Christianity is a very confusing religion.
Frankly, for most people, it doesn't make sense.
The polls say that most USAers believe in GOD,
but many don't like how Christianity gets shoved down our throats here.
This is why Eastern religion has done so well in the USA.

Except Hinduism maybe,
which hit the USA in the early 1970s.
These years are now called the "cult years"
because so many USA youth joined mostly Hindu sects
and forsook their families
and disappeared into Ashrams.
Particularly Rajneesh was bad PR for India in the United States.

I say India, rather than Hinduism,
because USAers are still pretty vague about the differences
between Muslims and Hindus
and they haven't heard about Sikhs yet.
Everyone is just learning.
But Religious Studies Departments of Universities are popular in the USA
as are World Religion classes in Community Colleges
and even most High Schools teach comparative religion these days.

Observing the bad translations of the SGGS into English,
it appears to me that interpreters have wished our Sikh Guru
to sound like Christian scripture.
This is NOT a good idea
because Sikhi is wonderfully attractive
because it is so different from Christianity
NOT because it is like Christianity.
Christians are not our concern.
Christians usually don't read scriptures from other religions;
it is the quasi to non-Christians who are interested in other faiths.

'Translation' from the SGGS:

SIREE RAAG, THIRD MEHL:
The Lord of the Universe is the Treasure of Excellence;
His limits cannot be found.
He is not obtained by mouthing mere words,
but by rooting out ego from within.
Meeting the True Guru, one is permeated forever with the Fear of God, who Himself comes to dwell within the mind. || 1 ||

Now the concepts of LORD and HE and FEAR OF GOD are very BIG in this little sample. The writer's interpretation of the SGGS sounds like reading Christian scripture (just substitute Jesus for True Guru), which is fine IF the SGGS really said "LORD" which means "high caste male" and HE (which means that GOD is felt to be male in this poem). "Fear of God" invokes all the Christian baggage around the "Fear" of their very jealous GOD.

Now for you who live in the West
you probably already know
that the use of sexist language is prohibited at the majority of Universities
and in the Corporate World here.
Sexist language is simply NOT used by educated Westerners,
and face it,
humans everywhere get very snobby about their own language use.
So educated Westerners expect other educated people to use English
with sensitivity.

This is why I complain about how
it is so ironic that the SGGS in Gurmukhi
has no sexist language
and yet the interpretations in English sound as Patriarchal as the Talmud.
Our Sikh Guru is NOT Jewish or Christian
nor does he sound so in Gurmukhi.
Can we get better interpretations to USA Religious Studies educators
QUICKLY?
How fast can Guru Gobind Singh's Army move
if our SGGS is being grossly misrepresented?
Please ask your Guru today,
what you can do to help.

Kamalla Rose Kaur is a professional writer, theater director, workshop and seminar leader, publicist, events planner and singer.

USA born of Irish descent, Kamalla Rose Kaur embraced Sikhism in 1972 at age 18. She tried everything for over twenty years, including frantic practice of Yoga, until she learned "why Sikhs are so adament about having the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as their only Guru."

The author welcomes comments and feedback: Love&Light. Her articles are available in archives.