Interview with my classmate on his religious beliefs

Within diaspora studies the question of religion and in what way it is exercised and practiced has taken on some importance. Questions that are central to this issue are in what way does the next generation experience a religion which is not the religion of the majority group within the new home country? how does religion influence their lives and how is their belief changed and influenced by the fact that they are part of a diasporic group?

The children of Sikh immigrants in the Fraser Valley are no different when it comes to that question and at one point in their life they have to ask themselves some of the above questions. I interviewed one of my classmates, born and raised in Canada who lives with his parents who immigrated to Canada in the late 70s. His parents are practising Sikhs who go to the Gurdwara every Sunday and on special occasions, he himself does not attend religious service regularly and does neither consider himself as being a Sikh or an atheist.

Some issues he addressed during the interview led back to the feeling of having a double identity. He said that growing up in a town in the Fraser Valley with the smallest amount of South Asian citizens he never really felt like he belonged to a different group let alone a diaspora. Only upon growing older and understanding the dynamics of racism, whiteness and non whiteness, did he feel as though he did belong to an ethnically different group. However, growing up he never really felt connected to or the need to attend service at the Gurdwara.

He claims himself that his non practicing of Sikhism is not connected to the fact that he grew up in Canada. Upon asked whether he would think that he would have been more religious growing up in India, he states that he might have been practicing it more but not believing in it more. He thinks that the decision on how religious one is is not based upon the outer circumstances such as the importance of a particular religion within a certain society, but rather something that comes from within each person individually.

When contrasting his own pratctice of Sikhism with that of his parents he does see quite some differences. For his parents Sikhism continues to play a central role in theirs lives, which connects them to other Sikhs and back to the homeland as well. For him personally Sikhism in not part of his life, but it is not a non-part either. He said that getting a little older now he realizes more and more how much of his identity is actually influenced by his parents being Sikhs. Growing up he would always be surrounded by the picture of the two main Gurus and hear about important rituals or certain prayers that were performed to celebrate the birth of a new child or the death of someone in the family. Although he does not pratice Sikhism he knows the values and morals the religion tries to pass on and tries to live by them without actually practicing them.