Comments on: What Canadians think of Sikhs, Jews, Christians, Muslims . . .

By: Brian A

Brian A — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Very well said Sandy. The best comment so far.

By: sprawlingshade

sprawlingshade — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 04:11:30 +0000

Psst. Read then new testament; the legalism of the Old is made null by the New, and the administration of grace ushered in on the day of pentacost. ;)

By: H.(Bart) Vincelette

H.(Bart) Vincelette — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:19:46 +0000

It may be erroneous to depict Islam as simply another world religion like most others. It is inherently far more than that; being an ideology that covers all aspects of life & government. Any Muslims I've known here in Canada were good & decent people, but the news items from Muslim countries; for the most part; involve acts of violence against other branches of Islam, including suicide bombers that kill innocents & destroy mosques of 'other' Muslims not accepted as true Muslims. Christianity did the same from many years, but learned to live together in peace, in our secular democracies. We accept freedom of religion, but most, if not all; Muslim countries not only refute such a concept for other faiths; they usually only tolerate a certain brand of Islam. Nonetheless, as long as terms like 'heretic', & 'infidel' are part of religion's vocabulary, violence & bloodshed will be associated with faith.

By: Avinash

Avinash — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:59:03 +0000

Sharia law should not be allowed in Canada.

By: Hotels

Hotels — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:54:32 +0000

Sikh doctrine is mostly likely to be viewed as violent in the province where about half of Canadian Sikhs live: 30 per cent of British Columbians said they think Sikhism encourages violence.

By: A Singh

A Singh — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:23:46 +0000

It is a baseless comparison. How can I judge any religion until I know the basic principles of it. Only those people who have read the religions and know about them can judge it. If you want to compare religions you should go and ask people who study about religions in universities and know the truth about it. For example how can I judge a musician when I don't know anything about religion.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:38:58 +0000

Wow i did not think rational intelligent people still walked this planet.
thank you! there may be hope for my kids afterall.

By: ron

ron — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:43:33 +0000

boo hoo

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:07:41 +0000

Maybe because they are fed up with hyporcracy in their own religion and want to try something new?

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:51:13 +0000

That is when the Sikh religion was born to help Hindus keep their religion safe from forced conversion. In return Hindu radicals have treated Sikhs badly by attacking their holiest shrine Golden Temple and the 1984 killing of thousands of sikhs in New Dehli. To date there are no convictions. All religions are playing the number game, convert as many as possible, one way or the other, to make a majority and flex your muscle to abuse the minority religion. Its no wonder some people in the west have lost faith in all religions. That takes immence courage. But my suggestion is use wisdom of the holy books, (forget the interpreters) meditate yourself and find your own path to God.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:31:54 +0000

"Or ask the Sikhs how tolerant they are of the Hindus?" It has no relevance, Sikh are a minority in India, one should ask the majority how they treat their minority.

By: Sukh

Sukh — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:19:06 +0000

Kent you obviouly sound like a real Chistians( I assume), who can do no harm as any real Sikh, or real Muslim. As we get closer to God, we begin to look past religions, skin colours, and outer symbols to embrace the humanity as a whole. For therin lies the true test of religion.This is the message for which God and his prophets of various religions came to earth. I am a Sikh and I read a lot of books by Joel Goldsmith about Christanity. Well, I tell you, I read them because they sound like 100% Sikh teaching, all about the inner journey, which makes me think why are interpretation of our respective holy books dividing us. There is some human error playing havoc with our precious life on earth. Instead of embracing each other, religions are now used for killing each other ito satisfy our vanity. Why is the real message being ignored and pitting us against each other/each other's religion. It also makes me think of the need to clean our house as best as we can at our religious places ourselves, so the negative interpretation by ungodly men do not devide the humanity. I do believe we are created in God's image, and the real spirit is buried in each of us, only an occasional holy warrior has the courage to uncover it from beneath the confusion of this world. Thanks for your effort and kind words.

By: Sukh

Sukh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:05:44 +0000

On one hand you are acknowledging the perception of "barbarians" as a baseless learned behaviour. On the other hand you seem to be acknowledging some kind of hat/turban phobia enough to equate a Sikh to being as violent ( if not more )as someone from a religion who blow themselves up everyday killing hundreds, or to someone from a religion who has the history of sexual abuse of thousands of innocent kids. or to all that killing that went on in Ireland. Don't you think all that is violence against someone too? We hear about these things everyday on news, yet we ignore them and not hold everyone in the religion responsible. Why then are peace loving Sikhs with turbans percieved to be violent or feared. A Sikh by nature will neither fear nor give reason to be feared from,( hence the saint soldier)You cannot blame the unproven Air India affair on whole of Sikh religion, I hear there is too much Indian poltics behind that case. If you read the history of Sikh religion who will see they always fought for the weak and helpless and that is why they were given a unique identity with keeping hair uncut (and uncut hair have to be covered, hence the turban), including the beard and the symbolic sword. Asking to keep these harmless symbols should not be percieved as voilent by nature. Just to prove the non violent nature of a baptised Sikh, you will see they do not even kill a living creature (hence vegetarian) for food, nor drink liquor to keep rationality at all time.(smoke and drugs are out of the question) If you shun them for thier turbans (a piece of cloth!) you are just floundering your own superiority, If you can get past the turban phobia, I promise you you will find a good friend in a Sikh,

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:15:02 +0000

Thanks to the CBC for years of coverage over Air India affair that cannot be proven.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:03:51 +0000

I feel the good/peaceful muslims should be more vocal to stop backward stuff like Sharia law, covering faces with burka and communicating the negative influence of Muslim preists to their kids etc. especially if they can have plenty of violent rallies at moments notice all over the world for every little thing. Why not for something positive.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:41:27 +0000

I know what you mean, my kids were born here and know of no other country as their homeland but based on their colour they and their decentants will always be looked at as immigrants.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:32:09 +0000

Hello Nathan, I do believe we are proving ourselves to be sheep rather than logical thinkers.LOL

By: Sukh

Sukh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:22:51 +0000

I hear what you are saying Mike, but i still need my holy book which i interpret myself and I don't bother with priest's interpretion. Also my religion (Sikh) respect all religions…I know it might be hard for you to believe that. It emphasis to walk the path whichever gets you to the destination (God), knowing full well that a true student of any path is going to be more focused about the destination and therefore full of love rather than fighting over the path. Once you get that connection from any path, you know God is everywhere and in everyone.Oh, how it pains me to see how we abuse the teaching for all prophets for our selfish, small, worldly self. Peace brother!

By: Sukh

Sukh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:48:04 +0000

"exterminated 80% of the indigenous population and entrenched their ways onto the New World" Exterminated them with guns and then changed their perfectly noble and innocent way of life…that sounds so sad ,as if they were not welcoming enough. Should we be telling our kids guns and extreminating is the way to win in this world. How is that any different from bullying in the school yet we tell them it is not socially acceptable. Okay, the only way I look different from anyone else in public is because I am suppose to cover my uncut hair and I am not supposed to cut my beard/facial hair either. I hope you know that keeping my hair uncut is religious requirement of a practicing Sikh. Although that means extra work for me when getting ready everyday, why on earth would that offend you.
""religion is just a "personal eccentricity" and has NO place in a modern enlightened Canadian society", is an issue that needs involvment of all the people who go to churches, mosques and temples, and you are free to live your life according to your belief. Sikhs will never ask for any changes in laws except to accomodate their religious symbols, which are a part of their body becuse of their uncut hair.

By: Sukh

Sukh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:06:41 +0000

Hello Lexi, Merry Chrismas to you in advance for 2010, I am a practicing Sikh, my kids attended Bible classes at elementary School, because I love all Prophets for their wisdom. I always wish Merry Christmas to everyone in my neighbourhood, and people I see in the stores etc. Why are you blaming "Happy Holidays" on me? Is it because I belong to the most noticable (and the smallest in size) religion. My religion says to love people of all religions, because all religions should lead to the same one God. We can use religion to help our journey to God or we can start a war right on journey. My life/your life is too short for the latter. Please don't pick and bully me and my religion.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:20:08 +0000

Very well said Bikram. Its easy to plant evil seeds and most people are crowd followers. It is wisely said that the world stands today because of a few good people, otherwise it would all be over in a day.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:08:35 +0000

Religions are just different roads to the same destination, religions cannot be bad but people following them sure can be.If religion does not make one tolerant, loving and kind then the fault is not of the religion but of the individual following the religion. Human beings are humans first whether good ot bad and we should deal with humans, No religion should be stereotyped to good and bad. Have you ever heard "God is hatred" not likely, God is Love and only Love, why else would you 'forgive those who tresspass against you'. All else, including such articles are 'point of views' not neccessarily the voice of true Christian, or a true Muslim, or a true Hindu, or a true Sikh or true Buddist, if you will. We can build our walls of hatred based on religions but Christ, as all other prophets would be greatly disapointed with our behaviour.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:06:36 +0000

Religions are just different roads to the same destination, religions cannot be bad but people following them sure can be.
If your religion does not make one tolerant, loving and kind then the fault is not of the religion but of the individual following the religion. Human beings are humans first whether good ot bad and we should deal with humans, No religion should be stereotyped to good and bad. Have you ever heard "God is hatred" not likely, God is Love and only Love, why else would you 'forgive those you tresspass against you'. All else, including such articles are 'point of views' not neccessarily the voice of true Christian, or a true Muslim, or a true Hindu, or a true Sikh or true Buddist, if you will. We can build our walls of hatred based on religions but Christ, as all other prophets would be greatly disapointed with our behaviour.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:39:43 +0000

And only the masses should be heard ? What is your idea of peace and Goodwill?

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:30:06 +0000

So we should all live with what God gives us, I have no problem with no facial hair on chinese or native Indians, but I hope you don't have a problem with long hair of Natives now? Come on, get over this Hair, turban, no hair, clean shaven etc. you are missing on the person inside. When are we going to be cicvilized eough to see past outer symbols.

By: guest

guest — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:13:37 +0000

Islam is only growing aming black prison inmates. Hinduism esp in the form of Hare Krishna is growing along with Buddhism among educated whites.
In any case this Maclean's survey proves mos whites dislike Sikhism and Islam much more so than Hinduism.. so u may harp and complain all u like, good news is that no one is listeing to u.

By: livo.vinson

livo.vinson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:15:25 +0000

extract continued
'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because
Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented.
It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'
'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'
'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this.
But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'
'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country that accepted YOU'

By: livo.vinson

livo.vinson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:13:47 +0000

An extract of what he said is below. More information is available via a search with Google
'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture.
'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'
'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society: Learn the language!'

By: livo.vinson

livo.vinson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:12:29 +0000

Unlike theI UK where the moslems are already operatin sharia courts, I hope that Canadian politicians think like John Howard a long serving Australian prime minister ,when he said in 2007 that multiculturalism will divide, whereas integration will unite his country, as it does in the USA where it is “a melting pot”. Howard made it very clear to Muslims that if they want to live in Australia they must abide by Australia laws and that sharia law has no place in Australia.

By: UnDoublespeak

UnDoublespeak — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:46:09 +0000

What would happen to a country that was say; 7 years ago; according to The Guardian Newspaper was "one of the most successful countries the world has ever knows". Sometimes things change.

The Terrible 12 videos(I actually added 2 more; and most were made by concerned citizens that feel a sense of powerlessness and despair over the future health and well being of their tiny country.) into youtube.com as are.

Sweden industrialized nation to bananarepublic in 20 years

The swedish social welfare system under collapse. Ödeshög, Sweden.

Sweden, a nation in decline. The social welfare system has collapsed.

Daily news report from Sweden. Significant violent crime every day in the "paradise".

Muslim Immigrant Rape in Sweden (HD)

Immigrant Riot Wave in Sweden

Sweden under massive crimewaves, 900 % more violent crime

Islam in Sweden

Open Your Eyes, SWEDEN

Sweden is being destroyed. A low intensity civil war has already started.

Islam, changing my Sweden?!

Islamic Invaders Riot in Sweden Following Mosque Closure

Welcome to Sweden of Today

Crossroads Europe – Sweden -11 Jun 07 – Part 1

By: UnDoublespeak

UnDoublespeak — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:36:53 +0000

The Judeo Christian and even Hindu/Buddah religions are real religions. People don't need an Imam to decode what they mean. Islam, accodring to Mr Geert Wilders of Holland's freedom Party is "a totalitarian ideology which is incompatible with western democracies". A Pakistani male on the street in downtown told me "it's a political system, a way of life and a religion". I debated with him about the other 1.4 million total Hindus and Chinese that practice their religions. They would object to having a 7th century ideology that has never seen enlightenment(EX:the bible's new testament) forced onto them politically. So would I. Want to know what Sharia law is? Indonesia just legislated stoning as a punishment and there is a man in the Sudan on youtube that got caught stealing a cattle.

On Youtuve please type ===> Sharia Law and Thieves ===> after that; a hungry boy gets his just dues for stealing bread
Then copy+paste===>Eight-Year-Old Thief and Sharia…Yeah we can't wait for Sharia to come to secular countries. It's going to be grand!!!

"The cause of backwardness and misery in the Muslim world is not Western oppression but Islam itself; a faith that promulgates contempt for Enlightenment and secular values. It teaches hatred to children, promises a grotesque version of the afterlife, elevates the cult of “martyrdom”, flirts with the mad idea of forced conversion of the non-Islamic world, and deprives societies of the talents and energies of 50 percent of their members: the female half.
Xvi – Forward/Infidel/Ayaan Hirshi Ali/Chapter's Bookstores.

"Infidel" By: Ayaan Hirshi Ali

It should be read by every single Canadian, born here or born overseas. It's a great read and she's been nominated as one of the 100 most influential people of the 21st century.

By: blameme123

blameme123 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:17:28 +0000

I think that comment shows how your perceptions about your own country are inaccurate, University of PEI has one of the best structured and highly attended Religious Studies programs in the country. So I would blanket disagree with that assumption, and posit that it is no better then the one you accuse PEI'ers of.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:30:00 +0000

If it's killing people that you're concerned about, think it through. What would happen if there was no God, no absolute moral code?
Check out all the National Atheist experiments in the past. A whole bunch of wars and killing came out of those…
I just hope you don't believe what you wrote. I'm not saying any religious group has done any better in the past but I sincerely doubt religious intolerance is the way to keep people alive.

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:59:24 +0000

This poll is flawed. Please do not think that you are any less valued as a person as a result of what this article says. The article refers to people's views of other religions not their views of people of other religions. There is a difference. One is a series of beliefs and rules and how they've seen people live that out as a whole, this includes a lot of people doing wrong things in the name of their different religions. The other is who you are and how you personally live out your convictions and how you act. Your co-workers may not agree with everything you believe but they can still like who you are and value you as a person. If they are good followers of Jesus then they might not only like you but they should genuinely love you from their hearts. They should belive that God took great care in creating you, that He loves you and that He made you with innumerable things that He loves about you. You're a walking, talking, lovable creation of God, please do not miss that because this article says that some Canadians have gotten a bad impression of what you believe or because they may not agree with what you believe, that doesn't change how you were made or how your co-workers feel about you.

By: Proud2beSikh

Proud2beSikh — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:21:07 +0000

If by funny hats and beards, you mean Sikhs, then you should look into why Sikhs even march in protest. For much of the 1970's Sikhs used peaceful means to try to state their point, no body listened to the Sikhs and they had no other means than using violence. Then, when the world finally noticed them, they were called terrorists, people with "funny hats", and arabs(after 9/11). Mr.Johnson, it would be wise of you to research into why Sikhs protest or have AK-47's in flags (even though I have never seen AK-47's in any protest.

By: Bal

Bal — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:16:49 +0000

Dissapointed with the beleif that Sikhism is violent. Being a Full practising Sikh myself it's clear to me that Sikhism preaches that the sword should only be drawn when the innocent are at risk. I understand that the Canadian community is bitter about the Air India bombings but please understand that it was a extremist Sikh movement that was formed to overthrow Indian control over Punjab and make a Khalistan state/country. The majority of Sikhs totally disaprove of the movement

By: Padre420

Padre420 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:34:31 +0000

For Muslims, too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Since 9/11 Canadians have become better informed about Islam. But even reading the works of Islamic-friendly authors like Karen Armstrong and John Esposito have had little positive impact. In fact, maintstream views on the faith have suffered a downward trend over the last eight years. Why is this? Because what Islam professes and how it is practiced are two different things. Whether it's concerted attacks on free speech or silence on the extremists in their own communities, Muslims are their own worse enemy in the PR battle for public opinion.

By: Abdirahim

Abdirahim — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:38:19 +0000

My sincere opinion on this matter is that, these polls actually reflect deeply inherent religion and cultural prejudice that diversed immigrants and descendants of early settlers harbour towards each other due to misplaced misconceptions, heresay, religious rivalries and in large part media influences. People don't seek to know about one another in a genuin matter or about their religous as in the old days.

But also the media has the largest influence in my opinion, reflecting the views, divided politics and agendas of those who are responsible for its transmission after all they are members of our respected communities and are therefore subject to those same fallacies.

We need new thinking that encourages multiculturalism (a new melting pot of some kind) which doesn't just reinforce the notions of the dominant culture, but accomondates all and reinforces the universal values that we all share. We all share the responsibility of making this great nation of ours unique example for the rest of the world not by word but backed by deeds as well,

By: » Recommended Links 5-4

» Recommended Links 5-4 — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:37:43 +0000

[...] A feature story in Maclean’s examines popular perceptions of minority faiths across Canada including Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism [...]

By: Le blogue de Pierre Cayouette » Blog Archive » Un an après Bouchard-Taylor…

Mon, 04 May 2009 17:05:07 +0000

[...] la Commission Bouchard-Taylor, le magazine Maclean’s – cousin de L’actualité – publie un sondage Angus Reid très révélateur, dans lequel il y a de quoi raviver des débats passionnés. On y a apprend que [...]

By: New poll on Canadian multiculturalism « Lactose-Free Thoughts

New poll on Canadian multiculturalism « Lactose-Free Thoughts — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:32:56 +0000

[...] poll on Canadian multiculturalism A new poll as reported by Maclean’s magazine shows that while Canadians perceive themselves as tolerant of different cultures and religion, the [...]

By: JT

JT — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:53:24 +0000

“Notcanada”, I could not have said it better myself. The problem in Canada is not diversity, or multiculturalism. It’s the attitude of people like Nicholas who who can’t define Canadian values, nor culture and yet, want everyone to “look” the same. This is the extremism that we need to fight against, otherwise, Canada is no better then other intolerant countries around the world.

By: Notcanada

Notcanada — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:47:12 +0000

Your culture? You don’t have a culture. You are a British dependency of an American superpower. You feel threatened by everything. A thin piece of cotton threatens you? If you had adopted the melting pot culture of acceptance, rather than “tolerance”, we wouldn’t be having this debate.

You can’t see past skin color, dress or ethnic background. You need to constantly see obvious projection of Anglo-Saxon white religion. If every Sikh, Jew or Muslim shaved the beard, got rid of the hijab, got rid of the cap, you still wouldn’t be happy. You would still see the skin color.

By: liam moredburn

liam moredburn — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:19:58 +0000

Wow! Gee! Aren’t you just the perfect liberal fascist, Mike T. Just because your ideology gets in the way of your common sense (not to mention recognition of a few truths) anything that doesn’t meet your group-think standards must be dismissed as “tripe”. And tripe must be silenced at all costs, musn’t it. Here’s a thought for you: open and honest discussion of thoughts and ideas and, yes, fears is much preferable to your nasty prediliction for stamping out anything you and your liberal fascist pals don’t like. And your reaction is pointless, really, because the truth has its own nasty way of making itself known.

By: liam moredburn

liam moredburn — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:53:11 +0000

Uh – no. Oklahoma was ONE guy with, as far as I read, no particular affiliation with any Christian group. In fact, it now appears that at least one of his co-conspirators did have ties to Muslim jihadi groups in the Philippines. By contrast, Muslim bombers kill EACH and EVERY day.