Called to Question
presents
The Sikhs
with guest speaker
Michael Hawley, Ph.D.
Michael (MRU Stories) is Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. Michael's scholarly interest and expertise are in Sikhs and Sikhism; Hinduism; South Asian religious diasporas (particularly in Canada); religion and violence; religion in the public sphere; religion and multiculturalism
With 30 million adherents, Sikhism is the fifth largest of the world’s religions. And outside India, Canada is home to the largest number of Sikhs. Sikhs have a long history in Canada and enjoy a rapidly growing public profile. Yet, Sikhs and Sikhism remain very much misunderstood. This presentation highlights some of the key history, teachings, and accoutrements of the Sikhs from 16th century Punjab to 21st century Alberta.
Date and Time:
Saturday November 2, 2019 at 7pm
Coffee and snacks provided.
*Please let us know if you plan on attending as seating is limited.
3 comments:
Thanks for this ongoing opportunity to meet together and share subjects of interest from such a broad spectrum.
The presentation on Sikhism was very informative and very well presented. Michael had such basic information prepared and I appreciated that he made clear that he was to talk ABOUT Sikhism and not to be "teaching Sikhism". But I apprecated also how equipped he was to field all the questions and what could have been tangents or rabbit trails but overall helped us see the Sikhs and Sikhism in its much broader context.
Having Carleton's contributions (and others) on Yoga and Michael's grasp of yoga and "Christian" or "Biblical" similarities and contrasts helped also because so often our understanding really is improved by knowing what something IS NOT, as much as knowing what it is.
Perhaps the best commendation is to declare that I think I would love to have the opportunity to visit their meeting places or just to sit and chat with Sikhs in a mall or "coffee shop".
On a personal level, I believe that the basics of the first Guru sound very much like what our "Guru" Jesus had in mind when he declared the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and seemed like it was the "abolishment" of "religion" that was to set men free, and then within 150 to 200 years the followers bring them back to what they had been freed from. Oversimplified in my explanation, but at least I see some of the same principles. But NOT to confuse with Syncretism. Rather "All Truth is God's Truth."
We loved the evening! A huge thanks to you guys as always for putting these events on, and to the speaker for coming to share his insights!!
Slhks are one of Canada's most visible spiritual/ethnic groups, and I went to school with a lot of them in Calgary...but I never asked questions, so I was always in the dark as to the nature of their beliefs and lifestyle.
Michael's talk and Q&A was awesome, and inspired more questions that will bring us to visit a gurudwara, hopefully sooner than later!
Maybe the first C2Q group outing? ;)
Very good C2Q, well presented. Learned a lot about Sikhs and have a whole new respect for them.
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