Friday, February 07, 2003

It bothered me that none of the memorial services for the Columbia astronauts included Hindu prayers or clergy, although Christian and Jewish officiants offered prayers at all of the ceremonies. Kalpana Chawla's religion was mentioned at the National Cathedral service, but no rites were performed. According to an Indian Embassy press secretary, Chawla was a devout Hindu. All of Chawla's colleagues spoke about her with great affection, so I'd like to think it was an oversight rather than due to a lack of respect. Unfortunately, though, that's a hard assumption to make, given the central role of religion in all of the memorial services I saw.

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