Parliament of the World's Religions 2015 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City,USA

Link :http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639220/Parliament-of-the-Worlds-Religion

Parliament of the World's Religions attendees break bread together at Sikh community's langar :Salt Lake City ,USA

Members of the international Sikh community and a host of volunteers are preparing and serving thousands of communal meals, langar, each day to people taking part in the Parliament of the World's Religions at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City ,USA.

Their guests are people taking part in the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions. Sikhs throughout the world are offering langar throughout the five-day event.

In the Sikh religion, langar means common kitchen in temples where food is served to all visitors without distinction of background for free.

Visitors are asked to remove their shoes, cover their heads and wash their hands before taking a seat on a carpet, where they are served a vegetarian meal that commonly includes dishes such as rice, curry vegetables and naan, an oven-baked flatbread.

"Everyone sits on the floor and feels equal. Let's say President Obama and a homeless man come to the langar. They would sit down together," said Sarbjit Singh, of Los Angeles, a Sikh who is affiliated with the Khalsa Care Foundation.

Singh said Sikhs feed all people who visit their temples so they regularly serve hundreds of free meals. But scale of the langar served each day at the Parliament is massive.

Since Thursday, thousands of pounds of food prepared at two Sikh temples in Salt Lake County have been trucked to the Salt Palace Convention Center, where the Parliament is being conducted, said Jagdish Singh Gill, a Utah Sikh who is a leader of the langar committee.

"It's service to humanity. We want to share with them. They're coming from all over the world. We want to be able to provide them free food, tea and coffee," he said.

At the Salt Palace, dozens of volunteers cook hundreds of pounds of rice in enormous pots, bake some 4,000 naan in ovens, and prepare hundreds of gallons of tea and coffee.

"Sharing and caring, those are the two keys. Every Sikh must do it with everyone, not just each other. We're all children of God," Singh said.

Parliament participant Jen Bernstein of Petaluma, California, said sitting down for a meal with people of such diverse faith backgrounds was "incredible."

"It's just remarkable. It tears me up a little bit, quite honestly, to see so much hospitality, so much grace and unflagging hospitality and kindness," she said. "It's really quite overwhelming, actually."

Bernstein, who said she is Jewish and Pagan and serves as a veterinary and community chaplain, is deeply immersed in interfaith activities.

"This is still remarkable, special and unique," she said.

Cameron Kennedy, a filmmaker from Australia, said he had his first experience with langar when the Parliament of the World's Religions met in Barcelona in 2004.

When his group arrived in Spain, they were exhausted, spoke no Spanish and came upon langar by happenstance.

"We felt the love and the food and the give. This one is a little spicier than the one in Barcelona," he said.

Kennedy's daughter, Emily, took part in her first langar Friday.

"I'm feeling the love," she said as volunteer servers walked down rows offering additional helpings of rice, garbanzo beans and other dishes.

"They keep coming back and they want to make sure everyone is served, that they're very full and that makes me happy," she said.

Singh said hundreds of volunteers will prepare and serve langar each day for the duration of the five-day parliament.

While local volunteers representing many faith traditions are helping out, some Sikhs traveled throughout the county and the globe to contribute. There are 60 volunteers from the United Kingdom alone.

Kennedy said he brought his daughter to the last two Parliament so she could be immersed in religious diversity and to learn about the global service performed by interfaith organizations.

"The world would probably be a different place without the people at this event, he said.

Link :http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639220/Parliament-of-the-Worlds-Religions-attendees-break-bread-together-at-Sikh-communitys-langar

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee contributes towards Campaign for Sikh Identity in USA

Manjit Singh G K, DSGMC President with Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Advisor to the Washington based National Sikh Campaign

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee President Manjit Singh GK announced a contribution of $10,000 towards an awareness campaign to educate Americans about Sikhism and Sikh Identity. 

Manjit Singh GK, President  & Manjinder Singh Sirsa, General  Secy. of DSGMC, appeared with Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Advisor to the Washington based National Sikh Campaign, in New Delhi in a press meet and endorsed an American Sikh plan to reach out to millions of fellow Americans. This awareness initiative is being spearheaded by newly formed National Sikh Campaign (NSC) based in Washington. NSC has engaged AKPD, a high profile media consultancy founded by President Obama’s top political strategists David Axelrod and David Plouffe, which has managed Obama’s senate election and two presidential campaigns. APKD has submitted a plan to launch a presidential style nationwide media campaign on Sikhs.

Sikhs in the United States have faced numerous incidents of violence, discrimination and prejudice since 9/11 due to ignorance about Sikhism. A country- wide survey and polling was conducted by Hart Research Associates headed by Geoffrey Garrin, Hillary Clinton’s former top political strategist. The purpose of this most comprehensive study about Sikhs in America was to identify the problem of ignorance and confusion about Sikh identity and suggest remedies for them. The findings of this national research was released last month which concluded that 60% of Americans knew nothing about Sikhs and only 3% of them have interacted with Sikhs. Over 48% identified them as either Arabs or Muslims. 54% of the Americans were neutral towards Sikhs and 16% were cool. However, upon learning about the Sikhs, Americans warmed up to them across demographics. AKPD will prepare ads based on these findings and these ads will be vetted by experts before national media campaign is launched.

Manjit Singh GK said, “We feel that DSGMC has the moral responsibility to support such innovative strategies to fight ignorance and prejudice against Sikhs and to educate all non-Sikhs about Sikh religion and its traditions. We are satisfied with this approach and this will help in changing the perception of the Sikhs in USA.  We stand behind any plan to make our community strong in America.”

Dr. Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Advisor to the National Sikh Campaign, said, “We are grateful to DSGMC for this kind gesture and it sends a strong message to the entire American Sikh community that Sikhs in India care for them. This is the most significant step taken by the Sikh community in the United States and this kind of high level media campaign is critical for our community’s standing. There is no substitute for media strategy and it is imperative that all Sikhs join in this effort. We appeal to all Sikhs to contribute generously to make sure our coming generations do not face the negative environment.”

Gurwin Singh Ahuja, Co-Founder of NSC, said, “DSGMC’s support is big boost to this effort and we are highly encouraged by this contribution. We are confident that this campaign will produce the desired results for the community.”

With thanks : Media DSGMC