As Vivek Ramaswamy faces criticism for an old video where he was explaining his faith in Christianity to an Iowa voter, the Hindu American community strongly defended Vivek’s religion and questioned the informal religion test he has to take every day before the primary on May 5.In the old video, Ramaswamy explained to a voter that in his faith, which is Hinduism, Jesus Christ is the son of God. “I know it’s different from saying he’s the Son of God, but that’s my view of Jesus Christ,” he said, explaining that Hindus worship in churches because it suits their religion. Ramaswami said, “The one true God in many forms.” The votary tells him that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Ramaswami said that in his faith this is a way.As the video began recirculating, he was accused of “insulting” Jesus by comparing him to people of the Hindu religion. One conservative commentator wrote, “Here’s Vivek Ramaswami portraying Jesus as “God” to a voter in India, not as the Son of God. That’s right on their face, and they’ll still vote for it.”Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, said that being a Hindu-American like Vivek, he too had to face this “street corner conversion”. He said, “Telling a gubernatorial candidate, @VivekGRamaswamy, that his concept of God is wrong and sends him to hell – when he didn’t ask – is clearly snobbish religious arrogance – and it’s supremacism.” “But to debate whether the social claims made in this conversation are based on religious grounds is to miss the point entirely.““Every Hindu American like me has faced such roadside conversions. “Vivek is that unique politician who cares so much about meeting people where they are and having conversations about how he sees divinity, when he could have easily just said “no thanks” and moved on,” Shukla wrote.Indian American Advocacy Council co-founder Siddharth condemned Ramaswamy’s trolling and said he was contesting for the post of governor and not pastor-in-chief.“If your faith collapses because a Hindu says Jesus is the way to God rather than the only way, then the problem is your insecurities and bigotry. The Constitution bans religious tests for office. If you think a non-Christian is unfit to govern, admit you don’t really believe in America,” Siddhartha wrote on X.
