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Summary of Question:	Inter-Religion Love Marriages
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Monday, 1/12/2004 3:59 PM MST

Gurfateh

I am a regular follower of the youth Q/A forum and I really appreciate the work you guys have been doing wrt the questions facing the youth. Though I am in my late twenties, somehow even in my teens and early twenties, I have been unable to understand the concept of "Inter-Religion Love Marriage". I have been following the questions and answers pertaining to this issue in this forum but somehow this concept has not cleared still. My question to all Sikh girls who have been involved in such a scenario is that if you are born in a sikh-family, if you are brought up by sikh parents, if you have had the liberties of being a sikh girl as suggested by our Gurus,if you have been visiting Sikh Gurudwaras, if even once you have had Guru ka langar dont you feel its your duty to make sure that your future generation be Sikhs? There might be some females who do that but I know majority dont.

Now the next arguement that might come is that our Guru's taught us that all humans r one & there is one God. Yes this is a very correct statement, there is no denying the fact that our Gurus taught us this but our Gurus also taught us to be Sikhs, keep our faith intact, also dignified us by telling "Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khaas" so how can your husband and children be Non sikhs? How can your love for a person be greater than that for your religion, Gurus, and often views of resistant parents?

This has become an epidemic in Indian homes now just that each one involved in it forgets that though we use Guru's teachings for our selfish needs to convince our parents and our own guilt, we are killing one whole generation of Sikhs who could have carried our Guru's teachings ahead.

This might sound a bit fundamentalist but since Sikhism is not a missionary religion we can protect our gurus names and teachings only by making sure that our off-springs are Sikhs.

Well all these questions are also applicable to guy sikhs who go for inter religion marriages and are forced to abandon the Sikh identity of their kids.

Also, please dont think that I have never experienced love, yes even I have been bitten by this bug but thanks to my parents,Waheguru and the questions I raised above, I was able to come out of it. Even I was in depression after the breakup but now when I look back, I realize that being a Sikh and teaching kids abt Sikhism surpasses all the materialistic happiness.

Moderators please try to answer my concerns. If you think that we should be cool abt inter-religion love marriages among Sikhs or if you feel my views are absurd please let me know.

Gurfateh.

(REPLY) Sat Nam. Thank you for your very clear, very intelligent remarks! I hope some readers will take them to heart. Blessings, SP