25 million sikhs celebrate the memory of the pope who rallied to their support as a champion of interfaith and human rights

25 million sikhs celebrate the memory of the pope who rallied to their support as a champion of interfaith and human rights

2nd April 2005,London : 25 million Sikhs around the world remember the intrepid Pope John Paul II for his support for human rights when their religious freedom was attacked last year and twenty years earlier.

`Last year Pope John Paul II threw his weight behind Sikhs to oppose the French government’s ban on religious signs, including the Sikh Turban, at schools, saying ”the government cannot be an arbiter in any religious matter.”, said Sameep Singh, inter-faith Director of UNITED SIKHS, a global human development organisation that works for the betterment of Sikhs globally.

”In other words, Governments should respect dignity of the human person and of his inalienable rights among which his right to adhere, practice and propagate his religion is fundamental. No Government should interfere with the inner core of any religion,” the Pope had said in a message.

The Pope’s message came after the Sikh community sought his intervention to oppose the French ban on the Sikh turban, an expression of the Sikh identity and faith. UNITED SIKHS led a petition
campaign seeking the intervention of world leaders to persuade the French government to abandon its plan to pass the ban-law.

Pope John Paul II said in a message, ”In recent times, we have witnessed in some European countries an attitude that could endanger the effective respect for religious freedom. Everyone may agree to respect the religious sentiment of individuals but the same can not be said of the religious factor, that is the social dimension of religions. It is nothing other than respect for all beliefs on the part of the State that assures the free exercise of ritual, spiritual and cultural and charitable activities by communities of believers.”

The Pope said a healthy dialogue between the Church and the State would encourage harmony in society.

“The Pope’s contribution to interfaith dialogue made him a veritable saint-soldier whose influence on spiritual and temporal matters was phenomenal,” said Sameep Singh.

Twenty years earlier, when the Sikhs’ holiest shrine in Amritsar, popularly known as the Golden Temple, was attacked by the Indian armed forces, the Pope did not mince his words in support for the human rights of thousands of innocent worshippers who had been killed during the attack.

“In these days, the news has followed the ever more serious events in the state of Punjab. I do not want to go into the delicate and complex motives behind these disturbances in a great nation. But the sad fact is that the place where so many people met a tragic death is a temple where men gather in prayer.

“I address an immediate sentiment of human pity for all the victims with a call that a way to resolve the current strife can be found in a mutual understanding…” Pope John Paul II said.

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