Public Comment

My Lords, I too congratulate the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York on calling this important debate.

The poet reminds us that rivers and mountains interpose to make one people implacable foes. It is not only geography that divides what Sikhs call our one human family; it is also human prejudice and bigotry. Most of us like to believe that we have no prejudices, and that prejudice is confined to the ignorant few. Nothing could be further from the truth. Prejudice, or a fear of difference, is inherent in us all. We are all genetically programmed to be wary of difference. In less enlightened times, even left-handers like me were regarded with suspicion—the Latin word for left is “sinister”. The challenge before us is to recognise and discard irrational prejudice against other members of our human family. Religion was meant to make us better human beings, but much of the conflict in the world today is between different religions or subsets of religions, each claiming superiority of belief and a unique access to the one God of us all. We all know what happens when two boys in the school playground each claim, “My dad is bigger or stronger or better than your dad”. The end result is fisticuffs—and it is the same with religion. 

Guru Nanak, who lived in the 15th century, was a witness to such conflict. India had been invaded by Muslims from the north, bent on converting to the one true faith those whom they saw as inferior Hindus. Hindus regarded the invaders as uncivilised barbarians. In his very first sermon, Guru Nanak declared that, in God’s eyes, there is neither Hindu nor Muslim, and that God is not interested in our different religious labels, but in what we do for others. He went on to criticise the discrimination against women practised by both religions, emphasising their complete equality. 

Throughout history, religions have created walls of supposed superiority of doctrine and favoured links to God, strengthened by negative attitudes to others. Some of the denigration of others has become embedded in religious scriptures, masking important commonalities between faiths. In the New Testament, for example, written decades after the passing of Jesus, it is claimed that Jesus said:“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. 

Well, that rules me out to start with. 

The denigration of others does not square with the life and actual teachings of Jesus, who applauded the kindness, goodness and compassion of others, as in the parable of the good Samaritan. Equally, the following verse, attributed to Jesus, deflects us from his all-embracing teachings: 

“For I say unto you that unless thy righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven”. g Jesus Christ repeatedly showed his respect for women, yet Saint Paul justifies misogyny. He says: 

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent”. h I have given some examples from the Bible which portray a negative image of others, which can be used to justify extreme and negative behaviour. . Time does not allow me to quote from other religious texts, such as the Koran, also written years after the passing of the Prophet Muhammad, which are sometimes used to justify violent behaviour towards others. While most people are decent and law abiding, a few can be persuaded to focus on negative attitudes to others embedded in religious texts and engage in acts of terrorism in the belief that they are advancing the one true faith and will be rewarded by God. Today, there is an urgent need for religious leaders to put negative and dated texts in their true historical context and deprive misguided extremists of justification and motivation. This is the only way to prevent extremism in society. Appointing commissions of inquiry and collecting hate statistics will not make an iota of difference. 

Different religions are, in essence, guidebooks for our journey through life—what to do, what to avoid—and imperatives for responsible living. It would be absurd to suggest that a particular guidebook for a tour of France is the only guidebook and that all others are false. 

Many years ago, I helped to start the Inter Faith Network, which has just been mentioned, to promote dialogue and understanding. While it helped to promote a superficial respect for different faiths, the one thing we did not talk about were the actual teachings. We would meet, exchange pleasantries and common concerns, enjoy tea and samosas and then go away, each convinced that our beliefs and ethical values were superior. This came home to me when I heard an internet talk by a Muslim vice-chair of the Inter Faith Network. He was talking to a Muslim audience, saying that he felt sorry for people of other faiths, for they were all going to hell. 

What normally passes for religion is an amalgam of culture, superstition and ethical teachings. Culture can be good or bad and it changes with time. Rituals and superstitions to flatter God are, in essence meaningless. I am sure that the one God, the creator of all that exists in the vastness of his universe, would not be motivated by the prejudice and favouritism attributed to him. 

Respecting seeming diversity is generally seen as a way of community cohesion, but for real cohesion and mutual respect we need to look beyond superficial difference to underlying commonalities. Our different religions are overlapping circles of belief which have more in common than the seeming differences. At the time of the millennium, I was a member of the Lambeth group. Although we were from different religions, we had no trouble in formulating priorities: ethical values that would carry us to a mor peaceful 21st century. They ended up in a drawer in Lambeth Palace. Today, we need to dig them out as a blueprint for greater cohesion and understanding, and as Sikhs say in our daily prayer, the wider well-being of our one human family. 

Archbishop of York’s Response. 

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Singh, as ever, for his moving words. They showed the deep connection between peoples of faith. I am reminded that Jesus nearly always made the hero of some of his most famous stories someone of another faith.