Sikhi Attacked In Schools - Double Standards

[Balkaar]

When I was at high school, my religious studies teacher would set us essays pertaining to the religion we were studying. Whenever we were set an essay on Sikhi, the questions were never as subtle or as philosophical as they were for other religions. The questions here would invariably be of such a nature as 'Is Sikhism a Kshatriya form of Hinduism?' or 'Is Sikhism a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam?' or 'Is Sikhism the same as Buddhism?'

Why is Sikhi victimized so often by the ignorant as being a plagiarism from or a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam, when one considers that both of these faiths, and several others, are syntheses themselves? -

-'Hinduism' is an amalgam of the ancient Vedic faith of the Aryans, and the folk religion of the Indus Valley Civilization and surrounding tribesfolk. The precepts of reincarnation and karma, and the God Shiva (Pasupati) did not exist among the Aryans, and the rituals of havan and the gods Agni, Indar and Vishnu were to be found nowhere in the belief system of the Dravidians, until the two peoples' faiths merged in about 200BC (correction, unsure of actual date).

-Islam is quite clearly a blatant plagiarism of the very worst bits of Christianity and Judaism, that has taken on accretions from Middle-Eastern Paganism - 'Allah' was a creator deity of the Arabian Pantheon and the Kabah at Mecca was a shrine to the very same pantheon, where all manner of idols were kept.

- Over half of the Christians' sacred text is constituted by the Jewish Pentateuch and Hebrew Bible. Moreover, Jesus' most celebrated teachings on brotherly love, namely, 'Do unto others as you would have them do to you'/ 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone' (really very similar to one another) were hardly unique. The Babylonian Rabbi Hillel said the exact same thing over a century before the birth of Christ, and a variant of it exists in the Analects of Confucius. The only completely new precepts introduced by Jesus, the ironically named Prince of Peace, were Hell and Judgement Day, eternal torture in a fiery pit and a brutal apocalypse. Christianity also appropriated dates from the Pagan calendars of Europe for itself, as well as the Pagan tales of immaculate conception, or virgin birth (Helios, Mithra, Horus, Krishna).

Which of these Sikh precepts may be found in another religion's scripture? -

- Complete equality of all irrespective of gender, caste, race or religion?

- The total abhorrence of all forms of ritual, such as fasting or pilgrimage?

- A God within that can only be realised/experienced through the total obliteration of one's sense of ego or I-ness?

- The injunction to preserve the god-given form as an act of humility (kes)?

[Questioner]

I guess you're lucky you even studied Sikhi at school. Went to a grammar school, did RS for GCSE and A Level but never covered Sikhi and the teachers barely knew anything about it.

Fastforward to Theology at university, and neither the students nor lecturers know much about Sikhi. Lecturers have often implied to me that it's of no real significance, just a branch of Hinduism.

[classicsingh]

You could enter for GCSE in Sikhi in your own intrest. Thats what II did. The school entered me for the exam but it was up to me study fro the exam in my own time. It would be better if the whole class studied SIkhi together.

The questions were the same but the religion you base the answers on is your choice.

[MisterrSingh]

I guess you're lucky you even studied Sikhi at school. Went to a grammar school, did RS for GCSE and A Level but never covered Sikhi and the teachers barely knew anything about it.

Fastforward to Theology at university, and neither the students nor lecturers know much about Sikhi. Lecturers have often implied to me that it's of no real significance, just a branch of Hinduism.

I had a mealy-mouthed gentleman from the Hindu faith try to tell me a few years back that Sikhi is "a samphradhya of Hinduism." My reaction was thus:

He was trying his luck and he knew it.

[eduardo]

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

[Xerxes]

It's not unusual to get provocative questions in a religious studies paper. The idea is to either a) present a clearly-incorrect statement and test you on your overall knowledge by having you argue against it, or b) present something controversial and test your ability to argue for your own views on the subject. It's entirely fair that the exam board is asking things like those that you described above. If anything I'd take it as a good thing, clearly the exam writers believe (correctly) that the "Sikhism is a sect of Hinduism" theory is simplistic enough for even a school student to debunk.

Mind you, the wider education system doesn't really know much about Sikhi so unfortunately there might be less variety in terms of what they can ask about. And of course Sikhi is a very inclusive religion, so naturally we don't even agree ourselves on a lot of things.

[Balkaar]

The idea is to either a) present a clearly-incorrect statement and test you on your overall knowledge by having you argue against it, or b) present something controversial and test your ability to argue for your own views on the subject. It's entirely fair that the exam board is asking things like those that you described above. If anything I'd take it as a good thing, clearly the exam writers believe (correctly) that the "Sikhism is a sect of Hinduism" theory is simplistic enough for even a school student to debunk.

That may be the case in some places, but when a religious studies teacher peddles such fatuities as 'Guru Nanak was a practitioner of Bhakti Yoga' (as mine tried to do, having acquired this idea from some misinformed handbook by W. Owen Cole), the idea that Sikhism is some offshoot of Hinduism would naturally appear to be very credible to one of their students.

I wouldn't mind these sorts of questions being asked so much, if only what was being taught about Sikhi was more accurate, or, as you said, broader. It often isn't though. Some school textbooks (bearing in mind that children are practically required to regurgitate everything they read in these books during their exams) explicitly instruct children that the Sikh religion was created by borrowing shards here and chunks there from the older Hindu and Muslim faiths.

[eduardo]

And of course Sikhi is a very inclusive religion, so naturally we don't even agree ourselves on a lot of things.

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?

[kharkusingh1996]

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?

female singing artists? lol that is something we aren't concerned about producing singing artists to be honest. There are women kirtanis(play the harmonium and sing religious hymns). Whitney Houston might have been a singer but where was she on the stance of spirituality?

[eduardo]

on the stance of spirituality?

Well define spirituality and maybe I can give an answer.