From the article: “Romney and Republican leaders must check extremism in speech. They can start by meditating on the Sikh prayer to be offered by Singh: “Nanak nam chardi kala, tere bhaanai sarbat da bhala.””
Dear Enlightened Wideawake One,
Please tell me what this prayer means. I being a foolish, Christian American, who speaks only English, don’t have a clue.
It means, “God in Your Name we ask for Well being of all of humanity, Prosperity for everyone in the worldwide community and Global Peace for the entire planet”
Sikhs always end their prayers on this phrase. I have heard it numerous times during my visits to my company’s Punjab office.
Found this on the web:
“nanak naam chardi kala tere bhane sarbat da bhala” (which is part of the Sikh prayer called the Ardas), which translates roughly as: “In the name of the Supreme Power, do something good for someone else in your life.”
http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Darshan_Dham
I am told that it translates as: "May your name (meaning the deity's name) be exalted, as Nanak (the first Sikh guru) said, and may all men prosper."
Apparently it is the most common invocation used by Sikhs.
Please tell me what this prayer means. I being a foolish, Christian American, who speaks only English, don’t have a clue.
First of all, don't impugn wideawake's conservatism. He is one of the most consistently conservative people on this forum (and probably its most intelligent). Furthermore he is a staunch champion of Biblical inerrancy, including the first eleven chapters of Genesis which so many so-called "inerrantists" want to dance around. That's right--he's a creationist. Some respect is called for.
Why wouldn’t we vote for a Jewish person?
Because you seem to be indicating that only chrstians should be elected to political office (or at least the Presidency) in this country. I know that as a devout Fundamentalist chrstian you consider the Hebrew Bible to be from G-d. But this means you consider the Jews to be the "cub scouts" for the "boy scouts" of chrstianity. While this position is mandated by your acceptance of the Hebrew Bible, the fact remains that you accept Jews on chrstian terms, not on Jewish terms (which aren't the same as multiculturalist terms). As a chrstian you have to do this, but I hope you realize that the Jews do not recognize their religion as a preparation for chrstianity at all, to be complete in itself, and that chrstianity is therefore at least philosophically in error and at most idolatrous. I understand chrstians can't accept this, but they should understand that this is the Jewish position.
I myself am a Noachide, and even I can't in good conscious pray to J*sus or the "trinity" or say "amen" to such a prayer--not because it is "intolerant" but because it is a prayer to a false "gxd." At least the Sikhs don't believe in a "trinity" or an "incarnation."
NB to all FReepers: the Left has pushed multiculturalism, "tolerance," and "pluralism" for so long that an Anglo-Protestant nativist reaction has long been inevitable, and I believe is beginning manifest itself. However much this clashes with the modern worldview, I ask you all to remember that the identification of the United States as a nation created primarily for Anglo-Protestants is not Nazism. For most of this country's history bimboeruption's opinions would not have alarmed or surprised anyone. Jews have lived in the US from the beginning, and managed to survive just fine in the old America where abortion and sodomy were crimes and Protestantism was taught in most public schools. You and I may disagree with him/her for reasons of religion or our understanding of history, but there is no barbed wire involved in this worldview whatsoever. It is the standard ethno-identitarian conception that until recently all nations had of themselves.
Let's count to ten and calm down . . . okay?
both wideawake and I are Christian Americans and for me, yeah i'm foolish too. But I try to learn other languages and know who I'm talking about before considering Sikhs = Moslems.