The Southern Baptist Convention booklet urges its members to pray for millions of Hindus "who are lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism".

According to one report, the book says Hindus have no concept of sin or personal responsibility.

Members of the US Hindu community say it is insulting to their faith.

Book editor Louis Moore: "We are asking our people to pray"

The Southern Baptist Convention - which counts President Clinton as a member - says the booklet is not aimed at Hindus but at its own members.

Publication is timed to coincide with the major Hindu celebration of Diwali, the festival of light, which will be marked by millions of Hindus around the world next month.

Some 30,000 copies of the book - Diwali, Festival of Light Prayer for Hindus - will be issued on Monday.

Its editor, Louis Moore, said the language used in the booklet was harsh but needed to be understood in context.

"We believe that there is only way to heaven ... and that is through Jesus Christ," he told the BBC.

The booklet follows earlier publications aimed at the Muslim and Jewish communities.

Festival of light

Millions of Hindus will celebrate Diwali next month

Mr Moore said the timing of the booklet was deliberate.

"We know that this is a time when they are praying. We are not asking them to do anything. We are asking for our people to pray," he said.

Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple of Flushing in New York, said the publication was offensive to Hindus.

"It is deeply saddening that learned people of other religious faiths haven't learned the first basic principle of respecting other religious faiths," she said in a BBC radio interview.

Uma Mysorekar of the Hindu Temple of New York: "My first reaction is very disappointing"

She said that the issue might raise questions among the Hindu community in the US but would not in any way affect relations between the two communities.

"Relations between Christians and Hindus will remain just as good as they have always been. It will never be any less," she said.

The earlier publications of the Southern Baptist Convention were also published during major religious celebrations - the holy month of Ramadan for the Muslims, and the Jewish celebrations of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Right-wing Hindu groups in India have been agitating against alleged forcible conversions of low caste Hindus by Christian missionaries.