Christian and Muslim leaders are complaining about a Guinness World Record attempt to have six million people in India all bowing at once to the sun:

Bowing Toward Sun Annoys Some Muslims and Christians

…according to some Christian and Muslim groups, doing yogic movements toward the sun amounts to some kind of heretical solar worship. (Yoga is an ancient Indian physical and meditative activity, derived from thousand-year-old Vedic traditions.)

“In Christianity, we consider sun as a creation by God and worshipping it is against our religion,” said Anand Muttungal, spokesperson for Catholic Bishops Conference of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. He said he will approach Guinness to ask them not to consider the attempt as a record….

Well, isn’t that just too bad! Complaining about people bowing to the sun is against my religion – please respect my religion! (At that article, someone comments: “I never before considered bowing to the Sun, but now that I know it offends Christians and Muslims I am going to start doing it.”)

Despite the attempted divorcing of Surya Namaskar or “Sun Salutation” from religious connotation, it should be emphasized that this natural solar ritual is part of Hinduism and, according to prevailing political correctness, must therefore be respected as a religious rite. Sun worship is also a major part of humanity’s religious ideals dating back thousands of years in cultures around the world, continuing to this day not only in India but also in many parts of the world.

I personally am not offended by sun worship, but I am offended by religions derived from sun worship that fallaciously pretend to be divine revelation and that vulgarly worship a male god of a particular ethnicity, e.g., Christianity. So, perhaps I should tell Guinness that Christianity is against my religion and that they should ignore the complaints?

Seriously, when it’s cold outside, I am so happy to stand in a sunbeam – there is little more benevolent than warm sunshine at that moment. For that reason alone, I would count myself among sunworshippers.

If it’s good enough for my prophet George Carlin (pot be upon him), it’s good enough for me:

“I’ve begun worshiping the sun for a number of reasons. First of all, unlike some other gods I could mention, I can see the sun. It’s there for me every day. And the things it brings me are quite apparent all the time: heat, light, food, a lovely day. There’s no mystery, no one asks for money, I don’t have to dress up, and there’s no boring pageantry. And, interestingly enough, I have found that the prayers I offer to the sun and the prayers I formerly offered to ‘God’ are all answered at about the same fifty percent rate.”

~George Carlin (1937-2008), American comedian

For other thoughts on sun worship, I found this modern philosopher’s ideas to be ancient yet intriguing. The pertinent part begins at 2:21, while at 19:12 he discusses other stars as sentient beings as well.