WASHINGTON, D.C: The Guru Gobind Singh Foundation participated in an interfaith dialogue titled “Children under Siege Protecting and Nurturing the Family in a Hostile World,” last month in this conference, representatives of Islamic, Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Sikh communities, which focused on the problems facing the children and the family and which threaten the social structure of American Life. The conference opened with a prayer offerings from each religion. Dr. Rajwant Singh an executive member of Interfaith Conference (IFC) offered the Sikh prayer by reciting a shabad by Guru Arjan “Poota Mata Ki Assis” and later translated it for the benefit of audience.
Dr. Kamaljit Kaur Sethi, a medical doctor and chief of Nephrology Dept at D.C. General Hospital, served on the panel and presented the Sikh viewpoint. She said that, “the role of family and children is considered very important as mentioned in Guru Granth Sahib, which is the basis of Sikh theology.
It emphasizes intimate relationship with God and the model that is used is that of parent and child. She also said that the Sikh Gurus themselves were family men and it is a moral duty of a Sikh parent to inculcate social and ethical’ values in children. She added, “that the Sikh children enjoy good mental and physical health considering the challenges faced by them in school and in the community.” Sikh religion she said, being the religion of the householder has a built in system of dealing with the problem that our children might face in a society.”
Dr. Rajwant Singh an official of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation (G.GS.F.) said, “in the face of these trends of divorces, separations, and unmarried parents, children needs must be met for the sake of children and for the sake of family and society as a whole. Religion can play an important role in preventing these problems. Sikhism which emphasizes the role of the family also stresses on facing the problem in the society and not running away from them.” he added. “As a religious community in America, we must prepare our coming generations for the challenges of Today and Tomorrow and that we can only do by building a strong critical and moral foundation based in religion.” Amrit Kaur secretary of G.GSF said, “We as Sikhs, cannot be mere spectators to this destruction of family life by drugs and violence. Although this problem has not touched us so deeply as yet but we must prepare ourselves and find solutions to it.”
Several workshops also examined the topics of “when a marriage is in trouble/martial well beings,” Economic pressures on the family,” and Racism.”
This conference was sponsored by Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington which brings together Islamic, Jewish, Mormon, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Sikh Faith Communities and their leaders for interfaith dialogue and united work on critical issues facing the metropolitan area. Sikhs just recently joined the IFC as full members.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 30, 1989
