Sikhs & 2011 Census [How To Fill In]

[Khalasthan86]

Wake up, before it's too late :D

[LightSearcher]

I very rarely post on forums etc, but felt I had to register just so I could post my feelings and perhaps to seek guidance.

So....every day, I read that a person who cuts his/her hair, eats meat etc is not a Sikh, even if they have a traditional Sikh name bearing Singh or Kaur and see themselves as Sikh.

Even on this forum itself, such opinons and suggestions are expressed and I also come across that mentality every day in my life.

However, when it comes to filling in the census form, these very people I come across each day with the above opinions, will tell people to list themselves as Sikhs on the form...

So my question is, should I, as someone who cuts my hair and is not a vegetarian list myself as Sikh on the form?

Personally, I definitely see myself as Sikh, I have a strong love for my Guru (and I know this will prompt questions of "If you love your Guru, then why do you go against the wishes of Guru ji - well how many of us do what our parents tell us to to the fullest extent?) - I am on a path of learning (isn't that what a Sikh is?) and I hope to achieve a greater sense of accomplishment and be a better, fuller Sikh (if that makes any sense)

But my question is - should someone who does not adhere to full rehit mark themselves as a Sikh on the census form? Is it a case of one rule for a certain situation and other rules for another circumstance?

[VanHelsingh]

Whatever your conscience tells you is what you should put on the form.

[Khalasthan86]

I very rarely post on forums etc, but felt I had to register just so I could post my feelings and perhaps to seek guidance.

So....every day, I read that a person who cuts his/her hair, eats meat etc is not a Sikh, even if they have a traditional Sikh name bearing Singh or Kaur and see themselves as Sikh.

Even on this forum itself, such opinons and suggestions are expressed and I also come across that mentality every day in my life.

However, when it comes to filling in the census form, these very people I come across each day with the above opinions, will tell people to list themselves as Sikhs on the form...

So my question is, should I, as someone who cuts my hair and is not a vegetarian list myself as Sikh on the form?

Personally, I definitely see myself as Sikh, I have a strong love for my Guru (and I know this will prompt questions of "If you love your Guru, then why do you go against the wishes of Guru ji - well how many of us do what our parents tell us to to the fullest extent?) - I am on a path of learning (isn't that what a Sikh is?) and I hope to achieve a greater sense of accomplishment and be a better, fuller Sikh (if that makes any sense)

But my question is - should someone who does not adhere to full rehit mark themselves as a Sikh on the census form? Is it a case of one rule for a certain situation and other rules for another circumstance?

To clear up:

Maybe within the next 10 years, you will become a 'Sikh',

then how will you alter your Census result?

If you don't write in Sikh, should that mean you don't go Gurdwara?

It's just a formality...

This census is not going to Dharm Raaj. Lol.

It's just the government, so they can see how many

Sikhs there are in UK...

[LightSearcher]

This census is not going to Dharm Raaj. Lol.

Lol!

I will without a doubt write 'Sikh' and will make sure all my family do too - my question was more rhetorical, in that the same people who would usually tell me I am not Sikh are the same people who will canvass for me to put 'Sikh' as my identity on such forms...is this not contradictory? Surely either I am Sikh or not.....

[K Singh 82]

LightSearcher there are also those that feel that if someone has not been blessed with Amrit organised by their jatha then thisr too are not Sikh.

We all have a personal relationship with God & Guru...who cares what others think.

[esingh]

Good thread and hopefully all our people will follow through with this.

[11Gurus1Jot]

Personally, I definitely see myself as Sikh, I have a strong love for my Guru (and I know this will prompt questions of "If you love your Guru, then why do you go against the wishes of Guru ji - well how many of us do what our parents tell us to to the fullest extent?) - I am on a path of learning (isn't that what a Sikh is?) and I hope to achieve a greater sense of accomplishment and be a better, fuller Sikh (if that makes any sense)

But my question is - should someone who does not adhere to full rehit mark themselves as a Sikh on the census form? Is it a case of one rule for a certain situation and other rules for another circumstance?

I think, you, or anyone else, who wears a Kara, and tells anybody that they are a Sikh, should fill in the Census form, as a Sikh. Otherwise, people will say, "you only call yourself a Sikh when it suits you i.e. to attach yourself to the great history of the Gurus and Gursikhs (like we all do), but then, on the one occasion when you needed to stand up and be counted you deliberately backed out just to despise your Guru's Amritdhari Sikhs.

Another way of putting it, is, should you ever say, or give, the impression, to anyone, that your are a Sikh, if you didn't want to put it on the Census Form, when it was the real time for you to call yourself a Sikh?

At the end of the day, it's up to you, do what you think would please Guru Ji, if, you want to please Guru Ji.

The way I see it is, if we Sikhs DO tick the following boxes i.e.......

• Tick Q16E as other, and then write Sikh
• and at Q20 tick Sikh

Then there is big difference to the rights we will receive, as Sikhs, if we do get ourselves recognised as an ethinic group. If there wasn't a difference, then there would not be an enthic group section on the form, there would only be a religious section!!!

The definition I have seen for Ethnic is "cultural: denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people"

We are all constantly told that Sikhi is not just a religion but also a way of life - True? So if we did not mark ourselves as a separate Ethnic group on the Census Form, then wouldn't that make us liers??????? Because, as Sikhs, we are not supposed to tell lies!!! And that's why we have to state Sikh, and NOT indian!!!