eduardo

Thanks. The reason I am interested in Punjabi culture has a long answer and a short answer but I will give you the short answer for now. I am working in a building made up of a large number of Punjabi people. I figure I can spend my day at work just going about my business and not engaging with these people or I could really learn something here and explore a living culture that I am surrounded by day in and day out. Diversity is a wonderful thing as long as you approach it with the right attitude of mutual respect and a willingness to learn about the culture and history that you are surrounded by. The long answer is a bit more personal and I don't really want to go into that right now but suffice to say what I have learnt so far I like.

That may be and I respect that but the fact a person holds an opinion based on religious beliefs should not be used as an excuse for termination of employment.

Well that wasn't the point I was making, the point is you may have defence of your opinions under religious beliefs. This case seems more a case of entrapment, I mean if someone asks your opinion on homosexuality and you say it is wrong and they complain then you may have a defence under religious beliefs. I mean what is Sikhi's stance on homsexuality and lesbianism?

Just thought I would post this as some may find it interesting. Maybe we can start a debate. I am not the sort of person that comments on others sexuality I mean that is up to them but the point of the story is if you make a comment based on your religion that others may find objectionable and they complain about you and you get in trouble then you might have a case under employment law for discrimination based on religious beliefs. Don't know what you all think about this. I mean I have never heard of a Sikh going around work telling other people what they should and shouldn't do based on your religion but you never know, if you get in trouble for saying something at work this case might help you out: "A Christian nursery worker who was sacked for telling a lesbian colleague that "homosexuality is a sin" has won a discrimination claim against her employer. Sarah Mbuyi was dismissed from the Newpark Childcare nursery in Shepherd's Bush, west London, for gross misconduct in 2013 after telling a gay colleague: "God is not OK with what you do. An employment tribunal ruled at the end of last week that Ms Mbuyi was discriminated against on the grounds of her religious beliefs. In her first interview since she won her case, Sarah Mbuyi told the Victoria Derbyshire programme what happened." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33049358 And just to be perfectly crystal clear, before any of you start kicking off, I am not pushing Christianity OK.

I was told I could, I was told I was free to. Delete this thread and I will say no more on the subject of Bhangra. Sincere apologies.

This would seem to be a common tactic amongst the security serivices, MI5, the UK Police etc. Look I am honestly no fan of the EDL but I did follow their movement for a while and noticed that when a demonstration occured and large numbers of protesters gathered in an area surrounded by Police then agitators would enter the crowd and start trouble thus giving the Police the opportunity and excuse to move in. Of course once the trouble flared everything would be recorded and shown on national TV to discredit the organisation. I am sure the same tactic was used during the famous UK miners strikes where the British army were dressed as normal Police and instructed to attack demonstrators. Also the security services love these big demonstrations because they can film those present and work out who they are, where they live and then watch them. Better than trying to trace these people through underground networks and secret meetings. Security agencies from different countries share information and tactics so it's no surpise that we see the same thing occuring in different countries with the end result being the same. I am no expert but these are my layman observations.

I like Bhangra so I will post a few of my favourite songs. I am hoping others will join and educate me. I like this guy, he won an MBE and met the Queen. I think he has real style and I like to relax and listen to his Punjabi Bhangra beats. Top man: I like him because his style is quite slow and I can savour the language, fast Bhangra is too much for me at my level of understanding right now.

Blimey what are the chances of that happening?

I think I might do that if that's Ok although I know nothing about the subject and will probably stumble about in the darkness. I mean what section is it supposed to go in?

And just one from me on the subject of partition, this story appeared in the news this morning: Bangladesh and India are to sign a historic agreement to simplify their border by exchanging more than 150 enclaves of land. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ratify the deal with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. Thousands of Bangladeshis inhabit more than 50 enclaves in India, while Indians live in around 100 areas within Bangladesh. The countries will now swap territories and residents can choose where to live. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33033342 Don't know too much about partition Bangladesh side however I know Guru Tegh Bahadur spent a lot of time in that area.

Well define spirituality and maybe I can give an answer.

I like this. My own peronal opinion is that this is your strength. The fact you don't have a dogmatic doctrine that you follow like mindless zombies. I mean I am only just scratching the surface of your religion and culture here and I do feel out of depth but the fact that so much of your religion is open to intellectual debate and heartfelt soul searching can only help develop you as human beings. Your religion is internal and not external if you know what I mean, you don't look to the without you look to the within. Truly fascinating. I have got one question though, if worship is based a lot on sound and voice then where are your female singing artists? I mean with Christianity we have Gospel choirs and a lot of very successful singers came out of the Church for instance Whitney Housten. Am I missing something here, where is the link between your all inclusive non sexist singing religion and your very successful female singing artists? Where are they?

Of course there is always the argument that the job of the white man was made easy by the native population being so willing and eager to exploit their own: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17185294 And it is a messy old world: http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2015/jun/05/mossad-assassination-irans-khomeini-says-israel-agent

Well we have Sikh faith schools round here so we are progressive in that respect.

Sorry about that, can you point me to a good Bhangra thread somewhere. But honestly I think there is a link between Sikh morality and Bhangra and if you try to disown Bhangra you will disown a massive part of your culture.

Tariq Aziz, known as the face of Saddam Hussein's regime on the world stage for many years, has died in an Iraqi prison, officials say. As a Christian in a mainly Sunni Muslim government, he was not considered a member of Saddam Hussein's innermost circle. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33021771 Interesting story and I felt the need to post it here. It shows how the minority Christians in Iraq did good business with the majority Muslims and were trusted by them. Now I know Sikhs are a minority in india and are also in good positions in government and it seems trusted so perhaps this story shows how dangerous it is to let a foreign power take over. Each country has its own equilibrium and when a foreign invader takes control it can only disturb this equilibrium and usually lead to destruction. Maybe there are parallels here, Sikhs as a minority in India but in good positions of power and Christians in Iraq before the US led invasion. Dunno, I will keep an eye on this, maybe it's nothing. The ultimate question is what was the relationship between Sikhs, Muslims and Hindu's prior to partition and did partition make it worse? And you can blame the British if you like, I won't take it to heart, I want an honest answer.

Very Nyce:

It's true, Look at Cambodia and China in the early days of the revolution. Book burning seems to be a common tactic if you want to ethnically cleanse a culture and replace it with something else. There must be loads of examples in history. With the internet this tactic is no longer possible thankfully.

Nice collection of weapons.

The Church has an interesting take on this, it's a Christian get of jail free card. A Priest would say hate the sin but love the sinner. This is how the Catholic priests got away with it for so long and still maintained their position within the Church. The excuse would be that Satan tempted the Priest away from the path of God and as a resolution the priest needs to be moved away from the area and spend more time re-establishing a connection with God. So the Priest would be moved out of the public eye to do penance and the sin would be washed away through prayer. Nice idea that no one is beyond salvation but see how it can be abused and misused. Anyway the fact that these stories are making the press and people are being arrested is proof of progress but I agree whole heartedly that as far as the establishment are concerned heads should definitely roll.

When your heroes give only apologies:

Anyway a bit of self indulgence on my part. Try linking Christianity to this:

The truth will come out in the end, it always does. Maybe it's a case of provocation, provoke the Gora verbally then film him when he strikes out and then shout how racist the white man is. India TV sure loves showing how racist we white people are.

Thanks for that, I need to hear this stuff from time to time, I need reminding. :smile2:

I dunno why you are against it.