WHAT MAKES YOU NOT A SIKH?

Abstract

This study sets out to establish which Sikh values contrasted with or were shared by non-Sikh adolescents. A survey of attitude towards a variety of Sikh values was fielded in a sample of 364 non-Sikh schoolchildren aged between 13 and 15 years in London. Values where attitudes were least positive concerned Sikh duties/code of conduct, festivals, rituals, prayer Gurdwara attendance, listening to scripture recitation and the amrit initiation. Sikh values empathized with by non-Sikhs concerned family pride, charity, easy access to ordination and Gurdwaras, maintaining the five Ks, seeing God in all things, abstaining from meat and alcohol and belief in the stories of Guru Nanak. Further significant differences of attitude towards Sikhism were found in comparisons by sex, age and religious affiliation. Findings are applied to teaching Sikhism to pupils of no faith adherence. This study recommends the extension of values mapping to specifically Sikh populations.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dr Mandy Robbins (Glyndŵr University) for supervision of the original research, Denise Chaplin (RE advisor to Southwark), Prof. Harbhajan Singh (NASACRE Executive) for pre-proofing the Sikh attitude statements, Greenwich SACRE for facilitation of schools access, Revd Canon Prof. Leslie J. Francis (University of Warwick), and the anonymous reviewers for critique and encouragement, Phra Kru Sangharak Veera Virandharo, Kannika Parker, Anuchit Treerattanajutawat, Bhuzaneezah Boonthucksa and Apassara Sangrungreang for administrative assistance and the Teachers Development Agency and Dhammakāya International Society of the UK for co-sponsoring the cost of this research.

Notes

See Appendix 1.

With some reservations, Sikhism has, for example, been shown to be significantly less popular with adolescents than Buddhism (Thanissaro 2011, 800).