By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
There has been much chatter on social media about the recent huge gathering of Evangelical Christians near Amritsar, the spiritual and political heartland of Sikhi. There is no doubt that large numbers of Punjabis, but in particular Dalits and poor people who have few resources, are drawn to a new crop of charismatic young Christian ‘faith healers’ who claim to exorcise ghosts and cure serious illnesses and physical impairments.
Whilst in a democratic country everybody has the right to practice and preach whatever faith or beliefs they wish as long as there is no incitement to violence or hatred towards others, there are those who question the veracity of these ‘miracles’, and the way these ministries function. One of the most powerful tools these ministries deploy is that of staged miracles. This usually involves somebody with a serious ailment, such as paralysis, cancer, mental health, blindness and so, being spectacularly cured simply through the power of healing from a charismatic pastor and prayer.
Claims to such miracle cures can be found amongst most faith groups, not least Sikhs, and therefore to challenge their claims is to open oneself up to hypocrisy. So what, if anything, can/should we do to confront what is clearly mass exploitation of oppressed people. One option that some rationalist groups are doing is to directly and forensically challenge these claims and the preachers. That is to argue that miracles go against reason and empirical scrutiny and therefore simply do not exist! The other option is to argue that, though miracles exist, these Christian pastors are quacks and not blessed by God’s powers. However, given the existence of such ‘quacks’ and fakes amongst most, perhaps all the major faiths in India, making this argument is likely to be exposing oneself to accusations of double standards.
In a recent video, the Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwal, commenting on the Amritsar gathering of Christian evangelicals, makes this precise argument. He points out that to criticise others and preach miracles yourself is total hypocrisy! Indeed, he argues that whilst Sikh Godmen talk of miracle stories in the past, these Christian preachers claim to perform live miracles. Given the choice between an old story about some Sikh holy man or a live stage show where you can see ‘miracles’ taking place inform of your eyes, it is not surprising innocent villages are drawn to such gatherings.
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One argument is that with the kinds of gatherings that took place in Amritsar, what we are seeing is a corruption of faith. But given the close association with faith and miracles, it is difficult to sustain this line of argument. Indeed, it may well be the case that humans are programmed to believe in such miracle stories. Therefore, I am not sure if there is a cure as such. If this were the case, then perhaps we would just need to allow nature to run its course. If you believe faith represents an ultimate truth, then it is reasonable to argue that it will or should change at all! But if you believe that the way that faith is expressed is likely in time to be transformed, transferred, or simply fade away, which history would suggest is the case, then perhaps these gatherings are simply the ongoing evolutionary churn of faith and belief systems.
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However, despite living in the age of reason and rationality, the fact that millions, perhaps billions, of people across the world, believers and non-believers, are still willing to be open to the possibility of miracles, suggests we need to take miracle claims more seriously. In reality, miracle claims are less about supernatural events as such, not least because it is almost impossible to validate these, especially if they are historical, and more about the telling of stories. In this regard, miracles need to be understood as essentially a literary device, as metaphor and allegory. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine how literature and poetry, including most significantly religious text, could be expressed without recourse to miracles!
And so, perhaps by developing a clearer understanding of the place of miracles in our culture, we might just be able to engage in more sensible dialogue. Failure to do so will simply entrench the polarised views that are ripping Sikhs apart at the moment, as well as emboldening these Christian pastors.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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Miracles and Sikhi (Asia Samachar, 6 Aug 2021)
ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond.Facebook | WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 | Email: editor@asiasamachar.com | Twitter | Instagram | Obituary announcements, click here |
You might falsely accuse the people who are healed as paid actors out their families and neighbors know them and their misery when they were sick. They now see their healing. No wonder they flock to find out who is this God who loves and heal, the God who is personal and real, the God who cares and not brush them aside… like the caste system do, assigning them to be worth nothing. The power of Jesus who loves them, is not only preached, but personally experienced.
Hundreds of poor and illiterate Dalit Sikhs of Punjab are regularly brought to Christian prayer meetings on the false promise of curing serious diseases like cancer, infertility, paralysis and blindness. The paid actors falsely talk about how they were miraculously cured of their serious illnesses after embracing Christianity. Dalit Sikhs are thus motivated to adopt Christianity. Punjab-based Christian missionaries’ long term aim is to turn Punjab into a Christian majority state, and Punjab is speedily moving in that direction.
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