For my very first article for the SFA, I thought I would reflect upon a personal issue that affects most of you. Something which I believe is getting more and more neglected in our Western society is religion! Why is this the case? I cannot personally answer this question without providing bias, but rather leave it up to all of you to make up your own minds. Whether you believe in God or not will obviously provide you a starting point. Anyhow to get back to the point, I would like to raise a question that I got thinking about. I would like to raise the somewhat philosophical and interesting question of which religion is the best, in that it provides the best pathway for ascending to God.
Whether you know me personally or not, and whether you know that I am a Sikh or not will provide useful in your own conclusions to this article. To be very brief about Sikhism, it is a universal religion that advocates freedom, equality, love and respect to all others, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, gender, ability and belief. Those of you who are Christian may be tempted to advocate that it is the best religion, or maybe those of you who are even Sikhs may do the exact same thing (I know some of my old friends did so). The same can apply to Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and any other religion not specified.
I would like to outline what Sikhism states on the matter. The doctrines of the Sikh Gurus, in particular the fourth founding father of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji stated it best when he said that "since all beliefs of God are his manifestations, all are equal". This belief is rooted in his saying that "each belief should be practised fully and most importantly truthfully". Guru Nanak Dev Ji stated that "the best religion in the world is Truth itself. One, who earns a truthful living, advocates Truth itself". In stating "Truth" he did not simply mean the difference between telling a lie and the truth, but rather one should not manipulate their religion to attain their own ends.
