The Spread Of Sikhism In The United States

The Sikhs are devotees to Sikhism, Sikhism is the youngest of the world’s religion with 25 million followers. Sikhism is only five hundred years old. The founder of Sikhism is Guru Nank, he was born in 1469. Guru Nank spoke a message of “Ek Ong Kar”: we are all one, created by the One Creator of all Creation. Guru Nank was the first of the ten Gurus in Sikhism. Throughout my research I have discovered what each Guru represents to the Sikh community and where Sikhism originated from. The appearance of Sikh devotees is a very important part of the Punjabi Sikh culture. Sikhs are very misunderstood in America and when people see images of Sikhs they are often mistaken for Muslims or terrorists, which often times leads to hate crimes. I’ll be focusing on the history of the Sikhism, Sikhs appearance, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. In the end I would like my audience to have an understanding of the Sikh religion, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism.

Michael, Shelly and Manpreet’s presentation on Sikh immigration to Canada was a thorough historical overview of all the push and pull factors that resulted in Sikhs migrating from India. The presentation covered the three major periods of immigration and the push and pull factors that saw Sikhs wanting to migrate. In doing so, the group looked at some of the structural inequities that made it difficult for people to migrate. Michael looked at some of the struggles faced by Sikhs in preserving and maintaining their culture in Canada by shedding light on the Sikh identity and some components of their religion that often are misconstrued in the media. As such, this review will discuss some of the main topics covered in the presentation, and highlight and raise some questions that

Summary: This book provides an overview of immigration to the United States. It describes experiences common to most immigrants, regardless of their country of origin. All of the ethnic groups that arrived on America’s shores are included as well as the many cultures, languages, foods, religious views, and holidays each brought with them.

It is obvious and no coincidence that violence and hate crimes have increased towards Sikhs following the events of 9/11, which is evident in the following excerpt of an article in Newsday. In the summer of 2004, Rajinder Singh Khalsa, a Sikh, was severely beaten by five men as they yelled anti-Muslim slurs. Today, he still has to go to the hospital several times a week and his injuries left him unable to work. His son, he said, was forced to leave college to work and care for him.(Friedman) Khalsa quickly insisted that legislation was needed to protect minorities who could be vulnerable after a terrorist attack or other types of racial or religious attacks. Khalsa and a friend were also attacked outside a Queens restaurant by five white men after they refused to remove their turbans, which is common bait for people who are looking to attack or harass "terrorists." The city responded to Khalsa's unfortunate experience by introducing a Backlash Mitigation bill, which is sponsored by Councilman David Weprin. This bill would allow the Office of Emergency Management to work with local city agencies including the police department to devise plans to protect potential victims of hate crimes. In

What does it mean to be different? For many individuals being different can symbolize a problem that can ultimately challenge the decisions, as well as the way of life of others. Prior to attending the event that talked about what it means to be a Sikh in America I was very closed minded and judgmental, when I read the title of the event I instantly thought turban and covering from head to toes. However attending the event helped me understand that there is more to this community than just the image itself. The film that was presented in the presentation is important because it makes an invisible community more visible to the world, but at the same time diminishes the ignorance and misunderstanding that exists among individuals due to a lack

The folks behind 9/11 were people of the Islamic faith, because of media portrayals and misinformation a lot of people blamed all Muslims for the September 11 Attack. However, the post 9/11 reactions of bigotry also heavily impacted the Sikh population in America who are known to wear turbans. Turbans were seen as a symbol of terrorism in post 9/11 America and even today are negatively triggering items for miseducated Americans. After 9/11 members of the Sikh faith were shot, beat up, bullied, yelled at, pushed, and countless other things. Gurpinder Gill recalls the Gurdwara committees, high offices in the Sikh-American community, warning folks about the dangers of being outside and wearing a turban in America. They requested Sikhs to avoid public spaces as much as possible. Harvel Gill’s parents were fond of walking in public parks, but after the beating of a Sikh man near their town, they stopped. It was not safe to be Sikh in America. This heavily reflects the experiences of Chinese people after the American car industry dilapidated due to fierce Japanese competition. Chinese folks were mistakenly identified as Japanese and targeted in hate crimes. One was even killed, Vincent Chin. There is a common theme in Asian American history of Asian Americans being mislabelled and differences between Asian American communities being blurred. Some White Americans attack Sikhs because they are ignorant on differences in the Asian American community and can only see turbans as a symbol of hate. Which is very interesting considering the turban has the exact opposite meaning of hate and terrorism. The turban is a symbol of equality, justice, and of Sikhism. Harvel Gill also recalls the day in 2012 when a man named Wade Michael Page walked into a Gurdwara and killed six people. That was a dark day for the entire Sikh American

The United States has a history of being tremendously diverse in religions and cultures from all over the world. Although our nation is immensely diverse, one in four Americans are Roman Catholic today (Chase, 1-23-15). With such a large population, Roman Catholics have had multiple changes and barriers to their religious faith. Many Catholics can trace back to the point in time when their ancestors arrived in the United States and what specific events altered their religious experiences. Although most immigrants arrived to the United States during the 19th century, Catholic immigration occurred many years before the European movement My mother and father both grew up in the Roman Catholic faith with their ancestors migrating to the United States in the 1850s. Although their families came to the US at the same time, they had some different social and political experiences growing up.

Indians were given a bus ticket, enough money to subsist on for two weeks and made aware of the job opportunities that were available off the reservation. The BIA frequently sent Indians into areas with high unemployment rates. For roughly twenty years the federal Relocation Program recruited Indians to move from reservations to move to

The Influence religion had on the Native Americans was huge. They let their dreams determine what would happen to them and how they would handle any situation. Like when Yellow Kidney got kidnapped and Heavy Shield Woman had dreams about Yellow Kidney that told her what really happened and what she had to do to save him. She became the Sun dance woman, where she fasted until the sun dance ceremony so she could have her husband back “Heavy Shield Women sat in the Sacred Vow lodge, her face drawn and gray with her fast” (Welch 112). They pretty much had Zodiac signs in away. When they are they go out by there self and fast until they see their “animal’ Like Fools Crow animal was a werewolf. “ For you, brother you carry that with when you go

Back during the medieval times in England religion was a very sacred thing, the church had more power than the king. Christianity was not only a major part of people's lives but also a major part of English society. When Henry VIII had come into power, however, the changes made to England's religion prompted problems, people became confused and the church became divided. This division was only but a precursor; because of King Henry VIII the English became divided which only worsened after the country's religion was changed several times after King Henry, subgroups of religious beliefs began to appear and those subgroups were discriminated against, so to escape the persecution those people fled to North America.

In this article, the author gives detailed information about how employers should accommodate religious practices in the workplace for Muslim workers. The article has four sections on accommodations: terms of their clothing, prayer breaks, restroom practices, and limits to interactive process. For example, they mentioned how Muslims should be given flexible schedules for their religious festivals such as Ramadhan. It is a very clear and well-written article.

Buddhism came to the West towards the end of the 19th century. Three major groups of Buddhist practitioners can be identified within American Buddhism. The first group consists of the native-born Americans who have adopted Buddhist teachings over the years. They include Asian, African, and Native American. Another group can be identified as the Buddhist refugees and immigrants who came to the United States and are working to adapt their traditions and practices to the American country. The third group consists of Asian Americans, especially from China or Japan, who have been Buddhist practitioners for several generations. Each group has a particular way of practicing Buddhism, and engages in different efforts to adapt and adopt Buddhism. When

In this essay I am going compare and contrast the rituals/ practices parts of sikhism and judaism. As we discussed in class, Sikhism is Monotheistic religion that was found in Punjab Pakistan in 1469 AD by Guru Nanak Dv Ji. The worship place for this religion is the Gurdwara. In my site visit to the Gurdwara I learned that this place open 24 hour and anyone may enter it no matter their faith, caste or skin color. I also learned that There are daily prayers and the three pillars of sikhism are to remember god at all time, to live your life honestly/with integrity and to share what you have with those less fortunate. In addition, Every day Sikhs worship the one God at their homes, even with or without a Gurdwara service. As we learned in class that in sikhism statues and pictures are not allowed. Furthermore, there is no prophets in Sikhism, only direct relation with god without mediator. The three jewels in Sikhism are Naam Japna,Kirat Karni and Vand chakna (Living Religions page . Additionally, Skishis do not drink intoxicating drinks and most of them are vegetarian. Also, sikhs wear the 5 KS which are Kangha,Kara,Kachera,Kirpan and Kesh. According to the book Living Religion in Skisham , Men should wear turbans and

After 9/11, there were many hate crimes towards Sikhs because they were mistaken to be Muslim. Just days after the 9/11 attacks, 49-year-old Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down in Phoenix because he was mistakenly thought to be Muslim.

While Davis believes society is making the transition from the Jehovanist ideology to the Naturalist ideology he gives no further arguments for this thought. Jehovanism still dominates North American culture since sexual conversations and expression is still taboo, generating conflict for society. However, perhaps this shift will take place beginning within the more sexually tolerant younger generation. Secondary education students seems to take a more secularized Naturalist perspective both in their schooling and social life, as millennial are predominately liberal minded. Further commentary is needed on this position.