Garden State Sikh Association Appeals to Bridgewater Community

Note:  This is one of my longer posts, but one with which I hope you will resonate.

A view of the interior of the Sikh Temple in Bridgewater

 at the candlelight vigil Tuesday evening, August 7, 2012

. (Bergeron Image)

Early on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 – a day that will forever live in infamy just as much as that of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor – I had just completed floor exercises, when I turned to the TV and began to view incredible scenes that would forever be seared into memory.  They depicted the unfolding of the evil-minded suicide attacks ordered by Osama bin Laden against civilians of the United States.

Days later, when Priscille and I entered the narthex of our church for Sunday morning Mass, there, posted on the walls, were eight-and-a-half by eleven-inch posters from the Garden State Sikh Association of Bridgewater, NJ, sharing its concerns about the aftermath of 9/11.

 On those posters flowed words of peace and concern, and they contained an invitation extended to the nearby community to attend an open house at the Sikh temple in Bridgewater Township. 

Clearly understood by any reader were the underlying fears of those within the Sikh community of being misunderstood and of being improperly associated with the radical Islamic terrorists who had traumatized the entire nation only days before.

Bridgewater Township Mayor Dan Hayes assures the crowd

 of the community's support. (Bergeron Image)

Years later, upon the murderous attack on the faithful of a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin – this time perpetrated by a white supremacist American citizen dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Military – the leadership of the Sikh Temple in Bridgewater once more felt it necessary to call upon the local community for support and to the Township police for precautionary patrols.

This week, on Tuesday evening, the Sikh Temple was filled with the faithful of that tradition and with other Bridgewater, Somerset County, State of New Jersey, and National elected officials, as well as religious leaders from all faiths and ordinary citizens and neighbors.  They had gathered for a candlelight vigil and to hear expressions of solidarity from them and from law enforcement representatives.

There were no reported incidents of violence against the Sikhs of Bridgewater after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers.  Nor have there been any since then or after the latest shootings in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Nonetheless, it should not be necessary for the community of Sikhs in New Jersey to keep explaining that their men’s habit of wearing turbans, as well as the practice of growing long facial hair is one of their religious observances, and, therefore, that they should not be suspect as a subversive group. 

Neither should they continually have to explain that they are not be confused with any other faith system, even one which continues to draw unfair, yet unfavorable exposure in the U.S., because some of its renegade adherents worldwide continue to wage unauthorized Jihad against Western nations.

The Rev. Monsignor Joseph Celano of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish,

 Bridgewater, addresses the Sikh assembly. (Bergeron Image)

Nonetheless, Sikhs continue to experience occasions of bias in the U.S., and have expressed concern that Americans need to be better educated.  Although it may not come as a particularly comforting thought at this time, the United States has always experienced religious conflict. 

Not long after the Pilgrims set foot on Massachusetts soil, internecine struggles began between Christian denominations who subsequently emigrated from Europe, and which themselves had left those shores because of persecution for their religious beliefs. There were no exceptions:  The State of Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams who was banished from Massachusetts for his conflicts with various religious groups.

Religious bias and discrimination continued to intensify when the first Roman Catholics subsequently commenced to leave European countries either for economic or religious conflicts – or both.

Bridgewater Township Police Chief Richard Borden assures

 the assembly of members and friends of the Garden State

 Sikh Association. (Bergeron Image)

But there are several key elements which differentiate this nation from all others: 

From our very beginning, a great band of founders wrote the world’s best Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Those two rigidly enforced documents and the will to live by them – yes, we have had many serious missteps on the road to freedom – have been the reason why people from everywhere else on earth continue to flock to this country.  That is an elemental verity never to forget. 

There is, however, no excuse for us Americans to be so ignorant on matters of faith and belief.  Despite the droning of the secularists among us, this country is one of strong religious convictions.  We should understand certain basic aspects not only of our major religious heritage, but also of other religious groups who are flocking to our shores for the same reasons that the Europeans did.

For example, how many Americans, especially students, could answer these fundamental questions:  Which country has the largest population of Muslims?  Which country has the largest minority population of Muslims?  Which faith system has the largest number of adherents worldwide?  What are the major religions of India?  What about Saudi Arabia?  Is Iran an Arab country?  Could you find Rome on a map?  Which religion no longer in conflict with Judaism is directly derivative from it?

Sounds challenging, but knowledge about such matters is essential to understanding the sources and reasons for the current national and worldwide strife – despite secularist claims to the contrary. 

Thanks for your reading time.

(Click on any image for an enhanced view.)