My new Twitter handle is now live - check me out at @jackiewgibson!
CNN has posted a history of bias against Sikhs - more reason for people to learn about religions before they attack anyone:...
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/A0ltLLIm
Sikh temple shooting unfolding, learn about Sikhism here: http://t.co/l3KrAJZf
Hackers group Anonymous takes down Vatican website: http://t.co/B6lbGAVp
WGN-TV calls doomsday prophecies "an illusion": http://t.co/mv8Gzyw7
RT @graceishuman: Really,? Asking people JUST LEAVING the service how they felt about it? Tacky, tacky, inappropriate
Whitney Houston's funeral service really took the world to church. Love Pastor Winans' honesty, very moving.
#teacher ? Here are appropriate responses to situations with your Jehovah's Witness student: http://t.co/A6UfqcgH
#Teachers: Want to know why your Jehovah's Witness student won't say the pledge and how to respond? http://t.co/EIdlgDwW
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Sikhism
The high court in Great Britain will soon review its open-air cremation laws, according to the Calcutta Telegraph.
Traditionally, when Hindus and Sikhs pass away, they are cremated and their ashes are released into rivers in India. In Hinduism, open-air funeral pyres (which allow for cremation of the dead on platforms out in the open) allow deceased Hindus to be reincarnated in a peaceful manner. Fire is the necessary element for creating the transition from the physical world to the spiritual world.
Hindus in the UK sought to challenge the government’s prohibition of open-air cremation last year, petitioning to maintain their religious traditions. But they lost. Then this April, when a Hindu requested that he be cremated in that manner upon his death, the high court again opened discussions of the prohibition. They are now gearing up to make a decision.
Many UK Hindus argue that the open-air tradition doesn’t hurt anyone and doesn’t endanger public health. What do you think? Should this religious tradition be allowed? Is it necessary?
Prayers from several religions will now find a place at the Ontario legislature’s opening each day, according to Religion News Service.
Making a compromise
The municipal councils used to begin their daily meetings by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, associated with the Christian religion. But in early 2008, Secular Ontario threatened to take them to court if they continued the ritual. The organization of atheist Canadians felt such an act implied that the legislature was for Christians only.
The government of Ontario has held several debates about religion and politics over the last few months. Finally they came up with a compromise in June that would keep them out of hot water with Secular Ontario.
The compromise? Keep the Lord’s Prayer, but add in prayers from eight other religions and a moment of silence for the non-religious. Among those religions whose prayers will be incorporated are Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Baha’i, and Sikhism.
Inclusion for diversity
This change is a good example of a move toward inclusion. Inclusion is a method of showing that all religions have merit and truth in some way and/or that all deserve representation and respect. It’s the idea of religious diversity — a cornucopia of religions tha twould all be placed on the same level, in the same arena. Exclusion, obviously, is the opposite. A religion is sometimes called “exclusive” when its followers claim their religion is the only true religion or that their beliefs must be followed in order to attain the goal of religion (whether that’s eternal life, cessation of suffering, or something else).
Wondering about the Lord’s Prayer?
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer prayed by Jesus, and it can be found in the New Testament of The Bible (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4). In those verses, Jesus teaches his followers to pray a prayer he teaches them to pray. Many Christian churches pray that Lord’s Prayer at each worship gathering, including Catholics who sometimes call this prayer the “Our Father.”
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Sikhs will celebrate Baisakhi Day on April 14th this year. For those unfamiliar with the Sikh celebration (or Sikhism), here is a quick rundown:
SIKHISM:
The major players: 10 gurus, teachers who passed the torch onto one another until the tenth guru told Sikhs to follow the eternal guru one year on Baisakhi Day. The first guru was Guru Nanak Dev whose life and preaching resulted in the founding of Sikhism.
The major scripture: Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the eternal guru, a collection of the teachings of the ten gurus and writers from other religions. It is the so-called “head” of the Sikh religion, though Sikhs do not worship the book as an idol.
The major tenants: There is only one God, he cannot take human form, one should devote oneself daily to remembering God, one should reject rituals (such as fasting, yoga, and pilgrimages) as one should focus more on good conduct and right mind than things connected to the world
The goal: To break the cycle of death and rebirth and merge with God
Encouraged practices: Meditation, following the teachings of the gurus, service, and charity
The social connection: Equality for all sexes, races, castes, and creeds; social responsibility and community service emphasized
BAISAKHI:
At the age of 33 (yes, 33), the tenth guru, then Guru Gobind Rai, gathered his followers in Anandpur, India, to celebrate the harvest festival, Baisakhi (in the Hindu month of Vaishakhu, or April). At the gathering, he asked for five heads to be sacrificed. Eventually one man came forward, Gobind took him into a tent, and reappeared with a sword dripping with blood. He then asked for four others. Each time someone volunteered, he took them into the tent and reemerged with a sword dripping with blood. The crowd assumed he had killed the men, and some began to disperse. But Gobind had actually baptized the men, and he brought all five men (now wearing white) out of the tent. Gobind proclaimed the men “The Five Beloved Ones” and said wherever five baptized people meet together, there the guru will be also.
Just years before, Sikhs had gained a reputation for cowardice (against the Mughal Empire), and Gobind sought to instill a sense of courage in them. He thus gave them symbols of courage and purity (the sword, unshorn hair, etc.) and proclaimed the baptized Sikh nation to be the Order of the Pure Ones (Khalsa). As such, the group found a common identity as Sikhs, thus eliminating divisive identification with castes, races, sexes, etc. He also eliminated divisions within Sikhism, asking followers to devote themselves to the eternal guru (the scriptures), rather than to a man. Finally, the guru gave all men the surname “Singh” meaning “lion” (he himself took the surname), and then gave the women the surname “Kaur,” or “princess.”
Sikhs today celebrate Baisakhi, not just as a harvest festival, but as a remembrance of Gobind Singh’s gifting of the Order of the Pure Ones. This year marks the 308th anniversary of that day.