NCJ Number
111837
Date Published
1988
Length
22 pages
Annotation
To understand the antigovernment violence of the Sikh community in India, it is necessary to examine the underlying religious rhetoric and beliefs.
Abstract
An analysis of the speeches of Bhindranwale, the Sikhs' most charismatic and visible militant leader, reveals several characteristics underlying not only Sikh violence, but religious violence in general. The Sikh tradition, and most religious traditions, are filled with images of violence and conflict that play out the cosmic struggle against evil and for truth. The perception that this cosmic struggle is played out repeatedly in history in human terms provides a jusitifcation for violence. In addition, the believers identify personally with this struggle and feel morally responsible for its outcome. There also is a spiritually defensible conviction that the sacred struggle continues in the present, that the present represents a crisis point, and that the outcome of the struggle is in doubt. Finally, acts of violence undertaken to protect one's faith are viewed as having cosmic meaning and their perpetrators are viewed as saintly heroes. 66 footnotes.