Speaker's personal experience in the USA.

A couple of years age, I attended an interfaith meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. There were about a dozen speakers representing different faiths. Each described the features of his faith. At the end a common question was asked of all the speakers, "How do you regard the people who do not belong to your faith? Are they lost?"

As it is well known, preachers of each faith insist that unless one joins their faith, one cannot be saved (or one will not find entry into Heaven). The question was obviously a very unpleasant now to be asked in that kind of a forum. Every speaker's dilemma was obvious as they spoke.

The last turn was that of the Sikh speaker so I went to the podium and answered the question like this.

"Friends, this question does not exist for the Sikhs. Guru Nanak founded the faith by preaching that we should not divide people into Hindus, Muslims or into any other faith. We are children of the same Father whom we can love by any Name; Allah, Ram, Gobind, Guru, Niranjan (a word used by Yogis for God). Anyone, who loves God by any Name, realizes Him. The Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains the hymns of six Sikh Gurus and thirty other holy people who were born as Muslims, Hindus, low castes and even untouchables. They addressed God by many Names in their hymns, including those five mentioned above.

Gurbani says no one can claim a franchise on God, He is our common Father.

God in nobody's father's property. He is owned by love. [Guru Granth P.658 ]

Lord, you are the Father to all of us. [Guru Granth P. 97 ]

I concluded my reply saying, "God is our common father; therefore people of all faiths have equal rights on Him. He loves all of us. Anyone who loves Him and His 'children' can realize Him.'

A spontaneous loud clapping from the audience welcomed this reply, and I was very pleased with this response. However, the climax was yet to come.

A supplementary question was asked by the same person, "How do you regard those who do not believe in God?" Briefly, my reply was like this: I can answer the question better with an actual example from my life. My son in India feels that I do not exist (for him) because he cannot meet me or contact me. My daughter here in the USA, in whose house I stay, even though aware of his feelings for me, still loves him. She knows that to deserve my love she cannot afford to ignore him. Further, it is very clear in her mind that he, being my son, is to be treated and sincerely loved by her as a brother. Similarly, we Sikhs know that all people, whether they love God or not, are like brothers to us. Our prayer, therefore, is considered complete only when we say, "Father,we pray that You may bless the whole of humanity in Thy Name".

Hearing this, the whole house (people of different faiths) stood on their feet and clapped loudly till I returned to my seat. The Sikh youth and also the adults who attended that interfaith meeting felt great and enjoyed the self-esteem of being Sikhs.