Attitudes to racism
Racism is a type of prejudice and is the belief that a specific or particular race is inferior to your own or any other in many different ways, such as intelligence. 2 examples of racism are inferiority of intelligence; saying a particular race is less intelligent than any other race and another example is someone insulting religious background. Fortunately, there are UK laws protecting people against prejudice and discrimination such the race relations act 1976 made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race or nationality. In the areas of employment, housing, education, providing goods, services and facilities.
Sikhism teaches that racism is very wrong and Sikhs believe that everyone is equal. Evidence can be found in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji which quotes:
"Recognise the lords light within all and enquire not the cast because there is no cast in the next world."
This means that everyone is equal and the cast system, which was very popular at the time of Guru Nanak, was taught to be wrong and a mean of prejudice and discrimination, the Guru's taught that all people had been created by God and have the essence of God and that every human being has the right of working towards liberation. In a response to racism, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa to promote equality by giving everyone common surnames (Singh: Lion /Kaur: Princess).
One of the most important responses to racism was the creation Daswandh, where the Gurdwara is to be open to everyone no matter of their colour race or gender. This is why Sikhs are completely against Racism.
There are many quotes in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji which demotes racism. One quote says 'the clay is the same, but the fashioner has fashioned it in different ways'. This means that everyone, no matter the race, has been created by God which means everyone is equal. Another quote on page 1131 says 'How is it that I am formed of blood and you are made of milk? 'This means why do you think you are better than everyone else when inside, everyone is the same.
The way in which we would handle racism is to tell a responsible adult such as our parents or our teacher and hopefully their authority would help solve this very serious problem. The Guru's are also against racism so Guru Amar Das created the Daswandh, which has previously been explained. The Daswandh is also an example of work done against racism as it teaches that everyone is equal and it is very successful because now every Gurdwara around the world follow the Daswandh.
By Amar Singh Nandrha
Racism is a type of prejudice and is the belief that a specific or particular race is inferior to your own or any other in many different ways, such as intelligence. 2 examples of racism are inferiority of intelligence; saying a particular race is less intelligent than any other race and another example is someone insulting religious background. Fortunately, there are UK laws protecting people against prejudice and discrimination such the race relations act 1976 made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race or nationality. In the areas of employment, housing, education, providing goods, services and facilities.
Sikhism teaches that racism is very wrong and Sikhs believe that everyone is equal. Evidence can be found in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji which quotes:
"Recognise the lords light within all and enquire not the cast because there is no cast in the next world."
This means that everyone is equal and the cast system, which was very popular at the time of Guru Nanak, was taught to be wrong and a mean of prejudice and discrimination, the Guru's taught that all people had been created by God and have the essence of God and that every human being has the right of working towards liberation. In a response to racism, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa to promote equality by giving everyone common surnames (Singh: Lion /Kaur: Princess).
One of the most important responses to racism was the creation Daswandh, where the Gurdwara is to be open to everyone no matter of their colour race or gender. This is why Sikhs are completely against Racism.
There are many quotes in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji which demotes racism. One quote says 'the clay is the same, but the fashioner has fashioned it in different ways'. This means that everyone, no matter the race, has been created by God which means everyone is equal. Another quote on page 1131 says 'How is it that I am formed of blood and you are made of milk? 'This means why do you think you are better than everyone else when inside, everyone is the same.
The way in which we would handle racism is to tell a responsible adult such as our parents or our teacher and hopefully their authority would help solve this very serious problem. The Guru's are also against racism so Guru Amar Das created the Daswandh, which has previously been explained. The Daswandh is also an example of work done against racism as it teaches that everyone is equal and it is very successful because now every Gurdwara around the world follow the Daswandh.
By Amar Singh Nandrha