Dr. Owen Cole

I offer these thoughts at the request of the late Kulraj Singh, out of respect for the {great work which he did in organizing the World Sikh Sammelan, and in gratitude for the brief friendship which we enjoyed.

I hope that Panth will recognize my love of Sikhs and Sikhi and accept my comments in the spirit of friendship and helpfulness. My words are offered in full awareness of the fact that the issues facing the Panth are ones which also face the Christian church and Muslim umma, Every religion is losing its young people.

First Jet me say that I am convinced of the future of Sikhism. I do not share the beliefs of Trumpp and Macauliffe just a hundred year ago that Sikhism would soon ‘become extinct. They were wrong and so are people who proclaim the imminent death of Sikhism today, So long as the spirit of God lives within a movement it will live, though God may challenge it to adapt to changing circumstances and if I cannot or will not God may have to look ‘elsewhere for people to fulfil bringing the Divine Word to the Kaliyug. The Panth must always belong to God.

The crisis among young Sikh: There is, however, a crisis. Visit gurdwaras abroad and you will find some energetic young Sikiis who know about their faith and follow it devotedly. You will find well ‘organized youth camps, well attended. But, these account for no more than 5% at the most, more likely 2% of your young people. For every person who goes to camps or to gurdwara classes over ninety do not. That means that out of 400,000 British Sikhs today there may only be 20,000 in thirty years time. The situation in North America does not seems any matter. You might ask representatives from the countries of the Sikh Dispersion how not how many dol If we consider why so few young Sikhs attend the gurdwara we may begin to solve the challenge which the absentees present. They give me the following rea

* Their parents don’t go. Why? because they are too busy earning the money needed to provide themselves and their children with good housing and education, and remitting money to relatives in Punjab.

* The gurdwara committees and elders are not committed to Sikhi. They are more {interested in power for themselves, in gurdwara politics. They spend money on building bigger and more ostentatious gurdwaras rather than on meeting the needs of the next generation of Sikhs. Young people have always accused their elders of hypocrisy. We should always listen to them and ask whether they have a point to make.

* They can’t understand the services and find them boring. ‘Boring’ is the great teenage word, everything is boring to them. I was to us when we were young! But, we ‘should listen to them seriously. They may be right.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 20, 1996