It happens a lot in my days at school, people don't single me out but they perceive anyone who believes in God as dumb. Almost nobody believes in God at my school, and it is getting worse as time goes. In a class of 30 today I was the only one who believed in God, which some kids found amusing. I said some pretty nasty things to them so that they wont bother me again, it's just that this has been happening for a while and has finally gotten on my nerves. They come up with many arguments which I do not feel like arguing with them. It is just that it has gotten to the point where some teachers (and almost all the students) have began saying.

"Why believe in God if you don't believe in Leprechauns or fairies?"

or

"Every religion has different beliefs in the afterlife such as reincarnation, or eternal hell so one is definitely wrong but chances are both are wrong."

or

"The world would be better without religion"

One day I got annoyed and told my teacher to tell me how everything in the universe came from nothing, to which she had no response, and got angry at ME for attacking her..

There are some Christians (very few) in my grade who I saw were offended often at school in the past month, and I am the only Sikh boy in my grade. I would just like it if someone could come up with some pro arguments to those 3 statements I have listed above. The people have not shaken my beliefs, it's just a downer to go into such a negative environment everyday after doing my Path in the morning before school.

God is not only confusing to the Atheist, but also proves that they haven't got enough ball/gut to pursue the concept.

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HI,I'm myself what can be called atheistic...Means that I don't believe in a God.. I might perhaps believe in some mysticism.. like the whole or the Nature... but in the same time, I deeply think that there is a lot of beauty and richness in any kind of believing..the faith is something that link you with something unknown for me..II studied philosophy and religion Histories.. and I discovered how much studying other's faith and practices are incredibly interesting and make you really rich..I think that the ones who blame you for this richness are themselves really ignorant... and are passing by knowing you and see how beautiful the knowledge of others in their differences is...that's at least, my point of view and the one of many other who feel differences as a gift nor than a threat...Take it easy cause there are a lot of people that feared the unknow... and reply by attacking instead of listening...Take care of you.. I'm sure you'll find soon some atheistic people and others than doesn't confuse religion and fear of the differences...

Very nicely put Flore Ji. Makes me realize, one doesn't have to take a defensive stand but rather put the question back to the atheist group. It's hard to come up with an answer put forward by someone else because you feel vunerable when you give an answer. Instead, you can turn the question back at them like, "Why don't you beileve in God" or "What does God mean to you ?"

If they bring all the trinity stuff like Jesus, etc then tell them that the concept of God in Sikhism differs from other religions. Give them this website and invite them to pose their questions.

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Just tell them world would be much better place wothout countries.Why not join the whole world and allow free movement of humans.why to divide world in different countries

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It happens a lot in my days at school, people don't single me out but they perceive anyone who believes in God as dumb. Almost nobody believes in God at my school, and it is getting worse as time goes. In a class of 30 today I was the only one who believed in God, which some kids found amusing. I said some pretty nasty things to them so that they wont bother me again, it's just that this has been happening for a while and has finally gotten on my nerves. They come up with many arguments which I do not feel like arguing with them. It is just that it has gotten to the point where some teachers (and almost all the students) have began saying.

There was a discussion once between an Atheist and a God realised person. Everyone gathered around from all over the State to listen to the arguments between these two very intelligent individuals. The Atheist spent more than two hours with counter arguments against the existence of God. Then came the turn of the God realised person. He said “I must confess, I too had some doubts about God, but after listening to you I can now confidently say that god exists because there must be some source power behind you that has given you this vast knowledge it can only come from God himself”. And he sat down.

It is not your job to teach others of the existence of God. Spend time on realising Him yourself and let you way of life be the beacon that reflects the qualities of God.

"Why believe in God if you don't believe in Leprechauns or fairies?"
What is not in ones destiny, one can not have it. What is beyond ones understanding, one can never understand. When something is beyond ones comprehension one begins to live in a world of fantasy. Let them be at peace.

or

"Every religion has different beliefs in the afterlife such as reincarnation, or eternal hell so one is definitely wrong but chances are both are wrong."

Denial of reality does not make disappear. The Laws of Karam and Dharm will stand whether one believes in it or not. It is only their lack of understanding that is reflecting in their attitude.

If their make believe story has any truth then why is not each individual the carbon copy of the other. Why one person sleeps with a full belly and the other is starving. There must be some criterion behind it.

Ignorance is bliss. Their lifestyle and thinking is not your consequence.

or

"The world would be better without religion"

The word religion means Righteousness. It tells us what is right and what is wrong by the Laws of Nature. The world will be better not without religion but those that preach the Laws of Religion because they themselves do not practice what they preach. If only people spent time to understand and practice religion we would not be facing these problems. Guru Nanak Dev ji taught us 3 very important concepts.

Naam Japo (Meditate on / recite the Naam)
Wand Shako (Share your bounty with others)
Dharm di Kirat Karo (Practice a Righteous Living)
These three concepts form the core of Sikhism that even a vast majority of Sikhs themselves are unaware (failed to understand) and non-practising. Without religion one is no different to the Life Style of an animal. Religion teaches us discipline. Even an Atheist who is living a disciplined life is following a Religion but he does not realise it. So let him be in a dream world.




One day I got annoyed and told my teacher to tell me how everything in the universe came from nothing, to which she had no response, and got angry at ME for attacking her.

This is a typical reply when one challenges ones weakness. They are not angry at you but themselves for being lost. Do not challenge them.

There are some Christians (very few) in my grade who I saw were offended often at school in the past month, and I am the only Sikh boy in my grade. I would just like it if someone could come up with some pro arguments to those 3 statements I have listed above. The people have not shaken my beliefs, it's just a downer to go into such a negative environment everyday after doing my Path in the morning before school.

There will be no pro-argument that will put their minds at rest. If you want pro-arguments then do so by reflecting through your life style and not words. People are not interested to know the answers but only to ask questions. Do not give any answer the questions will cease.

i used to be an atheist. it sucked. i was miserable. i thought life was pointless and spent all of my time trying to have "fun", which is nearly impossible and usually made me even more miserable.

don't worry about them. you're lucky to have knowledge of God at such a young age. in 20 years those kids from school will be having mid-life crisis, getting divorced, buying sports cars, spending thousands of $$ on therapists and wondering why they're STILL not happy.


that said, i find that most angry atheists assume that all religions are christianity. when you start to explain a little bit about sikhi, they usually find it's useless to argue with us. maybe they go find a christian to harass.

just tell them that sikhs believe all religions are valid, you can call God anything you want, and that God can be found in nature, science, and even you and me...
even the Big Bang and evolution are ok with sikhi... we just believe that God made it happen.

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Many thanks for your reply Namjap..Indeed , i think that fruitfull discussion can only be open when everybody could explain and listen... but that requires some open minded... that's not, unfortunetaly a common human gift.. but this can be drive also.. what do you think?Apart that, I would like to ask you if I can find here in Belgium or in other european countries people who can help me to do a documentary for television (and perhaps cinema) about Sikkhism..My aim is to realize (i'm journalist and photographer) a serie of documentaries about unknown religion (when I say unknown.. i'm talking about the majority of people here in Europe but in other world place..). I would like to dedicate a documentary to Sikhism in most objective way I can.. and to , I hope, make people realise what Sikhism is exactly and perhaps created some discussions...I would really appreciate if you ( or any people part of this forum) can help me in this task..Take care and warm regards..

Ask them what they think God is. Often, people who do not believe in God have a rather ridiculous notion of what God is anyway.

I personally believe that all that is, is God. You are a part of God, as are the monitors we are looking at and the keyboard I am typing on. God is also all thought, the process of cause and effect, and anything else that can or can not be conceived of. It is unusual to find anyone who denies that God exists by that definition. Often, even the Christians come to agree with me on that after I ask them "Well, where is God? Isn't He everywhere?"

I don't know what country you are in, but in the American public school system, a teacher can get in a lot of trouble for talking about God. Sometimes when people either do not have the courage to tell the truth or are somehow being restrained from telling the truth, they just act angry as a way to try to avoid getting in trouble. It isn't the best reaction, but it has been effective for a very long time, so many people (especially most of those born before 1980) still do that.

Thank you for bringing up your hurt at the statement that the world would be better off without religion. You have taught me something today, because after looking at all the wars that happen because of religion, all the prejudice that happens because of religion, and all of the hard feelings that religion has caused, I have also considered that the world would be better off without religion. You have reminded me that religion also provides comfort and different ways of coming to understand reality.

God must love diversity because there is so much of it. I don't think there is anything wrong with the slightly different ways of coming to understand God, but the hatred and prejudice has to go. If God wanted us all to see Him exactly the same way, He would have made us all alike.

One of our lessons we are corporeal to learn is indirect understanding. In our subtle bodies, we can gain direct knowledge of everything. Only in our physical bodies can we develop the compassion it takes to see through someone else's eyes. Try to remember that not only are you right based on only everything you know, but they are also right based on only everything they know. If you can see how they are right based on what they know, it becomes easier for you to show them how you are right based on what you know.

The better person is the one who can see first how the other person is right in his own mind. Truth is self-evident when all is known, but so long as we are in bodies, we can not know it all. The best we can do is share each other's eyes to see as much of the truth as possible.

There are many people that will never even try to see the truth as you see it. Those who only wish to see the world through their own eyes are handicapped by their limited view. We can hope they will see more one day, but we can not force them.

Some never will be able to see through anyone else's eyes, and trying to make them see anyway is as unreasonable as trying to teach a dog to drive down a busy street. Love them for who they are, just as you might love a dog even though it can't drive.

Flore Ji,

It's a wonderful project which you've expressed with such ease. For a start you may want to look into Sikhs in Europe, Sikh articles in other languages (a thread in SPN. Here's the link to it : http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/interf...languages.html

Kindly keep posting more queries. It will keep our minds focused and motivated.

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