Rhinelander - A white supremacist skinhead - that's what we're learning about the suspect who killed six people at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee.

Police shot and killed 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, but not before he killed six people and wounded four, including a police officer.

As it becomes clear this was a crime of hate, we spoke to a local pastor about the importance of tolerance.

Father Tom Thakadipuram has been at Rhinelander's Nativity Catholic Church for about a year. But until 2002, he lived in India, where Sikhism is based.

India and America, Sikhism and Christianity - Father Tom says there are more similarities than differences.

"My simple example is, just like we have different flavors of food we enjoy, and people have different tastes, there are different religions," he said. "Different religions means people have different temperaments, different likings, different appreciation of the divine. And that's a reason the different faiths come into existence, and they have a place."

Tolerance and coexistence was also the message this morning from the son of the temple's president, who was killed in the shooting.

"We as Americans are a melting pot of so many cultures," Amardeep Kaleka said. "We have to understand each other's cultures whether they be Italian, Polish, German or they be far east Chinese or Bangladeshi, we need to know the nuances because we live together we rub elbows right next to each other."

Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, with about 25 million followers worldwide.

America is home to about 700,000 Sikhs.

"Some of the principles of the faith are very similar to the principles this country was founded on," said Kavneet Singh, managing director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "You see Sikhs being staunch advocates of religious freedom, of civil rights, and of gender equality, which are very much fundamental principles of the founding of America, and I think that's why you'll see a number of Sikhs here in America looking to make a permanent home here, because there's a synergy between their two beliefs."