Sarbmeet Kanwal: Sikhism- A Faith for Our Times

(The May installment of our series on what Ethicalists can learn from other faith traditions.) Sikhism is a relatively young religion (about 300 years old) founded in the midst of religious and political unrest that is not unlike some of the problems being faced by the world today. This talk will cover the history, beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Sikh religion. It will dwell on the relevance of Sikhism to some of our modern dilemmas. It will also mention some of the challenges faced by Sikhs in the U.S. today. Sarbmeet Kanwal resides in Monmouth County in the town of Holmdel, NJ. He is an active board member of the Monmouth Center for World Religions and Ethical Thought where he leads a youth-focused interfaith leadership program called Garden State MOSAIC (Mobilizing Our Students for Action to build Interfaith Community). Sarbmeet retired a few years ago from a position as Director of Marketing at Bell Laboratories at Alcatel-Lucent (a global telecommunications company) and has since been teaching physics and astronomy at Brookdale Community College. Sarbmeet received his MSc in physics from The Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, and a PhD in theoretical particle physics from Caltech, Pasadena, CA.