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'Sikhs are not Muslims' sends a sinister message

Such declarations by the news media and others has an insidious subtext: that there's something wrong with being a Muslim in America.

 

White power, hate groups, tragedies fired by hatred -- they're all part of the topic of hate in America that's come into focus with the Sikh temple rampage. View a replay of the Times' video discussion about the issue.

 

Almost from the beginning of their coverage of the horrific and deadly shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, CNN and other news media went out of their way to send a message to the American public: "Sikhs are not Muslims."

But what were we to make of that message? If the temple's members had been Muslims, would the attack have then been justified?

We say we don't endorse prejudice against one group or another, but for some reason we also want to make sure people know who the "we" and the "they" really are. CNN would probably say it was simply trying to clear up a common misunderstanding that, in this case, may have been shared by the gunman himself. Fair enough. The assertion that Sikhs are not Muslims is certainly true. Jains are not Hindus, and Mormons are not Methodists either.

 

But in the post-9/11context of a deadly act committed by an apparent white supremacist against a congregation that is largely ethnically South Asian — a congregation that includes bearded men in turbans — broadcasting the mantra that "Sikhs are not Muslims" takes on a far more insidious subtext: Don't blame these people, it implies, for the unspeakable crimes of 9/11. It's Muslims you want.

The media aren't alone in conveying, however unintentionally, this sinister message. When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he responded to the inaccurate but surprisingly persistent assertion that he was a Muslim with this statement in a 2008 debate: "The facts are I am Christian. I have been sworn in [as a U.S. senator] with a Bible."

As president, Obama has made an effort to stress how important Muslims are to the fabric of U.S. society and has praised the enormous contributions made by Islamic civilization to human history. Still, his behavior as a candidate was disappointing. When "accused" of being a Muslim, he didn't challenge the darker assumptions behind the assertion. He simply tried to distance himself from Muslims. His campaign also made sure there were no photo-ops in mosques and no women in hijab as part of the diversity tableau that served as a backdrop to his stump speeches.

 

John McCain got into the act when attempting a noble defense of his opponent in the 2008 race. At a Republican rally late in the campaign, a woman said she couldn't trust Obama because "he's an Arab." McCain objected: "No, ma'am; no, ma'am. He's a … decent family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." It was a defense that undoubtedly left many Arab Americans (as well as Arabs around the world) horrified by the implication that Arab men must be, therefore, indecent and un-American.

At the height of the accusations that Obama was a closet Muslim, the only public figure I saw get it right was former Secretary of StateColin L. Powell, the first black man ever to hold that office. In his famous"Meet the Press"appearance on Oct. 19, 2008, Powell, like others, condemned the "false intimations" that Obama was a Muslim. But he then went on to say: "But really the right answer is, what if he is [a Muslim]? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's 'No; that's not America.'"

It's time for all of us — Democrats and Republicans, "tea partyers" and Occupiers, conservative evangelicals and progressive Episcopalians, Latinos, blacks, Asians and whites alike — to take the kind of wise and principled stand that Powell took. We need to insist with one voice that American Muslims are not a "they" to be demonized but a treasured part of who "we" are as a people, and that the demonization of any minority group runs contrary to the spirit of this great country. In fact, we need to go even further and declare that Muslims the world over are an important and vital part of the one human family, with whom the rest of this same family needs to partner and build relationships of trust for the sake of us all.

If presidential candidates and television networks have trouble understanding these basic concepts, then there is obviously much work that has to be done.

We can begin by taking a good hard look at the groups to which we belong and by inviting "outsiders" to help us see the ways in which any aspect of the religious or civic identities we espouse urge us to reject entire groups of "others." As we do this, we need to embrace the truth that hatred can never be the touchstone of authentic faith or authentic patriotism.

For as tragedies such as 9/11 and Oak Creek remind us, hatred of any kind is nothing less than a profound betrayal of both God and country.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Originally Posted by Mr.T:

It seems a fair enough comment to make and educate any ignorant American that Sikhs and muslims are not the same. 


Yuh know the muslim barbarians used to boil punjabi hindus in oil for their refusal to convert. Unlike the mass converts of East Bengal(Bangladesh).

 

Many of the Punjabi hindus thought that hinduism was too passive to challenge the uncultured barbaric invaders.

 

So Guru Nanak thought enough is enough and formed sikhism as a deterrent against Mohammadism.

 

Let us not forget, Pakistan exists on Punjabi lands- whether Punjabi sikh or Punjabi hindus. 

S

Pakistani Hindu pilgrims allowed to cross into India after detention

Hindus praying at a temple in peshawar Some Pakistani Hindu families have emigrated to India following attacks against minorities

Related Stories

Pakistan officials have allowed a group of Hindu pilgrims who were detained at the border to cross into India.

More than 200 Pakistani Hindus were held at the Wagah crossing near Lahore after local media reported that they intended to emigrate.

Although the group had valid pilgrimage visas, it was rumoured they planned to remain in India because of growing attacks against minorities in Pakistan.

They were allowed to pass after they assured officials they would return.

A spokesperson for the pilgrims, Santosh Puri, told the BBC the group had assured the authorities that "this is a pilgrimage" and no one intends to emigrate.

Pakistani rights activists say dozens of Pakistani Hindu families have moved to India to escape killings, abductions and forced conversions in recent years.

According to Indian officials, Pakistani Hindus have often entered India on visit visas, only to settle there permanently.

In particular, there have been reports of Hindu families leaving Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan provinces for India to escape violence and discrimination.

Last week, a teenage Hindu girl was abducted in the city of Jacobabad, while about 11 Hindu traders remain missing after they were kidnapped for ransom.

There have also been several high-profile cases of alleged forced conversion to Islam

Nehru
Originally Posted by Lucas:

"'Sikhs are not Muslims' sends a sinister message"

 

It sounds something like this: "Why do you kill us? Don't you see we are white too?"


NO! It is more cant you see we are the CIVILISED ones just like you.!!!

Nehru
Originally Posted by Nehru:
Originally Posted by Lucas:

"'Sikhs are not Muslims' sends a sinister message"

 

It sounds something like this: "Why do you kill us? Don't you see we are white too?"


NO! It is more cant you see we are the CIVILISED ones just like you.!!!

The killer was a white supremacist not an anti-Jihadist hitman....

FM
Originally Posted by seignet:
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

It seems a fair enough comment to make and educate any ignorant American that Sikhs and muslims are not the same. 


Yuh know the muslim barbarians used to boil punjabi hindus in oil for their refusal to convert. Unlike the mass converts of East Bengal(Bangladesh).

 

Many of the Punjabi hindus thought that hinduism was too passive to challenge the uncultured barbaric invaders.

 

So Guru Nanak thought enough is enough and formed sikhism as a deterrent against Mohammadism.

 

Let us not forget, Pakistan exists on Punjabi lands- whether Punjabi sikh or Punjabi hindus. 


Idiot, Guru Nanak was a Hindu, but recognized good qualities in both Hinduism and Islam, so he decided to create a religion encompassing both.
FM
Originally Posted by TI:
Originally Posted by seignet:
Originally Posted by Mr.T:

It seems a fair enough comment to make and educate any ignorant American that Sikhs and muslims are not the same. 


Yuh know the muslim barbarians used to boil punjabi hindus in oil for their refusal to convert. Unlike the mass converts of East Bengal(Bangladesh).

 

Many of the Punjabi hindus thought that hinduism was too passive to challenge the uncultured barbaric invaders.

 

So Guru Nanak thought enough is enough and formed sikhism as a deterrent against Mohammadism.

 

Let us not forget, Pakistan exists on Punjabi lands- whether Punjabi sikh or Punjabi hindus. 


Idiot, Guru Nanak was a Hindu, but recognized good qualities in both Hinduism and Islam, so he decided to create a religion encompassing both.

oh, really!

 


 

S

So Guru Nanak thought enough is enough and formed sikhism as a deterrent against Mohammadism.

 

TI Mr. T is correct In fact the Hindus hated the fact that so many of them were converting to Islam. The fact is Sikhs consider Muslims as their enemies

 

Pointblank
Originally Posted by Pointblank:

seignet Islam came to India thru trade. They converted to Islam and the attitude of the muslim traders


South India thru trading, that is why yuh have a muslim state which was East Bengal.

 

On the Northern side, it was thru conquest, reprisals, intimidation, torture, rape of hindu women and forced conversions. The Afghans and the other dispicable low life descendants of Mohammad converts came in hordes to India looking wealth and treasures. 

S

In the words of Pandit Gyanandra Dev Sharma Shastri:

“THEY (Muhummed's critics) SEE FIRE INSTEAD OF LIGHT, UGLINESS INSTEAD OF GOOD. THEY DISTORT AND PRESENT EVERY GOOD QUALITY AS A GREAT VICE. IT REFLECTS THEIR OWN DEPRAVITY.....THE CRITICS ARE BLIND. THEY CANNOT SEE THAT THE ONLY 'SWORD' MUHAMMAD WIELDED WAS THE SWORD OF MERCY, COMPASSION, FRIENDSHIP AND FORGIVENESS –THE SWORD THAT CONQUERS ENEMIES AND PURIFIES THEIR HEARTS. HIS SWORD WAS SHARPER THAN THE SWORD OF STEEL.”

Pointblank
Originally Posted by Pointblank:

In the words of Pandit Gyanandra Dev Sharma Shastri:

“THEY (Muhummed's critics) SEE FIRE INSTEAD OF LIGHT, UGLINESS INSTEAD OF GOOD. THEY DISTORT AND PRESENT EVERY GOOD QUALITY AS A GREAT VICE. IT REFLECTS THEIR OWN DEPRAVITY.....THE CRITICS ARE BLIND. THEY CANNOT SEE THAT THE ONLY 'SWORD' MUHAMMAD WIELDED WAS THE SWORD OF MERCY, COMPASSION, FRIENDSHIP AND FORGIVENESS –THE SWORD THAT CONQUERS ENEMIES AND PURIFIES THEIR HEARTS. HIS SWORD WAS SHARPER THAN THE SWORD OF STEEL.”


And you certify EVERY word of Dev Sharma, right?

Nehru

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