It’s Time to Let Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs Join the Military
This piece was originally published on The Daily Beast. The rash of hate crimes following the Boston Marathon bombings reminds us of the major challenges religious minorities face in this country. Last week a taxi passenger in Northern Virginia verbally and physically attacked his driver for being “a fucking Muslim.” The victim, Mohamed Salim, who [...]
Protesting Interfaith? The Importance of Advancing Our Dialogues
This piece was originally published on Huffington Post Religion. I had never before seen anyone protest an interfaith gathering. But yesterday as we walked out of our hotel in Kiev, Ukraine, a small group of protestors stepped forward to verbally and physically harass our group consisting of religious leaders and foreign dignitaries. The protestors belonged [...]
Hate, Congress and the FBI: Rethinking How We Track Hate Crimes in America
This article was originally published in The Huffington Post Two weeks ago, Florida resident and Sikh American Kanwaljit Singh was driving with his 13-year old son when someone pulled up next to him in a pickup truck and opened fire. Two of the bullets struck Singh in the thigh and torso, and after about a [...]
‘American Idol’s’ Gurpreet Singh Sarin on Singing His Way Past Stereotypes
This interview originally appeared on The Daily Beast With more turban colors than a box of crayons, Gurpreet Singh Sarin is the brightest-looking participant in ‘American Idol’ this year. He tells us about the controversy over his appearance and how he started singing in a Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Channel surfing is a little different this [...]
Touching Turbans and Airport Security
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post This afternoon, I was forced to let someone else touch my turban. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life. I attended a conference at Stanford University this weekend and was traveling back home to New York City by way of San Francisco International [...]
Repealing the Ban Against Sikhs in the Military
Originally published on The Huffington Post. A few weeks ago, the British Army and the Scots Guard broke centuries of tradition by allowing a Sikh soldier, Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar, to wear his turban rather than the traditional bearskin cap while guarding Buckingham Palace in London, England. Meanwhile, U.S. policies still bar turbaned Sikhs from serving [...]
Revisiting the Victim Narrative of the Sikh American Community
Originally published in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel. After a white supremacist opened fire at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek in August, significant media resources have been devoted to describing, analyzing, and attempting to explain the event. A few of the prominent themes have included buzzwords such as “unprecedented,” “victimization” and “suffering” endured by Sikhs in [...]
A Believer’s Response To The Connecticut Shooting: We All Suffer Together
The mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut raises serious questions about the health of our society and collective humanity. People around the globe today wonder how anyone could possibly justify killing innocent school children and school employees. More than any of the other mass shootings our country has witnessed over the past [...]
How Hate Gets Counted
Re-published with permission from the authors. Original Source: The New York Times Co-Author: Prabhjot Singh Do American Sikhs count? The horrific shooting at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Aug. 5, in which a white supremacist, Wade M. Page, killed six people before fatally shooting himself, elicited an outpouring of sympathy from American leaders [...]
How Sikhs Handle Hate
Re-published with permission from the authors. Original Source: Religion Dispatches. Co-Author: Rajdeep Singh As we reflect on the massacre of Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, Wisconsin earlier this month, we are especially concerned about the effect it will have on Sikh morale, especially the desire among Sikhs to continue wearing turbans. For this, the Sikh [...]
Simran Jeet Singh
Simran Jeet Singh is a doctoral student in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. His research focuses on South Asian Religions, particularly the Sikh tradition and the life of its founder, Guru Nanak.
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Contributing Scholars
SujatoBhante Sujato is a Buddhist monk from Australia. He ordained and practiced in the Thai forest meditation tradition before setting up Santi Forest Monastery near Sydney, Australia. He is a historical scholar of early Buddhism and has published a number of books, which may be found at santipada.org. He is deeply involved in the interfaith and environmental movements in Australia, and is well known as an advocate for women's rights, especially the full ordination of women in Buddhism.
Honna EichlerHonna is the Managing Director at State of Formation. She has a Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary and works in Chicago, IL.
Tom PeteetTom Peteet is a 5th year UMASS Medical Student pursuing residency in primary care medicine. His interests include humanism in medicine, yoga, mindfulness, and urban education.