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Summary of Question:	"Superiority " Of The World's Religions
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 1/23/2002 2:53 PM MST

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa;

Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fathae;

Now, there is something that really confuses me and for some strange reason I have a strong feeling that convinces me that this sort of thing is wrong.

I was talking to this Muslim, and he kept going on that ISLAM is the TRUE RELIGION. I then went onto ask him, well what about Christianity, Sikhism etc etc. He then went onto say that he does not know about Sikhism, but he was criticising the bible, saying that it has been misinterpreted so many times and that Koran is the single most accurate of the Holy Books. I found him extremely fundamentalistic and rather arrogant and dogmatic inside.

I have met a lot of Christians who go round saying that there is only one God and that it is the so called 'Christian God'. I have also met a lot of Sikhs who consider Sikhi to be far superior to all the other faiths. Are these people being fundamentalistic or dogmatic? OR is it me that is wrong and they are right in what they say, considering their faiths to be far superior to one another's? I find such remarks to be racist towards one another's faiths. I strongly believe that kind of attitude from people of different beliefs,has given religion a bad name. No doubt that any religion in question has a history of war and conflicts beyond it, I blame 'that kind of attitude' that has created prejudice in one another's faiths.

I told this Muslim guy and lots of people that GURU NANAK, strongly pin pointed that 'neither of us is a Muslim nor a Hindu, there is one God and he is the creator of us all: Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians etc etc, we all belong to
him, he is the one who sends us on earth and it is him whom we return to after'
Despite telling them this I still hear a lot of this 'the Bible says there is one Christian God and no other' or 'Islam is the true religion'. Such comments really get my head in. During Guru Nanak's time, India was being torn apart by growing fundamentalism and fanaticism between Hindu and Muslim faith, which he strongly oppressed.

Although I am of a Sikh family, all the world's religions are the same to me, after all there is one God. Our ten Gurus had many followers of different backgrounds and of both Hindu and Sikh faiths. Sometimes I ask myself, why are there so many religions when there is one God? Why is it impossible for some people to understand that there is one God, and of all the faiths, true faith is in the heart. I haven't studied the Koran, but I have studied both the Bible and Gurbani and from what I know there is a lot of similarity in these three books, and it is these similarities that have brought me closer to our Creator, whatever we choose to call him by.

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REPLY
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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! You are right; there are Truths common to Christianity, Islam, and Sikhi. I think it's wonderful that your study of these faiths has brought you closer to the Creator.
It is human to believe that 'my way is the right way'. I have seen this religious arrogance in every path I have encountered. Sikhi is just about the ONLY religion that maintains that all paths are one, that all of us worship the SAME Creator, no matter what we call Him/Her/It. Ik Ong Kaar - there is one Creator of the Creation.

Don't get caught up in the arguments of people who think they can prove the superiority of their faith. There is no way out of such arguments, because why should anyone believe you since you do not follow the other's path? Next time you find yourself stuck, tell the one you are arguing with that Skhs believe ALL paths are equal, and that Sikhs have died on behalf of all people's right to worship as they choose. Then change the subject or walk away.

Guru Gobind SIngh in his Benanti Chaupa-ee says that 'everyone describes God according to their own understanding', (pauri 14) so how could there be ONE superior path? There cannot. However, those who claim their path is superior are recognizing one thing: that their path is the BEST path for them at the time. This is why many people convert: because the path they are born into does not serve them and their understanding of God. So they find a path that does.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK