Nostra Aetate - In Our Time

87 of rights. Unfortunately, it was not adopted for some reason. I think that we need to rediscover and re-ener- gise such a declaration. I will read just one article from amongst the 19. This concerns non-violence and respect for life. It states that every person has a responsibility to respect life. No one has the right to injure, torture or kill another person. This does not exclude the right to defend individuals or communities. Thou shalt not kill – that was one of the articles. But I am sure lots of the governments will say: “Oh, no, no, what will happen to all of the armaments that we are manufacturing? What will happen to all of these wars?” I remember reading when I was young: “If you want peace, be prepared for war.” I told my dad that I couldn’t understand this. He said: “This is simple logic, my son. They are trying to brainwash you.” If you want peace, you should be prepared for peace, for goodness sake. Then there was another poster that I read: “Happi- ness is a cigar called Hamlet.” I said: “My goodness, dad, what is this?” He said: “You should not be reading these posters.” I said: “But dad, I don’t understand what a cigar is.” I knew what a cigarette was. He said: “You will not touch a cigarette or tobacco at all.” We are easily brainwashed by media but we must think in an original, innovative way. Our Sikh scriptures are a rich legacy – we just need to read them over and over and over again and interpret them for the common good. Thank you. Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh addressing the United Nations General Assembly, New York, during 2012 World Inter-faith Harmony Week BROADENING INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AND COLLABORAT ION FOR OUR T IME