As an American, Indian and a Muslim, I stand by the Sikh community and hope to find sustainable solutions to prevent shameless events like this from happening. As Americans we need to come together to build an America where no one needs to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other.
Kindly join us for a candlelight vigil on
August 8th at the Sikh Temple of North Texas at 506 Gatewood Rd, Garland, Texas 75043 in Garland, TX at 8 p.m.
Blaming will not bring the lives back or solve
the problems, pushing the bigots to the corner will not do it, engaging (there
is no them, it is all of us) them in a normal day to day life has a chance of
nurturing goodwill.
We need to ask ourselves, am I capable of making friends with fellow Americans from different backgrounds, races, faiths and ethnicities? If I am reluctant, biased or bent on blaming others, then half of the problem is me. If I have it, they have it. Then I need to shed my bias first.
We need to ask ourselves, am I capable of making friends with fellow Americans from different backgrounds, races, faiths and ethnicities? If I am reluctant, biased or bent on blaming others, then half of the problem is me. If I have it, they have it. Then I need to shed my bias first.
Here is an article on the topic at Dallas Morning News’s Texas Faith Section, and God willing there will be an article with statements from a few about the incident in a few days.
Texas Faith is a weekly
column at Dallas Morning News managed by Editors William McKenzie and Wayne
Slater, the material is contributed by several panelists, for all responses
please visit
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2012/08/texas-faith-is-the-sikh-shooting-christian-terrorism.html/
MIKE
GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas
The
term “Christian Terrorism” is one of the most dangerous terms to bring into
currency. It is as ridiculous as “Islamic Terrorism” or Jewish and Hindu
Terrorism. I deplore Juergensmeyer for floating it, as it amounts to advocating
an eye for an eye, making the whole world blind.
We continue to blame Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or other religions as though they are individuals who can be slapped, hanged, annihilated, beat up, killed or punished for the wrong doing. If we can’t do that, then why bark at religion?
We continue to blame Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or other religions as though they are individuals who can be slapped, hanged, annihilated, beat up, killed or punished for the wrong doing. If we can’t do that, then why bark at religion?
Every piece of matter and
life is
programmed to seek balance and justice respectively. Blaming a religion is
passing the buck to an intangible non-punishable entity, thus deliberately
perpetuating injustice. Justice is the key to
harmony and peaceful co-existence in the society.
Individuals are always responsible for the bloodshed and not the religions. By punishing the individual for the wrong doing, we serve justice and restore trust and cohesiveness in the society. We need to go a step further, and find the individuals who inspire men like Wade Michael Page to massacre the Sikhs in the temple or the senseless shooting in Colorado.
Hate is one of the sources of disrupting peace in a society and it is our duty to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it. We have an obligation to maintain law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen.
Politicians
and religious leaders need to be aware, that as a civilized society, we can hold
them accountable for making irresponsible statements.
If we learn to respect the otherness of others, and accept the genetic uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. Ask yourselves, what is my contribution to America?
If we learn to respect the otherness of others, and accept the genetic uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. Ask yourselves, what is my contribution to America?
As an
American, Indian and a Muslim, I stand by the Sikh community and hope to find
long term sustainable solutions to prevent shameless events like this from
happening.
As Americans we need to come together to build an America where no one needs to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other.
URL - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/texas-faith-is-sikh-shooting-christian.html
No American has to live in
apprehension or fear of the other. There are solutions; here is a trailer of the
movie in making: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXsTo4VYh8&feature=youtu.be
Mike Ghouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.comis updated daily.
Mike Ghouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blog www.TheGhousediary.comis updated daily.
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