Have Canadian socialists lost their collective mind? (I know, I know, hard-core capitalists would claim they never had a mind to lose.) Last weekend, the New Democratic Party elected as its national leader a non-white who wears a turban and carries a symbolic dagger!
Jagmeet Singh, a 38-year-old brown-skinned man with abundant energy and charisma, won a 53 per cent majority on the first ballot. Yes, on the first ballot! By contrast, the Conservative Party required 13 rounds of voting for Andrew Scheer to reach 51 per cent.
The news media immediately began speculating about how Singh would fare in Quebec, where Bill 62 bans people from wearing religious garb while receiving or providing public services -- even riding on municipal buses.
I think focussing on Quebec avoids the real issue. How will “white” Canada react to him?
We get a clue from an incident when Jagmeet Singh was still on the campaign trail. A woman stormed a rally, accusing him of wanting to impose Sharia law on Canadians.
In a later interview with right-wing Rebel media, the woman, Jennifer Bush, explained that she objected to his support for a federal motion that classed Islamophobia as hate speech. Somehow, she equated protection of Muslims’ civil rights with muzzling free speech.
In fact, Singh was not among the 201 MPs who voted for M-103, because he is not a federal MP at all.
Nevertheless, media coverage of terrorism has slapped a “Muslim” label on anyone who looks different. Jagmeet Singh wears a turban and doesn’t trim his beard; therefore he must be Muslim.
He’s not. He’s a Sikh.
World religions 101
Most Canadians, I suspect, recognize only two religions -- “ours” and “theirs.”
“Ours” would be some form of Christianity. “Theirs” would be anything else. And it would lump together all practices that “ours” rejects -- honour killings, arranged marriages, polygamy, terrorism, veils, idol worship…
Canada needs a crash course in world religions. Jagmeet Singh may offer that opportunity.
Briefly put, all religions (with the possible exception of Hinduism, which is so old no one knows its origins) have evolved. Each new religion has some roots in an existing religion and culture; each new religion rejects some older elements, and reshapes others.
So Christianity evolved out of Judaism, blended with some Greek philosophy. It started with a Jew who wanted to purify and restore an existing religion that he felt had degenerated into legalism.
Christianity acknowledges its Jewish roots by including Jewish scriptures into “our” Bible.
Judaism, in turn, absorbed some elements of Mesopotamian religions, from the Persian prophet Zoroaster or Zarathustra, from Egypt’s brief foray into monotheism, and from the Midianite faith of Moses’ father-in-law.
Islam, despite its claim of being delivered directly by God to Mohammed, is an amalgam of all of the above. Most of the stories in the Qur’an are borrowed from either Jewish or Christian traditions.
Two breakaway faiths
Christianity may be monotheistic -- that is, believing in one God -- but hardly monolithic. Around 1500, the Reformation split the rock into thousands of fragments.
In the same way, Islam has had its fractures. The most recent led to the Baha’i faith in 1844. Because the writings of Baha’u’llah supplant Mohammed’s Qur’an, Baha’is have been viciously persecuted, especially in Iran.
The same evolutionary process happened with the world’s oldest religion, in India. The first breakaway was Buddhism, about five centuries BC.
By the time Sikhism emerged, around 1520 AD, India had three dominant religions -- its own Hinduism, the religion of its Muslim moguls, and Buddhism.
The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, rejected Islam’s obedience, Hinduism’s idols, and Buddhism’s denial of any gods. He declared that there was only one God, no matter what name one used. And the only foundation for true religion was mutual respect among people -- a conviction that rejected India’s caste system.
Guru Nanak was followed by nine more gurus. Since the tenth, authority has rested in the Sikh scriptures, the Granth Sahib, which prohibit extra-marital sex; consider all people and genders as equals; expect members to eat together, act with modesty and humility, earn an honest living, and contribute at least ten per cent to charitable causes.
Strict adherence also requires men to wear certain symbols of their faith, such as the turban and the kirpan. But many Sikh men choose to shave and have conventional haircuts. Jagmeet Singh doesn’t, which indicates that he takes his religion seriously -- even if it could prove a political handicap.
Just remember -- he’s a Sikh, not a Muslim.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
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YOUR TURN
After last week’s column on the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), Sheila Carey commented on my reference to hearing a “squaw” joke that made me wince. “But did you speak up?” she asked. “When we remain silent they get away with it. If the speaker is a friend or family member we may not want to rock the boat, spoil the occasion, but if we don’t take a stand, it goes on. Just like standing by while someone is bullied. Only worse.
Isabel Gibson thought I had been too hard on the MMIWG Inquiry: “Education and inquiries need not be mutually exclusive, but I agree that this Inquiry is unlikely to give families what they want -- what anyone would want: justice.
“My best hope is that it will give them a sense, finally, of being heard.
“As for the change of heart we need, yes to education, yes to leadership (as, for example, Lt. Gen. Silveria's response to racist graffiti), and yes to more resources for families and for policing.”
Hanny Kooyman simply wrote, “Thanks, Jim, for these supportive words towards women.”
Marguerite Irvine asked, “Might we gain some insight into the cause, by learning the deeper attitudes of the men who are convicted of the murders?”
I agree that study is needed. But my own hunch is what I suggested in the column, that the perpetrators think of indigenous woman as fair game for men, any men.
Bob Rollwagen connected the column with recent news reports out of Las Vegas.: “What I find frustrating is the reports, after events such as we have seen this week, that the individual(s) were [already] on watch lists as a result of previous racist or terrorist comments. We have a free society, but hate in any form is not acceptable. Such individuals need to be put into a treatment and education program when discovered to correct their LEARNED misbehaviour.”
Also in connection with the Las Vegas massacre, Bob Warrick noted a satirical headline in a local paper: “Australia Enjoys Another Peaceful Day Under Oppressive Gun Control Regime” followed by this sentence, “Due to the nation’s controversial and oppressive gun restrictions, no one has died as a result of a mass-shooting on Australian soil today, for the 7827th day in a row.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net