Mandalay Bay removes statue of deity after faith leaders object
Objections from a group of mostly Northern Nevada-based religious leaders have resulted in the removal of a religion-themed statue from The Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay.
The faith leaders asked Tuesday that statues of Hindu and Jain deities be removed from the nightclub, calling the pieces’ display there “highly inappropriate.”
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, The Foundation Room said it will remove from the venue a statue of the Jain faith’s Mahavira, one of the pieces the faith leaders named.
In their statement, the faith leaders wrote that “placing highly revered Hindu and Jain deities to adorn a casino night-club was very disrespectful, out-of-line, and could be disturbing to the adherents of these faiths.”
The writers were the Rev. Stephen R. Karcher, a Greek Orthodox priest; Hindu statesman Rajan Zed; Buddhist priest Matthew T. Fisher; and Rabbi ElizaBeth Webb Beyer, all of whom are from Northern Nevada, and Jain leader Sulekh C. Jain of Henderson.
According to The Foundation Room’s statement, the Mahavira statue will be removed from the venue, and a spokeswoman said other statues are “under review.”
The club’s “two-decade plus tradition of promoting racial and spiritual harmony through love, peace, truth, righteousness and non-violence is more important than ever. We deeply apologize to those who are offended by recent images and we will work diligently to ensure such insensitive depictions don’t happen again,” the statement said.
Contact John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.
