself personable in the form of our Lord so that we don’t have to play guessing games. Again, we are also not to mock other religions and instead see any truth and beauty that might reside in their understanding.
 
…that said, StGerardMajella, we cannot tell how any individual from any faith, or non-faith, understands love, despite their external practices, though external practices are an expression of what comes from within, e.g:- a particular individual might be a very forgiving, compassionate, thoughtful, kind, non-judgemental and extremely virtuous person. And so who are we to say they are not in relationship with the One Creator?! A person like that is likely to hear our Lord, to recognise our Lord when He walks past. And furthermore, is likely to follow Him. Yet, our Creator does not only save and call the sinless.

No boxes! 😉
 
Hi, Yes, of course. Though from a Catholic point-of-view there is no room for manoeuvre on this.
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From a Catholic perspective, and in the spirit of Christian tolerance and charity, we should not be labeling people of other faiths “idolaters”.
They believe in many avatars, or so I gather,
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In fact, all Hindus worship one Supreme Being, though by different names. This is because the people of India with different cultures and languages have understood God in their own unique way. Regional and family traditions play a large part in influencing this choice.
Christianity is not a western religion. It began in the East. This is the mistake that many make.
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Hinduism is rooted in the subcontinent of India, far from the land of Israel, and far from the countries of the West.
Again, we are also not to mock other religions
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Agreed. Respect is warranted, not arrogance.
 
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