The kirpan, or ceremonial dagger, is worn by many devout Sikhs
Sikh representatives will not attend an inter-faith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the US next month.
Posted on 03/06/2008 5:53:55 PM PST by markomalley
Sikh representatives will not attend an inter-faith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the US next month.
The kirpan, or ceremonial dagger, is worn by many devout Sikhs
They say this is because the Pope's guards in the US will not allow them to wear their "kirpan" ceremonial daggers.
Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist representatives are meeting the Pope in Washington.
The kirpan must be worn by all baptised Sikhs (Khalsa), after an order issued by the faith's leader Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699.
Sikhs are being replaced by representatives from the Jain religion at the ceremony.
The problem is the kirpan - the Sikhs' ceremonial dagger which they wear as an article of faith that literally symbolises the Sikh commitment to resist oppression and injustice.
A statement from the World Sikh Council said they were disappointed the secret service had not been able to respect the religious rights of Sikhs.
They said they were not able to attend if it meant renouncing a fundamental tenet of their faith.
A spokesman for the secret service has been quoted as saying they understood the dagger was a religious object for Sikhs but by definition it was also a weapon.
Pope’s Guards think that Sikh leaders would take Pope out?
I can’t wear my cermonial Glock in the Post Office, they don’t get to wear their pig-stickers to see the Pope.
So there.
No...rather the US Secret Service.
Is this precaution sensible? Its not a Gun, they can’t see the guy trying to pull it out.
That’s what I was thinking. I practically cannot carry my cerimonial Morning star anywhere I go.
Sikh and ye shall find.
I follow the rules in this country.
So shall they. Or they canst stay to home.
Appeasment and political correctness is going to get us all killed.
Kirpan literal means “weapon of defence” (”Kirpa” means “mercy” and “Aan” means “bless”), as opposed to the talwar, a weapon of offence.
Typically made from iron, kirpans range in blade size from 3 inches (7.6 cm) to over 3 feet (90 cm)and Sikhs in the west wear kirpans of about 3.5 inch (9 cm) blade size.
The kirpan has both a physical function, as a defensive weapon, as well as a symbolic function. Physically it is an instrument of “Ahimsa” or non-violence. The principle of ahimsa is to actively prevent violence, not to simply stand by idly whilst violence is being done. To that end, the kirpan is a tool to be used to prevent violence from being done to a defenseless person when all other means to do so have failed. Symbolically, the kirpan represents the power of truth to cut through untruth. It is the cutting edge of the enlightened mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan
ping...
>> they don’t get to wear their pig-stickers to see the Pope. <<
Given the Sikh’s longtime difficulties with the Mooselimbs, “pig-sticker” is a great term, actually.
>> The Kirpan is no more symbolic a weapons than the Christian Cross is symbolic of a torture instrument. <<
I empathize with the Sikhs, and see the root problem of this, whether Benedict is willing to say so or not, to be the inherent dysfunction of ecumenism, not the Sikh faith in particular.
But, come on... a ceremonial cross is no weapon, A kirpan, honorable as its intention may be, is still a weapon and a grave security threat.
> But, come on... a ceremonial cross is no weapon, A kirpan, honorable as its intention may be, is still a weapon and a grave security threat.
If I were the Pope, I would feel alot safer being guarded by a contingent of Sikhs than a squad of Secret Servicemen. Same deal with the Ghurkas. Or the Scots.
If I were the Pope, I’d let them wear their kirpans, khukris, or sgean dubhs all they wanted. No worries.
That’s true in that Sikhs view their holy book as an incarnation of God, but I have to say that despite being deceived every Sikh I’ve met has been a man of honor and they are not fooled by the Mooslims in the slightest. Like Mormons they have the wrong religion, but tend to be okay as people.
Although I'm disappointed that the Sikhs' non-attendance is because they can't wear their daggers and not out of anti-ecumenical principal.
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