Articles of Faith
Gurinder Chadha: ‘I started my career as a way of combating racism’
By Simran Jeet Singh — August 13, 2019
(RNS) — British director Gurinder Chadha's latest film, 'Blinded by the Light,' depicts a lost teenager in Margaret Thatcher's Britain finding salvation through perhaps the unlikeliest of saviors — Bruce Springsteen.
Why do racists hate ethnic and religious clothing?
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 31, 2019
(RNS) — Seeing someone dressed in unfamiliar attire, like a Punjabi kurta pajama, may cause confusion or raise an eyebrow. It should not be a cause for hate.
What it feels like to be told ‘Go back where you came from’
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 17, 2019
(RNS) — Divisive rhetoric is a serious threat to our dignity, but when people tell me to 'go back' to where I came from, my response is simple: I ask them what they have against Texans.
Conquering NBA fans’ hearts, Tacko Fall shows how sports bring us together
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 9, 2019
(RNS) — The love shown to a Senegalese Muslim basketball player — in a political moment of immense anti-immigrant, anti-black and anti-Muslim bigotry — shows us what a politically useful function sports can serve.
Raising a progressive Hindu voice to counter Indian Modi’s increasing power
By Simran Jeet Singh — July 8, 2019
(RNS) — Sunita Viswanath founded Sadhana in 2011 to counter those in India and abroad who she believes are co-opting Hinduism for political gain.
Julián Castro: Democrats ‘put in a box’ on religion and morality
By Simran Jeet Singh — June 25, 2019
(RNS) — For both sides, treating human beings with basic respect and dignity, no matter who they are, is a test.
Quebec’s new law banning religious garments in public fails the reality test
By Simran Jeet Singh — June 18, 2019
(RNS) — Where the arguments of laicity offered by defenders of Quebec's new law fall flat is in the real world.
Connecting the scourge of ethnic nationalism to the 1984 Sikh massacre
By Simran Jeet Singh — June 12, 2019
(RNS) — Ethno-nationalism is a regressive way of constructing and inhabiting a nation, yet its popularity is surging in the skyrocketing Hindu nationalism in India or the rise of white nationalism in the United States.
Asma Uddin: If we deprive Islam of its status as a religion, all religion is threatened
By Simran Jeet Singh — April 30, 2019
(RNS) — The argument against Islam, says legal scholar Asma Uddin in a Q&A, has nothing to do with a philosophical interrogation of 'religion,' and everything to do with depriving Muslims of their rights.
World’s oldest marathoner, at 108, is a model of more than simply stamina
By Simran Jeet Singh — April 22, 2019
(RNS) — The 108-year-old's record-breaking running career traverses key issues like classism, racism, literacy bias, ableism and ageism.
On Vaisakhi, making the spiritual and long ago immediate and personal
By Simran Jeet Singh — April 12, 2019
(RNS) — Connecting with a sacred moment of servant-leadership can be done by looking for ways to incorporate humility into our daily lives.
NBA star Enes Kanter on faith, basketball and political activism
By Simran Jeet Singh — March 28, 2019
(RNS) — Enes Kanter is not your average NBA player. How many NBA players have clashed publicly with dictators and their regimes? Or have had their home countries request red notices from Interpol? Kanter, a Turkish native and current Portland Trail Blazer, has done all of that.
Jess Hilarious profiled four Sikhs on a plane. Our government does so every day.
By Simran Jeet Singh — March 18, 2019
(RNS) — Why wouldn’t someone feel fearful when seeing a man with a turban on their airplane? Isn’t that precisely what society teaches us to think?
To battle the hate that invaded two New Zealand mosques, start in the schoolroom
By Simran Jeet Singh — March 15, 2019
(RNS) — We need to re-lay our foundations with values that prioritize love and oneness.
How 9/11 spurred New Jersey’s Sikh attorney general into public service
By Simran Jeet Singh — March 8, 2019
(RNS) — New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal's faith is not the primary driver of his work as attorney general; its core teachings of service, justice and kindness are, and they align well with his progressive approach to policy.
Simran Jeet Singh
Articles of Faith
Simran Jeet Singh is a scholar and historian of religion currently based at Union Seminary. He is a Senior Adviser for Diversity and Inclusion at YSC Consulting, a 2020 Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, and a Senior Fellow for the Sikh Coalition.
