A North Idaho senator is objecting to allowing a Hindu prayer as the opening invocation for the Idaho Senate on Tuesday morning, and says he’ll walk out. Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said, "They have a caste system. They worship cows." He acknowledged the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows any kind of prayer, but said he thinks the Hindu one shouldn't be allowed to open the Senate, as the United States was "built on the Judeo-Christian not only religion but work ethic, and I don't want to see that undermined."

“I’m very supportive of the way this country was built, and I don’t want us to move away from it,” Vick declared.

Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said Hindu cleric Rajan Zed of Reno, Nev. approached the Senate about possibly giving an invocation as a guest chaplain, as he’s done previously in various western state legislatures, city council meetings, and in the U.S. Senate. “I reviewed the prayer. It did not seem offensive in any way,” Hill said. “It refers to ‘deity supreme.’” Hill, a member of the Mormon church, said, “In my mind, you either believe in religious freedom or you don’t. … We have had Jewish prayers, many denominations of Christian prayers.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.