“The Story of the Sikhs: 1469-1708” by Sarbpreet Singh
 

The Story of The Sikhs: 1469-1708, Sarbpreet Singh (India Viking, July 2021)

Sikhs, at least Sikh men, are conspicuous among Indians by their ever-present turbans and their less noticeable but similarly ever-present daggers. Mistaken for, and sometimes attached as Aghani Muslims after 9/11, they can also be misunderstood in their native India, mocked as dim-wits in the Sardarji jokes and, followingt the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguard, targeted by state-sponsored propaganda and violence. Sikhism itself is, to non-adherents, obscure relative to Hinduism or Buddhism.

As a result, the question whether religion is a birthright or a burden has serious social and political dimensions for the Sikh community. That it can be a means to the exploration of one’s spiritual identity as shaped by one’s ancestors finds beautiful expression in Sarbpreet Singh’s book The Story of the Sikhs: 1469-1708, based on his podcast of same name. He has produced an enchanting narrative about the origins of Sikhism in medieval India and its origins as intertwined with the presence of the Mughals, its institutions, and its message of fearlessness in the face of tyranny, intertwined with Singh’s own origins as well:

I distinctly remember my twenty-year-old self being beset by the jejune mockery of Sikhs — rampant in popular Indian culture — on the one hand, and the relentless anti-Sikh propaganda of Indian officialdom in the age of 1984 on the other! Small wonder then, that when I arrived in America in my early twenties, my connection to my faith and identity was, to put it mildly, tenuous…While this book has not been written for a specific readership, I would like to express a hope. Decades ago, as a young man seeking both my roots and a sense of identity, I started a journey that was to enrich my life immensely. I am hoping that this work will serve as an entry point for other seekers who might be in the early stages of their own journeys.

Singh movingly narrates “the story of the sikhs” as a storyteller rather than as a historian, albeit with generous references to archives from the medieval period including travellers’ accounts, the Janam Sakhis or the accounts of the lives of the saints, sacred and secular poetry and debates among scholars studying Sikh history. One major takeaway that transcends an interest in Sikhism per se is the presentation of Mughal history from the point of view of the ten Gurus of Sikhism; the Mughals and the Gurus were almost exact contemporaries. At a time when the Mughals are generally invoked in the context of animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims in South Asia, Singh provides a new lens, both beautiful and brutal, for this history.

The book opens with Guru Nanak, the first Guru and the founder of Sikhism, challenging the massacre engendered by Babur, the first Mughal Emperor, and his army at Sayyidpur, now known as Eminabad in what is today Pakistan:

Kings are hungry lions
Their servants rabid dogs
Foes of soothing restful sleep
The mindless servile cogs

The lackeys of the evil king,
Waving talone and claw
The prey on common gentlefolk;
Their tender flesh they gnaw

Babur was superstitious and didn’t want to be cursed by holy men. When he met Nanak, he received the Guru’s blessings and the prophecy that if his clan “shrinks from justice”, a blight would come upon its rule. Some Gurus paid with their lives as the prophecy of the blight began to come true.

Singh’s translations are evocative as are his narrations of different episodes from the period. Here is one that describes Mughal Emperor Akbar’s visit to the third Guru, Amar Das. Akbar walks barefoot towards the Guru:

When the Sikhs understood his intention, they hastened to lay down sheets of fine silk and velvet on the ground to ensure that the Emperor’s show of humility would be as comfortable as possible. Before the Emperor walked one of his attendants, carrying an ornate golden staff with which he periodically struck the ground. The Emperor looked at the silken sheets spread before him and then bent to move them aside with his own hands. He then started to walk barefoot on the rough path. The Emperor presented a resplendent sight in his regal attire… The mighty Emperor Akbar, before whom the entire world bowed, humbly saluted the Guru. Then, gathering his limbs about him, he sat on the ground before him. ‘Did you eat in the Langar?’ the Guru asked the Emperor. ‘Oh, what shall I eat?’ Akbar asked. ‘Today in the Langar we have unsalted porridge,’ said Guru Amar Das. ‘Then that is what I shall eat, too.’

With Akbar’s son Jahangir and great grandson Aurangzeb, the relationship between the House of Akbar and the House of Akbar, as Singh puts it, took a violent turn. With Jahangir’s execution of the Fifth Guru, Arjan Dev and Aurangzeb having the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur beheaded, the story in Singh’s narration acquires epic overtones. The two Mughals saw the following and the power the Gurus came to acquire as a threat to their existence. Also, they couldn’t grasp the new religion and its ethos—one can trace influences from both Hinduism and Islam—which was inclusive, challenged caste hierarchy, encouraged communal dining, fed people three times a day from a community kitchen supported by the funds from the community and run thanks to volunteer efforts, and encouraged honest labor, and sharing the fruits of that labor.

To be clear, there is a lot more than the presence of the Mughals to Singh’s story. The compilation of the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, and the acquisition of swords as weapons of self defence and as a means of defending the weak while refusing to bow down to tyranny find equal space in Singh’s narrative with their own interesting legends and debates.

True to the objective of writing a story that introduces seekers to the origins of their religion, Singh is at his best when discussing the metaphysics of the miracles performed by the Gurus. One story involves Nanak’s visit to Mecca—he sat with his feet towards the Kaaba. The indignant custodian of the mosque kicked Nanak’s feet away from the direction of the Kaaba. Those witnessing the scene gasped for they found the Kaaba had moved to the direction where Nanak’s feet now pointed! Nanak came to be revered by the Muslims of Mecca thanks to this “miracle” and the subsequent interactions with the Imam of Mecca. He came to be known as Nanak Pir Wali Hind, or the holy man from India. Indeed, as Sarbpreet Singh points out, a mosque dedicated to him was built about half a mile away from the Grand Mosque. Nanak left his staff and sandals behind when asked for a keepsake by the Muslims.

Early in the book, Singh talks about his rationale for including these apocryphal stories in his mega-story:

Some are wondrous tales of miracles that Nanak wrought, others are thinly disguised appropriations from Hindu mythology, and some based on historical fact documents and propagated through the generations. Nanak was, above all else, a very rational and practical man, who spent his whole life debunking ritualism and pouring scorn on superstition. It is ironic that the legacy of a man who mercilessly exposed charlatans claiming miraculous spiritual powers, now swirls with fantastic tales! … I have struggled with my approach to these stories. I have come to accept them as parables, because without doubt many of them illuminate important truths and principles.

Singh’s story about the medieval times is made more poignant by the ramifications it has for the present. The Rababis, the descendants of the earliest professional musicians who would sing of the Almighty for and with the Gurus, were Muslims. With the 1947 Partition, they left for Pakistan where their art died. Singh also refers to the act of kindness shown by Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan in attempting to stop Aurangzeb from killing Guru Gobind Singh’s sons. While Khan was ignored at that time, his:

… moment of honour and compassion was to pay great dividends, generations later. There is a strong belief among the residents of Malerkotla that the haa da naara or cry of protest of Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan in 1704, and Guru Gobind Singh’s subsequent blessing, was directly responsible for the peace that prevailed in teh town in 1947. It seems almost miraculous that while the rest of the Punjab was racked by the fury and bloodletting that accompanied the partition of India and Pakistan, the Muslim residents of Malerkotla emerged unscatheed, despite being hemmed in by a hostile Sikh and Hindu population.

Despite the author’s claim that it’s a story or a personal approach rather than a proper history, The Story of the Sikhs is a well-researched document and an inspiration to Sikhs as well as believers of other religions to find their own spiritual anchorings by examining their communities’ pasts and their relationships with the present times.

Soni Wadhwa lives in Mumbai.

Soni Wadhwa 2 October 2021 Non-Fiction

It’s Lord Ram’s birthday this week. Here’s why he’ll be remembered in six faiths.

This week, millions will mark the birth of one of the most iconic figures in global lore.

A statue of the Hindu god Ram. Photo by Pavan Kumaar/Unsplash/Creative Commons

March 28, 2023

By 

Murali Balaji

(RNS) — In a climactic scene of “RRR,” the Telugu-language blockbuster, one of the protagonists, an Indian freedom fighter named Ram, transforms into an icon of Lord Ram, an incarnation of the god Vishnu and one of the most important deities in Hinduism. With Ram’s bow and arrow, the mortal Ram defeats the British colonizers.

The scene, and the success of “RRR,” is an example of how Ram has grown in the Western imagination in the past three decades or so, beginning with his depiction in the popular 1995 screen version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s tale, “The Little Princess.”

But Ram, also called Rama, has for centuries been influential wherever Hinduism spread around the globe, even among believers in Islam, Christianity and Sikhism. This week, his birthday will be celebrated by millions of Hindus and members of other faiths on Ram Navami, the last day of the nine-day Chaitra Navratri festival.

While some scholars have recently begun to suggest that Ram was likely an actual ruler in ancient India (or a composite of several), the scriptural version of Ram has had an outsized impact on Hindus and followers of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity.

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The Ramayana, the Sanskrit epic attributed to Sage Valmiki, a former bandit turned Hindu rishi, tells the life of Ram, a human prince and fierce warrior who marries the princess Sita. Ram is about to inherit his father’s throne when his stepmother, in a succession struggle, schemes to send Ram into exile. While Ram and Sita are abroad, Sita is kidnapped by the demon king Ravana and Ram must rescue her with the help of the monkey god Hanuman. 

The sacred text, which highlights the importance of virtue and the victory of light over darkness, is one of the bases of the Hindu festival of Diwali, which marks Ram’s return from exile. 

An artist dressed as Hindu monkey god Hanuman, left, takes a selfie with artists dressed as demon king Ravana, center, and Hindu god Ram, right, before a final Ramleela performance as part of Dussehra festival celebrations in New Delhi, India, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

The Ramayana also idealizes dharma, the central tenet of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Ram always puts duty and righteousness above all else, qualities that have helped his legend survive even in societies where Hinduism is no longer practiced as widely, if at all. Most importantly, it teaches that no one is completely good or completely evil, an idea underscored by its villain, Ravana, a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva who became blinded by power.

Over time, both Jainism and Buddhism adopted versions of the Ramayana as part of their religious lore. In Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, once Hindu strongholds, the Scripture’s importance as a guide to virtue remained even as their populations were converted to other faiths. In mostly Buddhist Cambodia, the Ramayana is known as the Reamker, or the Glory of Rama, while in Muslim-majority Indonesia, it is a national symbol and intricately woven into the country’s social fabric.

But even though it spawned many local versions, Valmiki’s epic was inaccessible to millions of Hindus, who did not read or write Sanskrit until the 1600s, when St. Tulsidas, one of the greatest figures of the Hindu bhakti movement, penned the Ramcharitmanas, a poem that extols the accomplishments of Ram, in Awadhi, a language linked to Ayodhya, Ram’s birthplace. Tulsidas, who had been imprisoned by the Mughal emperor Akbar, is widely believed to have composed the poem on Ram’s birthday.

As millions of impoverished Hindus left India in the 19th century as indentured servants and scattered across the British Empire, the Ramcharitmanas became a unifying source of comfort.

Because of the syncretic connections between Sikhism and Punjabi Hinduism, many Sikhs came to view Ram as king of Ayodhya, though there are some disagreements about whether Sikh gurus also considered him a divine being. Still, Ram is mentioned in both the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth, a text long considered to be one of the works of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th in Sikhism’s lineage of founding teachers. In recent years, some Sikh groups, particularly in the diaspora, have pushed back on that idea.

A devotee has the name of Hindu god Rama written on his forehead during a religious procession to celebrate Ram Navami, a Hindu festival marking the birth anniversary of Lord Ram, in Hyderabad, India,  April 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

The Meo Muslims of northern India have long revered Ram and trace their roots to him, and many men in the community still take names with roots in the Ramayana. However, in recent years, some Meos have abandoned Ram and other Hindu traditions due to a rise in both right-wing Hindu sentiment and Islamic puritanism fueled by money from Arab states.

But Muslims in other parts of the world still hold the Ramayana in deep reverence. Its story was long retold in popular Balinese and Javanese shadow puppetry known as Wayang golek until Muslim rulers disapproved. Refashioned into the more palatable Wayang kulit, it maintains the same references to Ram. Many Indonesian Muslims continue to draw their names from the Ramayana and the country’s national airline is called Garuda, the mythological bird that makes appearances in numerous Hindu stories.

Far from India, in the Caribbean countries of Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, names like Ramsingh, Rampersuad, Ramkissoon, Ramnarine and Sitaram continue to be common, even among West Indians whose families have long since become Christian. In at least some of these converted communities, celebrating Diwali, specifically Ram’s return, continues, though a rise in evangelical Christian activity in recent years has lessened those observances.

Still, Ram Navami marks the birth of a figure whose life and lionization continue to play a major role in the lives of hundreds of millions across the world. On Thursday (March 30), millions of homes around the world will mark the occasion with readings of the Ramayana or Ramcharitmanas, fasting and musical odes to the greatness of one of the most iconic figures in global lore.

(Murali Balaji is a journalist and a lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include “Digital Hinduism” and “The Professor and the Pupil,” a political biography of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.) 

Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: ‘It’s the curriculum of our life’

Ashleigh Stewart 1 day ago

LONG READ

When Ushpreet Singh arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, in late 2020, he was dismayed to find that the town of 33,000 people did not have a gurdwara — a place of worship for Sikhs like him.

At the time, there were about a dozen Sikh families in Whitehorse and a makeshift Sikh committee, but no meeting place.

So Singh set about trying to establish one himself.

“I asked where all the paperwork was and when I saw it, the total donation was $6,000 in 20 years,” the 23-year-old tells Global News.

“It was not enough to establish a temple, it was not enough for anything. I was really upset; this money couldn't help us. And no one wanted to help.”

One year and one monumental fundraising campaign later, Whitehorse is now home to a gurdwara for a Sikh community that now numbers between 300 and 400 people.

Singh is one of many new immigrants fuelling religious growth among minority groups in Canada.

As Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented levels (just 68 per cent reported a religious affiliation in Canada in 2019, according to new StatCan data), minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.

In response, Global News has spent the past two months speaking to members of religious communities across the country and looking at historical data to determine why this is happening. This is the part two of that series.

Part One: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever

Sikhism, which is both an ethnic group and religion, now represents 1.4 per cent of all Canadians. That number is up from 0.9 per cent in 2001 and 0.7 per cent in 1996. According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, there are now approximately 500,000 Sikhs living in the country.

The religion, founded in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century, is built on three core tenets: devotion to God, truthful living and service to humanity. Men are identifiable by their turban, or dastar, worn to keep their hair, which should be unshaven, clean.

It is a “way of life,” Singh says. So when he moved to Whitehorse for work from Toronto due to spiralling living costs, not having a gurdwara was unthinkable.

Singh, helped by a workmate, set about talking to Punjabi news channels across the country to appeal for donations.

Eventually, with money raised from various communities across the country, the group had enough to rent a warehouse for $3,500 per month.

Singh flew to Vancouver to escort the Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of Sikhism, on its 34-hour drive to its new home, and became the gurdwara’s new preacher.

By November 2021, the Whitehorse Sikh community had raised enough money to buy a permanent space for their gurdwara. Singh estimates they’ve spent close to $1 million on purchasing and renovating the building. It underlines the importance the community puts on maintaining their faith, despite being far from home.

“You cannot make a temple with just money, you need dedication. And without love or without dedication, religion is useless,” Singh says.

The Sikh community in Whitehorse is now growing “day by day,” he says. The gurdwara has become central to the community, where homeless people, of any religion, can come for a meal or for shelter. A Sikh service culminates in a shared meal.

The gurdwara is considered much more than just a place of worship, which is why COVID-19 hit the Sikh community hard.

On a Sunday afternoon in early December 2021, the Gursikh Sabha Canada in Scarborough, Toronto, is bustling. People move from room to room, listening to music performed by preachers flown in from India, while downstairs in the kitchen, small groups eat from metal plates on the floor.

“Whenever you have a crisis, it brings people together, it brings people back home,” says Gobinder Randhawa, a Sikh immigrant from India and former Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council president.

Randhawa arrived in Toronto in 1972, when men wearing turbans were an uncommon sight. He applied for a job with the TTC, Toronto's public transit agency, and was met with confusion over its dress code.

“They asked me, ‘Well, what will you do with your turban?’ I said, ‘Well, I have kept it on for this long, I will keep it on,’” he recalls.

“I told them, ‘Listen, do you want to hire someone who you can trust?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘This is my religion. This is what I believe in. If I give up my religion, I give up my principles just to have a job. Would you trust me?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Then, what's your problem?”

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Randhawa says the TTC changed the uniform code to accommodate him. He worked there for 31 years.

All the while, the gurdwara was his place of “strength” in a community where “people look at us like, ‘This guy looks different.’”

But Randhawa says it was important to understand that Sikhs were important contributors to society — and thus, their religion plays an important role in 2022. For instance, Sikhism dictates that 10 per cent of earnings should be given to philanthropy.

“Our community is like one family. But it also doesn’t matter what religion you are. We'll burn our house to give heat to our neighbour,” Randhawa says.

Balpreet Singh Boparai, of the World Sikh Organization, says the community in Canada is being bolstered by a steady influx of young international students. For Sikhs, he says, Canada is the “top choice” for immigration.

“And the first thing people do once they arrive in a community is go and find their nearest gurdwara,” he says.

Between 1971 and 2011, immigration exploded in Canada, after the revising of the Immigration Act in 1976.

According to historic StatsCan data, in those four decades, 711,400 Muslims moved to Canada, as did 243,740 Buddhists, 340,875 Hindus, 71,448 Jews and 274,955 Sikhs. At the same time, most Christian denominations were in a state of steady decline after peaking in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nowadays, these minority religions are at the point of surpassing once major religions in Canada (Muslims account for 3.7 per cent of Canadians, while the United and Anglican churches account for 3.8 per cent). And they’re predominantly made up of immigrants.

Video: Celebrating B.C.’s Sikh community

Those born outside Canada were more likely than those born in Canada to report being Muslim (12 per cent versus one per cent), Hindu (six per cent versus 0.3 per cent), Sikh (four per cent versus 0.6 per cent), according to StatsCan.

They were also more likely to participate in a group religious activity at least once a month (36 per cent versus 19 per cent) or on their own at least once a week (42 per cent versus 28 per cent).

Younger immigrants were also more likely to be religious. People born outside Canada between 1980 and 1999 were more likely (71 per cent) than those born in Canada (59 per cent) to report having a religious affiliation. Among people born between 1940 and 1959, there was little difference.

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But that hasn’t meant that safeguarding the future is easy.

Boparai says while affiliation may be high in younger generations, the second generation does not have the same interest in managing the gurdwaras.

“There hasn’t been a passing of the reins to the second generation as there has been in the past. They don’t have the same interest.

“One gurdwara tried to hand over to a younger youth group and that lasted a little while and that failed and they were asked to hand over control again.”

According to StatCan projections for Canada, by the year 2036, the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double, to make up between 13 per cent and 16 per cent of Canada’s population, compared with nine per cent in 2011.

The Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths, in particular, “would see the number of their followers grow more quickly,” due to being “over-represented among immigrants compared to their demographic weight in the population as a whole.”

Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, says the numbers reflect the fact that immigrants to Canada are coming from less developed, more religious countries. New immigrants then seek out places of worship as a way to connect with others.

“A lot of immigrants have gone to these religious communities in search of those lost connections that they had back in their countries of origin. And what is interesting here is that some of these, not very many, but some of these people are people that are not necessarily religious themselves,” Kazemipur says.

“Most of the studies that have been done recently, on Christianity even, show that most of the vitality in terms of religion is coming from the immigrant community, not necessarily the native-born population.”

He says this was particularly true for the Muslim community, who also had to deal with rising levels of Islamophobia and a “misperception” that Muslims have a stronger attachment to their faith.

“That perception has created an intellectual environment in which every time that someone wants to encounter a Muslim or wants to learn something, they think that they have to start from religion.

“All these other socio-demographic, socio-economic factors that are so powerfully present in everybody else’s lives, it seems in this perception that they are not relevant for Muslims.”

Because Muslim people were so frequently being asked about their faith, it also meant that those who were more loosely associated with it were more likely to go and learn about it, which also boosted religiosity, Kazemipur says.

Islam is now the largest non-Christian religious group and the fastest-growing religion in Canada, accounting for 3.7 per cent of Canadians. That’s up from 1.5 per cent in 2001 and 1.1 per cent in 1996.

Unlike churches nearby that sit nearly empty during weekend services, on a Friday at noon in mid-December 2021, Masjid Toronto is overflowing with people. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, people now have to book online for a space — which is especially important for Friday’s Jumah prayer, the most important of the week and the one men are required to attend.

Men in thobes and women in hijabs jostle for space in their respective rooms as the call to prayer sounds. The imam reiterates how important it is to book online, saying he’s turning people away when the mosque reaches capacity.

Afterwards, Rania Lawendy, national director of the Muslim Association of Canada, tells Global News there simply aren’t enough mosques to accommodate the city’s growing Muslim population. Religion “plays a huge role” in everyday life for Muslims, she says, and that hasn’t changed in the face of modern life.

“Islam is a way of life. And that's not just a statement, it really does encompass everything. It encompasses our resilience, our understanding of justice and our understanding of really being of benefit to others. It's not just worship, but it's your dealings, so your dealings with your neighbours and how you are at work,” Lawendy says.

“Religiosity doesn't just encompass going to the mosque and praying, but how are you in your everyday life? How are you with other people? What is your integrity? What do you feel your purpose is and are you a benefit, not only to Muslims, but to all of Canadian society.”

Tragedies such as the London attack, when a Muslim family was killed, have hit the community hard, she says. But faith has “kept us resilient.”

“When something bad happens, it’s perceived as a test and people are rewarded for it. So our viewpoint of things like the pandemic are very different,” she says.

“It's almost like if you didn't have your faith, what a miserable life you would have.”

Lawendy herself is a testament to that. She says her faith helped her through the toughest period of her life: when she was 25 and she lost her second child, her father and had a miscarriage all within six months.

“They brought me like a psychiatrist. And I'm like, ‘What is this for? And they're looking at my record saying, ‘You can't be OK. You're 25 years old.’ And I was like, ‘No, I'm OK.’ And I really was OK.”

That resilience, and the mosque community, helps new immigrants find their way in a new country, she says.

Video: Syrian immigrant talks about her experience as Muslim in Canada

Syrian immigrant Asmaa Ghadban, who moved to Vancouver Island from Jordan in late 2019 as a refugee, says when she and her family first arrived, their Christian sponsors accompanied them to the mosque and continued to do so for several weeks.

Her eldest daughter, who wears a hijab, was worried about attending school. But the school was accommodating.

“When I registered my kids, I told the principal and the office there my girls will pray. They told me, ‘OK, don’t worry, we will make them a special place or we will get them a room,’” Ghadban says.

Her three children now go to the mosque three times per week and learn Arabic.

“Religion is the curriculum of our life,” she says.

“I started growing those seeds in the heart of my kids, because maybe in the future, they will remember that.”

Kazemipur says because Islam provides a framework for how life should be lived, there’s “more room for religion” in Muslims’ everyday lives.

The community had also become more tight-knit than perhaps they would have been in their home countries due to a rise in Islamophobia after 9/11.

“(Muslims) have become more alert to the fact that religion is playing such a big role in their lives, and in the minds of people who are viewing them,” he says.

Tina Aseffa, from Ethiopia, converted to Islam while at university in Hamilton studying for a bachelor of science. She’d been raised Catholic, courtesy of her half-Italian mother, but her sister had grown interested in the key tenets of Islam and while initially against it, Aseffa then found herself identifying with it too.

“There came a time when I felt like I’d be living a lie. And you can lie to people, but how could you lie to yourself?”

The conversion caused ructions in her family and left her not speaking to her mother or father for two years. But the Muslim community stepped in to fill the void, teaching her Arabic, introducing her to friends and even helping to pay her rent.

Video: ‘It felt natural:’ Hamilton woman talks about converting to Islam

While she admits that she’s experienced plenty of Islamophobia — she’s been insulted on the street, yelled at to “go back to where you came from,” targeted for searches at airports, even insulted by a store worker while buying her very first skirt the weekend she converted — she says she’s never looked back.

“Is there discrimination? Yes. Is there Islamophobia? Yes. Do I feel targeted at times? Yes. But at the same time, there's the halal storage, there’s the schools, there's the mosques.

“Canada has allowed me to live my Islamic life.”

Queer couple’s wedding in India sparks backlash from highest cleric in Sikhism

Namita Singh

Wed, September 27, 2023 



When they were planning their wedding, Dimple and Manisha always agreed that they wanted their “big day” to include a traditional Sikh religious ceremony. A queer couple living in India’s Punjab state, they had no idea that their wedding day would trigger such a huge controversy and draw criticism from the highest priest in Sikhism himself.

Manisha, 21, says the priest was very encouraging when she approached a local gurdwara with her fiance Dimple, 27, who goes by male pronouns.

“We spoke to him in the presence of my parents and told him that it is not a male-female wedding, but [rather] with a person who has been assigned female sex at birth,” she tells The Independent.

India does not recognise same-sex marriage, but Manisha says that the priest, Hardev Singh, told her similar marriages have happened in the past. “He took my phone number, saying that he will discuss this with the gurdwara committee and call me back.”

The committee approved their union and the couple got married in front of the Sikh religious scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, on 18 September.

Since then, a controversy has erupted over their wedding prompting the priest to issue an apology for officiating the ceremony, amid criticims from the highest cleric in Sikhism, Giani Raghbir Singh.

Describing same-sex marriage as “unnatural and contrary to Sikh ethics”, Mr Singh told the BBC that the marriage of two women in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib was “a severe moral and religious violation”.

The outlet reported that he has also ordered the suspension of the priest who oversaw the marriage rites and three others present during the ceremony.

The priest, Hardev Singh, has since claimed in an interview with the BBC that he did not know it was an LGBT+ wedding, arguing that one of the couple was wearing a turban for the ceremony. He did not respond to The Independent’s attempts to contact him by phone for comment.

Questioning his claim, Manisha says: “We told him all the details in person. In fact we submitted the documents, including biometric identity proof, Aadhaar [government-issued ID] card where it is clear that Dimple is female.”

Dimple’s parents knew all along that he feels like a man trapped inside a woman’s body, the 27-year-old tells The Independent. “I was very open from the beginning. I behaved like a boy who was attracted to women. So, I never hid anything from my family.”

However, Manisha says her parents took some convincing. The reluctance came in part because same-sex marriage is not recognised in India, while gay sex was only decriminalised in 2018. The family also come from a rural background, where there are fewer conversations around gender and sexuality than in the major Indian metropolises.

India’s supreme court is currently in the process of hearing arguments in favour of recognising same-sex marriage. The government has previously opposed marriage equality, calling it an “urban elitist view” and defending the institution of marriage as “exclusively heterogeneous”.

Gender rights activists and supporters of the LGBT+ community attend a pride parade in Mumbai on 24 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

“When I told my parents that I wanted to marry Dimple, my mother refused right away,” says Manisha.

“But she came around later the same day. And once she was on board, she convinced my father as well. It did not take very long to persuade them about our alliance. You know what they say: ‘Parents can do anything for their child’s happiness’.”

Despite the opposition they have faced at different stages from family, state and society, Manisha never doubted her decision to marry Dimple. From the moment they started dating, it was a whirlwind romance.

“I have known him for sometime. We work in the same factory. So, I knew almost everything about him,” she says, referring to Dimple’s previous partners.

“I was dating a woman for five years before we broke up. And another woman for few months. I frequently turned to Manisha when seeking resolution of emotional issues,” says Dimple. When they finally began dating, the foundation of their friendship meant it did not take long to consider marriage.

“It was within a week of us dating that I proposed.”

Dimple is still contemplating whether to get his gender reassignment surgery done. “I did think and went to hospital for the surgery. However, the doctors said that most people are not satisfied with the outcome. So, I am thinking of getting it done from outside of India.”

But that will not anytime soon, he says, and he is in no rush.
“I have just started spending time with my wife. If she is happy with me and accepts me as it is, then I might not get it done at all.”

Punjab: India row after LGBTQ couple marry in Sikh temple
Gagandeep Singh Jassowal - BBC Punjabi
Tue, September 26, 2023 

Manisha (left) and Dimple's wedding ceremony was attended by around 70 relatives

While India waits for the Supreme Court's verdict on legalising same-sex marriage, an LGBTQ couple's recent wedding in the northern state of Punjab has made headlines - and also created controversy.

Dimple, 27 - who uses the pronoun he - and Manisha, 21, married in Bathinda city on 18 September with the blessings of their families - something that's highly unusual in a conservative country like India.

But what was even more unusual was that their marriage was solemnised in a gurdwara - a Sikh temple - with the bride and groom performing all traditional rituals.

The wedding has been criticised by some religious leaders, including Sikhism's highest priest Giani Raghbir Singh who declared that "same-sex marriage was unnatural and contrary to Sikh ethics".

The marriage of two women in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib - the holy Sikh scripture - was "a severe moral and religious violation", he said, and instructed the Bathinda gurdwara committee to suspend priest Hardev Singh, who conducted the marriage, and three others from their duties until further notice.

Hardev Singh has since been removed from his position. In his defence, he said that he couldn't figure out that both the bride and the groom were female as one of the women was wearing a turban.

Dimple has questioned the claim, saying that they had provided copies of their identity proof to the gurdwara so there was no reason for confusion.

Dimple is from Mansa district while Manisha is from Bathinda - both are remote areas where LGBTQ+ rights are rarely ever discussed in public. Dimple, an upper-caste Jatt Sikh, and Manisha, a Dalit Hindu, met at a garment factory in Zirakpur, a town near Punjab's capital Chandigarh, where they both worked.

When I met them a few days after their wedding, they looked like any happy newly-wed couple. The couple told me that their Anand Karaj (or Sikh wedding ceremony) was attended by nearly 70 relatives.

Dimple dressed as the groom for the wedding ceremony

In their wedding photographs and videos, Dimple appears dressed as a traditional Sikh groom with the customary garland of flowers tied to his maroon turban, while his bride Manisha is wearing a maroon and gold tunic, salwar bottoms and a silk scarf and both her arms are covered with red bangles.

Dimple, who mostly dresses in a shirt and trousers and keeps his hair short, says when he told his parents that he had no interest in boys, they understood and "extended their support, expressing joy in his happiness".

An only child, he once contemplated gender reassignment surgery and even consulted a doctor, but decided against it as his parents were concerned about the procedure's outcomes.

It was in 2017 after he moved to Zirakpur for work that he became more aware of LGBTQ+ issues. "There, I met like-minded friends who understood my situation and I also gained awareness from YouTube," he says.

Historic India same sex marriage hearing enters day two

'My parents were ready to kill me for their honour'

Manisha, says Dimple, wasn't his first love. "I was in a relationship with a girl for five years. Earlier this year, we broke up. Then I dated another girl for three-four months, but that also didn't work out."

Manisha, who was then a co-worker and a friend, often helped him resolve his differences with his girlfriend.

"That's when I realised that Manisha could be a better partner for me. She also enjoyed my company, we grew closer and had long chats. So, we officially became a couple a month ago," says Dimple.

Manisha says he proposed to her over the phone just three or four days after they began their relationship, adding that she readily accepted. "A woman needs a life partner who understands her, respects her, showers her with love, and treats her like a child."

But it did take some effort to convince her parents that she wanted to marry Dimple.

"My mother told me it's not possible to marry a girl. Eventually, I convinced her that if she wanted my happiness, then she had to let me marry who I wanted. Once she agreed, she also persuaded my father."

Dimple and Manisha's wedding sparked controversy in the state's Sikh community

Their parents then met and the wedding date was finalised. As Dimple is a practising Sikh, his parents say he wanted to marry following Sikh rituals so they approached the gurdwara priest.

The couple insist that they never hid their identities and show the marriage certificate Bathinda gurdwara committee has issued them.

India decriminalised gay sex in 2018, but same-sex marriages still lack official recognition. The Supreme Court recently heard a slew of petitions seeking marriage equality and judgement is due soon.

So at the moment, a same-sex marriage is not legal in India which means that Dimple and Manisha cannot access rights enjoyed by heterosexual married couples, but at the same time, experts say it is not considered a felony.

But the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, the apex religious body of Sikhism says it is investigating if there have been any violations of religious codes.

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P.E.I. volunteer firefighter takes off his turban to save lives

THE RELATIONS OF SOCIAL REPRODUCTION

Mon, April 25, 2022

Gurpreet Singh started volunteering for the Cross Roads Fire Department last December. 

(Thinh Nguyen/CBC - image credit)

Gurpreet Singh had the idea of applying to become a volunteer firefighter with the Cross Roads Fire Department in Stratford last December, but he was a bit hesitant.

Being a follower of Sikhism, he wears a turban, and he wondered how that would work with the firefighter's helmet. And he has a beard — firefighters often have to be clean shaven for safety reasons.

But he applied anyway. Becoming a volunteer firefighter is a reflection of his faith, Singh said.

"In Sikhism, one of the basic principles is sewa which means selfless service for the community. So I am proud that I am doing my part being a Sikh working for the community, for the betterment of community," he said.

Singh has been with the fire department for about five months. He has taken off his turban many times to wear his helmet during training with the P.E.I. Firefighters Association. He has shaven off his lower beard, so he can wear a breathing apparatus.

'A memory I will remember my whole life'

Singh got a job last February as a utility supervisor with the Town of Stratford. Without friends or family, he arrived in P.E.I., not knowing a thing about the Island.

Submitted by Gurpreet Singh

After the 14-day COVID-19 isolation period, he was excited to get out, make some connections with Islanders and explore Island culture.

"But everybody is wearing masks, and you can't socialize, you can't go to places. There were many places which were closed. There were social gathering limits," he said when thinking back to his first days on P.E.I.

"It's really difficult when you don't know anybody."

Then, Singh heard from his boss about the Cross Roads Fire Department looking for volunteers. He attended its open house night last fall before signing up.

During the interview, discussions came up about his turban and his beard.

Singh told people at the fire department he's committed to putting safety first. While the turban is the symbol of his faith, he's willing to take it off to put on the firefighter's helmet when going on fire calls, Singh said.

"Not everybody will understand the reason. There are some who will say, 'No, it's not good.' But I believe since my religion taught me that I have to serve the community. And it's a selfless service," he said.

"I'm doing this volunteering with the fire department to save lives and the property damage of the residents. And for them, if I'm wearing my gear, I believe I should do it properly."

In Sikhism, one of the basic principles is sewa which means selfless service for the community. So I am proud that I am doing my part being a Sikh working for the community.

— Gurpreet Singh

And the day came when he heard back from the department.

"Once they told me that I'm selected, that was a memory I will remember my whole life."

Singh is one of the two newcomers who joined the department, the first time it has had newcomers volunteering as firefighters said Cross Roads Fire Chief Kevin Reynolds.

Reynolds hopes to see more newcomers taking on the role in the future.

"We're very, very pleased to have them in our group and they bring a different perspective sometimes and a different culture," he said. "And it's a great learning opportunity for people to learn new things from these individuals."

'It's like being a part of a new family'

Singh has been enjoying his probation period, which gives him an opportunity to try being a volunteer firefighter. He attended training at the P.E.I. Firefighters Association, where he experienced field training including live fire exercises, and learned rescue techniques.

Thinh Nguyen/CBC

He meets with other members of the department every Tuesday. Beside doing training exercises, they share about their lives and chat about what's happening in town.

Thanks to this, Singh is learning about things he wouldn't otherwise, like the current fishing season and the upcoming lobster season, he said.

"I always look up to the Tuesday night now. It's become a habit that Tuesday night is for the fire hall," Singh said.

"We work together. We train together. If somebody needs some help, we step up and help each other out as well. So, it's like being a part of a new family here."

Singh hopes to finish his probation by Christmas. He will need to pass a written exam and then he can get his certification as level-one firefighter.

"It will be a beautiful Christmas when I clear it," he said.

MODI'S SECRET POLICE

US prosecutors say plots to assassinate Sikh leaders were part of a campaign of planned killings

The attack plans were foiled, prosecutors said, because the hitman was actually an undercover U.S. agent.
Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is pictured in his office on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/ Ted Shaffrey)

December 1, 2023
By  Larry Neumeister

NEW YORK (AP) — A foiled plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York, just days after another activist’s killing, was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada, according to U.S. prosecutors.

In electronic communications and audio and video calls secretly recorded or obtained by U.S. law enforcement, organizers of the plot talked last spring about plans to kill someone in California and at least three other people in Canada, in addition to the victim in New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The goal was to kill at least four people in the two countries by June 29, and then more after that, prosecutors contend.

After Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who had been exiled from India, was shot and killed outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, one of the men charged with orchestrating the planned assassinations told a person he had hired as a hitman that he should act urgently to kill another activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

“We have so many targets,” Nikhil Gupta said in a recorded audio call, according to the indictment. “We have so many targets. But the good news is this, the good news is this: Now no need to wait.”

He urged the hitman to act quickly because Pannun, a U.S. citizen living in New York, would likely be more cautious after Nijjar’s slaying.

“We got the go-ahead to go anytime, even today, tomorrow — as early as possible,” he told a go-between as he instructed the hitman to kill Pannun even if there were other people with him. “Put everyone down,” he said, according to the indictment.

The attack plans were foiled, prosecutors said, because the hitman was actually an undercover U.S. agent.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan announced charges Wednesday against Gupta, and said in court papers that the plot to kill Pannun was directed by an official in the Indian government. That government official was not charged in the indictment or identified by name, but the court filing described him as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence.

Indian officials have denied any complicity in Nijjar’s slaying. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Wednesday that the Indian government had set up a high-level inquiry after U.S. authorities raised concerns about the plot to kill Pannun.

Court filings revealed that even before Nijjar’s killing in Canada, U.S. law enforcement officials had become aware of a plot against activists who were advocating for the secession from India of the northern Punjab state, where Sikhs are a majority.

U.S. officials said they began investigating when Gupta, in his search for a hitman, contacted a narcotics trafficker who turned out to be a Drug Enforcement Administration informant.

Over the ensuing weeks, the pair communicated by phone, video and text messages, eventually looping in their hired assassin — the undercover agent.

The Indian government official told Gupta that he had a target in New York and a target in California, the indictment said. They ultimately settled on a $100,000 price and by June 3, Gupta was urging his criminal contact in America to “finish him brother, finish him, don’t take too much time …. push these guys, push these guys … finish the job.”

During a June 9 call, Gupta told the narcotics trafficker that the murder of Pannun would change the hitman’s life because “we will give more bigger job more, more job every month, every month 2-3 job,” according to the indictment.

It was unclear from the indictment whether U.S. authorities had learned anything about the specific plan to kill Nijjar before his ambush on June 18.

The indictment portrayed Gupta as boasting that he and his associates in India were behind both the Canadian and New York assassination plots. He allegedly told the Drug Enforcement Administration informant on June 12 that there was a “big target” in Canada and on June 16 told him: “We are doing their job, brother. We are doing their New York (and) Canada (job),” referring to individuals directing the plots from India.

After Nijjar was killed, Gupta told the informant that Nijjar was the target he had mentioned as the potential Canadian “job” and added: “We didn’t give to (the undercover agent) this job, so some other guy did this job … in Canada.”

On June 30, Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States after arriving there on a trip from India. Federal authorities have not said when he might be brought to the United States to face murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges. It was unclear who would provide legal representation if he arrives in the U.S.

Pannun told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he will continue his work.

“They will kill me. But I don’t fear the death,” he said.

He mocked India’s claim that it is conducting its own investigation into the assassination plots.

“The only thing, I think, (the) Indian government is going to investigate (is) why their hitman could not kill one person. That’s what they will be investigating,” he said.

Pannun said he rejects the Indian government’s decision to label him a terrorist.

“We are the one who are fighting India’s violence with the words. We are the one who are fighting India’s bullets with the ballot,” he said. “They are giving money, hundreds of thousands, to kill me. Let the world decide who is terrorist and who is not a terrorist.”

Some international affairs experts told the AP that it was unlikely the incidents would seriously damage the relationship between the U.S. and India.

”In most cases, if Washington accuses a foreign government of staging an assassination on its soil, U.S. relations with that government would plunge into deep crisis,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre’s South Asia institute. “But the relationship with India is a special case. Trust and goodwill are baked into the relationship, thanks to rapidly expanding cooperation and increasingly convergent interests.”

Derek Grossman, Indo-Pacific analyst at the Rand Corp., said the Biden administration has demonstrated that it is prioritizing the need to leverage India as part of its strategy to counter Chinese power.

“I think publicizing the details of the thwarted plot will have very little, if any, impact on the deepening U.S.-India strategic partnership,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Krutika Pathi in New Delhi and Ted Shaffrey in New York contributed to this report.

Alleged Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Highlights Thorn in India’s Side

The charges are rooted in a decades-old dispute over the demand by some Sikhs for a sovereign state known as Khalistan carved out of northern India.

Members of the Sikh community protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India in Washington in 2020.

Credit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images


By Sameer Yasir
Reporting from New Delhi
Dec. 1, 2023

The federal indictment this week of an Indian national in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme targeting a Sikh separatist in New York threatens to damage ties between the United States and India just as the Biden administration has been courting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

The charges are rooted in a decades-old dispute: the demand by some Sikhs for a sovereign state known as Khalistan carved out of northern India, which the Modi government opposes.

In addition to directing the unsuccessful plot in New York, the federal indictment said, an Indian government official organized the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada who was fatally shot in June by masked gunmen outside a temple in Vancouver.

The idea of Khalistan is rooted in Sikhism, a religion with 26 million followers around the world, of which about 23 million live in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sikhs make up less than 2 percent of India’s population of 1.4 billion.

India has outlawed the Khalistani independence movement, and it has only limited support inside Punjab. But it remains a rallying cry among the roughly 3 million members of the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Australia and Britain.

The Khalistan movement

Sikhism was founded in the 15th century in Punjab, and in 1699 an influential leader of the faith at the time, Guru Gobind Singh, espoused the idea of Sikh rule. He also gave it a political vision, casting Sikh self-rule as a remedy for decades of misrule under Muslims and corruption among Sikh leaders.

The Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, in Amritsar, India, where in 1984 hundreds were killed in a raid ordered by India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to arrest insurgents hiding there.Credit...Atul Loke for The New York Times

After the Indian subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines in 1947, some Sikh leaders tried to establish a Punjabi-speaking Sikh state, leading to friction between Sikh groups and the Indian government, which was then led by Jawaharlal Nehru.

That effort never came to pass, but the dream of Khalistan survived. In the 1970s and 1980s, it gained traction among Sikhs in Punjab and the worldwide Sikh diaspora. The movement eventually inspired an armed insurgency that lasted for more than a decade. India responded with force, using torture, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings to suppress the movement.

In June 1984, India’s prime minister at the time, Indira Gandhi, ordered troops to storm the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, in Amritsar, to arrest insurgents hiding there. Hundreds were killed in that raid.

Among those who died during the raid was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a leader of the armed rebellion, who many historians say was initially supported by Mrs. Gandhi’s government, which used him as a vehicle to split the Sikh movement.

In October 1984, Ms. Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards, a killing that prompted a wave of violence that left thousands dead, and included looting and arson against Sikh homes and businesses.

In 1985, separatists linked to the Sikh diaspora bombed an Air India flight, en route to London from Toronto, killing more than 300 people.

Across northern India, from the mountains of Kashmir to the plains of Punjab, people still paste stickers of Mr. Bhindranwale on cars, motorcycles and the front gates of homes as a symbol of Sikh resistance.

But by the early 1990s the insurgency had largely been crushed in Punjab, with hundreds of rebels arrested, killed or driven underground. Hope for a more inclusive future for Sikhs took hold and, between 2004 and 2014, India had its first, and only, Sikh prime minister, Manmohan Singh.

How did Khalistan become an issue among the Sikh diaspora?

During and after the Sikh insurgency, the growing diaspora started demanding accountability for human rights violations committed by Indian forces in Punjab.

A large number of those Sikhs who left India during the separatist violence, or in the years immediately after it, carried wounds that fueled their advocacy for a Khalistani state. But political observers said those activists, while often turning out for protests against India, have largely remained unorganized.

Protesting outside India’s consulate in Toronto in September.

Credit...Carlos Osorio/Reuters

While blessed with some of the country’s richest agricultural land, Punjab has long struggled with unemployment and drug abuse. Young men often force older relatives to sell land to underwrite their emigration. And once they move overseas, their social interactions are often limited to socializing with other Sikhs during visits to temples.

Sikhs waving Khalistani flags have become a familiar sight outside Indian consulates. At one point a dentist in London, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, even declared himself president of a “Republic of Khalistan.”

Alarmed by the protests, India has responded by demanding that countries, including Canada, take action against Sikh activists, whom New Delhi considers a “threat” to its sovereignty.

Is the Punjab independence movement a threat to India?

Political leaders in Punjab say the Sikh independence movement there has been practically nonexistent for decades. But the Indian government has recently been sounding the alarm and arrested a separatist leader early this year, fearful that a resurgence in India could provoke violence there.

Praying at a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Punjab, a majority-Sikh state in India

.Credit...Atul Loke for The New York Times

There have been sporadic incidents of violence inside Punjab, including bombings and killings of religious leaders, but the police there have linked the violence to gang rivalry that sometimes transcends borders.

In recent years, New Delhi has also accused Sikh separatists in Canada of vandalizing Hindu temples and, in one instance, attacking the offices of the Indian High Commission during a protest in March.

India’s relations with Canada were already strained before the June killing of the Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who supported independence for Khalistan. New Delhi has accused Canada of harboring separatist militants linked to the Khalistan movement.

India’s government has repeatedly asserted that any failure by foreign governments to tackle Sikh separatism would be an obstacle to good relations with that country.

Sameer Yasir is a reporter based in New Delhi. He joined The Times in 2020. More about Sameer Yasir

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SIKH

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SIKH ASSASSINATION 

Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society: survey

By Ashleigh Stewart Global News
Posted April 18, 2022 

WATCH: A new survey by the Angus Reid Institute suggests Canadians aren't keeping their faith, with only 18 per cent identifying as religiously committed. Others say some religions are harmful to society. Mike Drolet explains why more Canadians are losing their religion.

Many Canadians now believe Catholicism, evangelical Christianity and Islam are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to turn their backs on religion.

A new Angus Reid survey, released Monday, has shone a light on perceptions of certain religions in post-pandemic Canada, at a time when religiosity in the country is already at an all-time low.

“Broader society still is not fully comfortable and fully clear about what to do with religion, and therefore they show some signs of discomfort,” Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, explains.

“It’s not intolerance at the moment, it is discomfort.”

The survey reveals that all religious groups surveyed viewed evangelical Chistianity as more damaging to society than beneficial, while Islam was also perceived in a largely negative light. Respondents from both religions were also more likely to feel that Canada doesn’t make room for their beliefs in society.

3:41 Religion: One-fifth of Canadians see themselves as non-believers, poll shows


Rania Lawendy, CEO of Action for Humanity and former Muslim Association of Canada spokesperson, says that’s because Islamophobia remains rife in Canada and Muslims are still made to feel that their religion is “not conducive to the universal values of Canada.”

“You only feel ‘othered’ when others make you feel like ‘the others’,” Lawendy says.

“How can I not feel othered when Bill 21 exists?”

The survey comes after data released by Statistics Canada in late 2021 showed only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It’s the first time that number has dipped below 70 per cent since StatCan began tracking the data in 1985.

3:21 How has religion’s role changed over the years for Canadians? – Jan 8, 2022

Canadians now largely 'spiritually uncertain'

The new Angus Reid data is a culmination of two 2022 surveys — one conducted between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3 and including a group of 1,290 Canadians from the four largest non-Christian faith groups (Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jewish) and another conducted from April 5 to 7, involving 1,708 participants from the general population.

The data shows that one-fifth of Canadians (19 per cent) now classify themselves as “non-believers.”

The largest group of Canadians are the “spiritually uncertain,” representing 46 per cent of the population. One-third (34 per cent) definitely believe in God or a higher power, while 31 per cent think a higher power exists but are less certain.


READ MORE: ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever

More than half of those who identify as Roman Catholics (52 per cent) and mainstream Protestants (56 per cent) fall into the spiritually uncertain category.

Just 16 per cent of Canadians consider themselves “religiously committed,” with high levels of worship and belief in God, while 19 per cent are “privately faithful.”

3:09 Evangelical Fellowship of Canada director explains misperceptions about ‘devout’ religions


In terms of religions themselves, three-quarters of evangelical Christians (74 per cent) and 46 per cent of Muslims are considered religiously committed, while those raised in the Sikh or Hindu faiths tend to be considered “privately faithful” — those who do not necessarily gather as formally and frequently, but continue to profess a strong personal connection to their religion.

Why evangelicals and Islam are 'damaging'

It is, in turn, the two most committed religions — evangelical Christianity and Islam — which have been reported as more damaging than beneficial to society, according to the new research.

However, these assessments varied widely depending on what religion the respondent identified as.

Survey results showed that atheists, in particular, were overwhelmingly critical of the influence of evangelical Christians on society, but are largely positive about the perceived impacts of Sikhs and Hindus.

Canada’s largest religious group — Roman Catholics — are more likely to perceive evangelical Christians, Muslims and Sikhs as doing more harm than benefit to the social fabric of the country but view other faiths positively.

0:53 Police investigating ‘possible hate-motivated crime’ on Mississauga, Ont. mosque – Mar 19, 2022

“There are different dynamics behind the kinds of sentiments that are expressed for these different groups,” Kazempiur explains.

“In the case of Muslims, to some extent, and Sikhs, it is their visibility plus the global debates. In the case of evangelicals, I think it is more that sort of persistence and that aggressiveness in their approach that worries people… that sort of discipline and that sort of insistence worries people because they feel that there must be a strong agenda behind this, beyond religion.”

Kazemipur says the “visibility” of Sikhism and Islam is due to the wearing of religious symbols, such as hijabs or turbans.

READ MORE: Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: ‘It’s the curriculum of our life’

Lawendy says Canadians have a misperception of what Islam is, often believing it to be a violent religion founded on extremism, due to “how it’s portrayed in the media.”

“If Canadians actually knew what it meant to be Muslim, they’d be encouraging Muslim immigration,” she says.

But, according to the survey, for those who reported no religious affiliation, only the presence of Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism are more likely to be seen as positive than negative for Canada.

Evangelicals say they are portrayed as 'deviants'

Evangelical Christianity — which encompasses dozens of denominations such as Baptist, Pentecostal and Mennonite and characterized by its piety — was the only religion seen as more damaging than beneficial by every other self-identified religious group.

Rick Hiemstra, director of research at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says the religion now makes up about seven per cent of the Canadian population, down from about 12 per cent in 2003. However, he says it’s hard to gauge accurate numbers as, in the past two decades, many churches have sought to distance themselves from evangelicalism due to its negative connotations.

“People sort of shun the labels and you see this in a lot of churches, who are distancing themselves from the denominational tradition, becoming community churches and taking Baptists or Pentecostal out and becoming, say, the Community Church of Ottawa,” Hiemstra says.

1:28  Anglican church could run out of members by 2040: Researcher – Jan 8, 2022

That’s because, he says, devout religions such as theirs are often portrayed negatively in the media or popular culture — with associations to “pedophilia or people behaving badly,” as well as more extreme forms of evangelicalism found in the U.S.

More broadly, he also believes that while once there was a “social benefit” of being considered religious, there is now a “social cost” to it.

“I watch Netflix just like everybody else. And really when you see the perceptions of evangelicals or Christians or religious people, generally… devout religious people are usually presented as deviants,” he says.

“This is really, I think, where people are getting a lot of their ideas about religious people generally and forming those opinions, not based on firsthand experience or knowledge, but based on what they’re presented with.”

1:57 Quebec teacher removed from classroom over hijab – Dec 9, 2021

When it comes to self-reflection, the survey showed that those who identify as religious are, naturally, more likely to believe religion makes positive contributions to Canadian society than negative ones. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of evangelical Christians believe they play a positive role in society, compared to 29 per cent of Roman Catholics.

Hiemstra says this is because evangelical Christians tend to be more generous with donations and volunteering.

On the whole, however, 31 per cent of respondents say the good religion plays in society outweighs the bad, while 22 per cent say the opposite. Almost half of Canadians (47 per cent) say religion contributes good and bad to society in equal amounts.

This has perhaps contributed to perceptions from certain religious groups that their beliefs are not welcome in society. More than half (56 per cent) of evangelical Christians say they feel shut out of society for their beliefs, with Muslims being second most likely, at 26 per cent.

READ MORE: How COVID could change religion in Canada forever: ‘There is no going back’

Hiemstra says several factors have contributed to this — more recently because places of worship were considered non-essential services during the pandemic and were closed.
“[It] was sort of an unfortunate language that was adopted,” Hiemstra says.

“So I think a lot of evangelicals and people in religious communities generally sort of reacted to this implicit judgment about their place in society.”

He says Islam and evangelist denominations share a perception of being “strange” to outsiders, and “some of the tension is just the strangeness of of being unfamiliar.”

Rania Lawendy says systemic racism must be addressed in Canada. Supplied

Lawendy believes the number of Muslims who feel shut out of society is likely “much higher” than 26 per cent.

“I deal with microaggressions all the time around my masjid, my intelligence, my education and these stereotypical views from mainly the media, partly from political discourse, partly from white national supremacist groups and partly from polarized politicians. And this was pre-Trump, too,” she says.

“I’m aware of any danger when I go into a masjid, that’s a problem.”

She says systemic racism must be dealt with in Canada before Muslims can feel totally accepted by society. This is part of the work she’s working on to encourage integration and inter-faith dialogue.

“The vision is to be integrated into society but still have your distinct identity. We want to be part of the fabric of Canadian society.”

How immigration sustains religion in Canada

However, these negative feelings towards religious groups don’t necessarily translate to religious intolerance, Kazemipur says, but more of a “nervousness” or “discomfort” from a modern-day society that does not know how to include religion anymore.

This discomfort can wane with time and integration of religious groups – however, if that doesn’t happen, anti-religious views often become anti-immigration views, Kazemipur says. He points to France’s controversial immigration laws for asylum seekers as an example of this.

Canadians born elsewhere are less likely to report no religious affiliation than those born in the country (18 per cent compared to 27 per cent), the survey shows. At least half of those who identify as Muslim, Hindu or Sikh were born outside of Canada.

4:22 University of Calgary sociologist says ‘discomfort’ around certain religions still exists in Canada

A similar trend was reported by StatCan data, because as Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented lows, minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.

One stand-out aspect of the perceptions portion of the survey concerned Judaism and Islam — which have had a tense and tumultuous history. For Jews in Canada, the only religion they view as more beneficial to society than harmful, other than their own, is Islam. The feeling was reciprocal for Muslims.

In terms of domestic geography, the Prairies continue to be Canada’s most religious provinces, with about one-quarter of respondents in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba categorized as “religiously committed” — meaning people report high levels of attendance of worship, active prayer and a deep belief in God.

Quebec residents are most likely to eschew religion.

Kazemipur says this is largely down to residents of Quebec living in “homogenous towns or neighbourhoods,” without “a lot of interaction between different groups.”

Women over 55 most likely to be religious

The survey also found that first generation Canadians are much more likely to identify as religious, and being raised in religion remains common in Canada.

Seventy-two per cent of respondents said they grew up with religious teachings, including just over half (54 per cent) of those who currently have no religious affiliation.

Being raised in a religious tradition is more common for those who identify as Muslim (86 per cent) or Roman Catholic (82 per cent) than other religions.

3:21 Sociology teacher on the future of religion in Canada post-pandemic – Jan 8, 2022

Younger Canadians are more likely to be non-believers. One-quarter of men (26 per cent) and 22 per cent of women aged 18 to 34 years old fall into that category. Women over the age of 55 are the most likely of any group to be more religious, and the least likely to be in the non-believer category.

Hiemstra says this decline in religiosity has been accelerated by the pandemic, with many of their churches losing 20 per cent of their participants.

The survey data supports this. In April 2020, just after the onset of the pandemic, there was a slight increase in those reporting as non-believers or spiritually uncertain, whereas there was a slight decline in those who were considered religiously committed or privately faithful.

As to whether or not freedom of conscience and religion is becoming stronger or weaker, Canadians are split. About one-third of respondents believe that freedom is deteriorating in the country, but nearly as many (28 per cent) say it has remained consistent. One-quarter believe freedom of religion and conscience is becoming stronger.

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