Showing posts with label
Network of Sikh Organisations.
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Showing posts with label
Network of Sikh Organisations.
Show all posts
Thought for the day with Lord Singh, Director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning.
There’s a meeting in the House of Lords tomorrow on the role of faith communities in promoting peace. But if we look at the world about us, we can hardly fail to notice, that at first sight at least, religions seem to be a part of today’s conflicts.
When religions talk of taking the lead in working for peace some may be forgiven for the comment, “Physician first heal thyself”.
So what should religions be doing to improve their image and make a real contribution to peace? And is peace in itself always a good thing?
I’m reminded about the time when I was invited to give the annual City of Coventry peace lecture. I immediately started to look through Sikh scriptures for suitable quotes on the importance peace in the usual meaning of the word - that is, the absence of active conflict.
To my dismay, I found nothing. It was then that I realised why Sikhism and other religions that talk so much about justice and fairness in society and see the absence of conflict desirable, also recognise that this in itself, does not always result in justice.
All wars and conflicts eventually end in peace; but it can be the peace of the graveyard, with injustice and arbitrary rule being the true victor: a fate which, with the current brutal crackdown in the city of Homs, could be the lot of the hapless people of Syria today.
To my mind, peace without justice is simply a papering over cracks. Greater justice and fairness in society for all people must be the goal for people of religion who want to make a real difference. It’s a sentiment echoed in the closing line of the Sikh daily prayer, the Ardas, with its emphasis on the well-being of all.
It’s perhaps because of this that I’ve always been an avid fan of the brilliant and compassionate novels of Charles Dickens, whose birth bicentenary falls today.
He saw that a fairer and more peaceful society can only be built by tackling underlying hardship and injustice.
My hope is that we move to this wider understanding of peace. To do so, we need to set aside energy-sapping and conflict-causing arguments about my religion or my interpretation of religion being better than yours and move to a common goal of working for peace based on fairness and justice for all members of our human family.
It's being widely reported in the religious media today that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and the Chief Rabbi are amongst the British religious leaders who have called for the release of the seven Bahá'í leaders currently serving prison sentences in Iran.
In a recently issued statement, the religious leaders say they view the imprisonment of Iran’s Bahá'í leaders as a gross violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of religion. They urge governments to call on the Iranian authorities to review the decision to imprison the Baha’i leaders and to cease harassing the Bahá'í community.
“We are deeply touched by the sympathy and solidarity expressed by the UK’s significant religious leaders for our beleaguered brethren in Iran,” said Dr Kishan Manocha, the UK Bahá'í community’s Secretary of External Affairs. “Bahá'ís across the UK, especially those with family members in Iran, will be encouraged and empowered by this statement.” The text of the statement is as follows:
“We have been informed that following two years of arrest during which the international community has pressed the Iranian authorities to follow humanitarian and legal norms, seven leaders of the Bahá’í community in Iran have each been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for reasons which in the view of all independent observers are solely based on their faith. These sentences form part of a wider picture over many years of severe harassment of the Bahá’í community
We view this act as a gross violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of religion and call on the Iranian government to fulfil their obligations under article 18 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights to review the case and to ensure that the treatment of these “prisoners” accords with justice and due process as defined in the Iranian constitution and law.
We call upon all governments and people of good will to call upon the the Iranian authorities to review this decision and to cease harassment of the Bahá’í community.
We extend our sympathies to the Bahá’í community at this difficult time and hope that the widespread and growing international concern over this matter will cause the Iranian authorities to correct this flagrant injustice.”
The statement is signed by the following religious luminaries:
- The Most Revd Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
- The Most Revd Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster
- Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks
- Jay Lakhani, Hindu Academy
- Arjan Vekaria JP, President, Hindu Forum of Britain
- Dr Indarjit Singh CBE, Network of Sikh Organisations
- Dr Natubhai Shah MBBS PhD, Network of Jain Organisations, Council of Dharmic Faiths
- Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, Chair, Religions for Peace UK.
