Browsing Tag: Tolerance

Faith schools mean more religious tolerance not less, according to a professor from Warwick University. Professor Leslie Francis has led research on tolerance and faith schools.

The fundamental issue is that ignorance and misunderstanding lead to bigotry and hate when left unattended. To eliminate ignorance is a hefty task that is thought of as time consuming and difficult, if not impossible. Yet, we must try.

When I walked around NYC in a superhero costume, I had no idea the effect it would have on strangers -- or on me

People of different nationalities celebrate the Turban Day at Union Square in New York.

He looks at a number of philosophical attempts to justify the idea that the state should tolerate acts of conscience before proceeding to identify the central features of religious practice and belief.

Monday, my 6-year old granddaughter asked me why I was so sad. “Because a man took guns into a gurdwara and killed six people,” I answered. Her response was simple: “Doesn’t he know it’s not good to kill people?”

Yolo County’s Multicultural Community Council (MCC) held a forum on Muslims and Sikhs on Thursday — the first in a series of public forums aimed to foster understanding and appreciation of local cultures.

“Sikhs have a responsibility to talk about their faith practice with outsiders, he says, “but it’s freaking me out.” The audience of 25 chuckled at his confession and then listened intently as he walked them through the historical roots of Sikhism...

While United States ranks relatively low on government restrictions and social hostility, for the first time it has seen a significant increase on both indices, and the issues behind this relate directly to the Sikh American experience.

How do we create positive change out of a devastating loss?

Today, the Yuba City resident takes another approach by encouraging tolerance through education. Correcting ignorance, he said, is the only way to change the misconceptions and misunderstandings about his culture and his faith.

I am a third-generation Sikh American, and as the ceremony drew to a close, I tweeted, “May this not be the last moment the nation watches and mourns with us. May this be the start of lasting solidarity.”

Speakers emphasized that their religions had more in common than differences, with each using a written scripture that leads to different interpretations of the religion’s philosophy. They agreed that a rise of fundamentalism and bigotry posed challenges.

If the spheres of fashion and religion seem disparate and distant, it is 22-year-old Jagmeet Sethi's Connecticut-based apparel company TurbanInc that has brought the two seemingly distinct worlds together.

"No Sikh should be afraid to wear this headdress. No Sikh should be afraid to practice their peaceful religion because they believe someone will attack them," the Sacramento Democrat, wearing a purple turban, said.

David added: “The children learnt about how Sikhism is based on respecting each other. The main message was that it doesn’t matter which religion you are as long as you tolerate each other.”

“Our community can only be safe when we come together and insist not just on tolerance but acceptance.” Words are slippery things, but I think my mother’s “acceptance” and Steinberg’s “tolerance” meant the same thing: the naming of another person as the Other, the NotMe, the One Who Is Different from Me.

In his 2009 speech in Cairo, President Barack Obama appealed to the Muslim world by paraphrasing from the Koran. He drew from this passage, among others: “We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people” (Koran 5:32). The excerpt has been a hallmark of non-violence in Islam, one that took on particular significance after 9/11.

Tolerance matters for the obvious reason that the diversity of interests and desires people have is sometimes so great that we don't even understand why others should think and behave as they do; and yet we acknowledge their right to do so, because we cherish the same right for ourselves.