Are Sikh interracial marriage acceptable?

....one of the question I wanna know. 

Someone I know is from a actively religious family. He himself wears a turban and has a full beard. His sisters are married to men who are also very religious. All have their hair long, are active in gurudwara, attend Sikh youth camps as counselors, make public appearances, etc. 

Everyone has been talking about marriage for this individual for quite some time (2-3 years). I recently just found out that this person has been dating a white woman for at least this amount of time. 

This woman studied in India for about 2 months to learn punjabi, gurmukhi, cooking, how to be with family, etc and she is planning to convert to Sikhism. 

The wedding is already set. It will be a full Indian wedding in a Gurudwara, etc

My question is whether you believe this is acceptable or not. Does love really rule all or is the culture and religion the foundation for a lasting marriage? 


One of the people replied with: 

By: Sandeep

This is a very good question, and I have a few opinions on it. 

For me, I believe strictly in the freedom of choice, your own INDIVIDUAL choice. Sikhism isn't just a religion, it is a way of life, and for someone to live that life, they have the right morals and values that we all strive for in our daily lives. Now, if someone has these characteristics, I would trust them in finding someone for the rest of their life that reflect these very attributes that they see in themselves. 

To some extent, it somewhat upsets me to see that ethnicity has to EVER be considered in any decision, it is the person that matters, it is the person that defines who they are, it is the person that shows us where they truly come from. If the person shares our ideology, our morals, our values, why should we mind? We should be happy for them. 

In your friend's situation, the woman is making an immense effort to learn more about our religion and culture, and that should be admired to its fullest. If we look at today's generation, that woman probably knows more about Sikhism than half of our own youth. 

Realistically, however, marriage is more than a union between two people, it is a union between two families. My brother has recently got engaged, and my Dad spoke these exact words, and I do believe these words reflect the thoughts of many of our parents today. But why can't we become friends with those that we see everyday, with those that we are neighbors with, with those that we work with? I mean, those of us that are living in places except India, do we not realize that we are already united with all those around us, those that have different backgrounds than ourselves? I believe this is a personal battle in us all, we have to find it in ourselves to see that we are equal, and equality I believe is what Sikhism's teachings emphasize the most.

I also came by a very interesting quote recently, that I think would be very useful for my response:

"people who mind don't matter, and people who matter don't mind"

This was said by yours truly, Dr. Seuss. 

My best of wishes to the couple =)


Another replied by: Banni

i feel that love and religion are two separate things. Some people don't take religion into a factor when they meet someone. They much rather look at who they are, their values, and love them for their personality. However, when one marries someone outside their religion, i feel the biggest impact is on the kids. Who are they? What religion are they? They cannot say that they are a Sikh nor can they say that they are the other religion. In that sense, i feel that is the biggest sin one can do. Bring someone into their world who will always be confused and questioned. For that reason, i feel it is unacceptable. 

also, i have seen many cases where one Sikh is non-amritdhari and gets married to an Amritdhari so that they too can follow the path and have been indeed brought closer to Waheguru. Some have even taken Amrit. i would think that would be acceptable. The Amritdhari is converting another person into Sikhism. What could be better? 


Last one replied by: Mannu

It is very interesting that our youth are considering such questions as the one you have posted. This question is revealing to the fact that our generation, which is distant to the culture and upbringing that takes place in India, actually come to these kind of questions which says that we think about ourselves and the significance we may carry in this world. We begin to identify ourselves with Sikhism almost evidently because, personally, it is something I must grasp in order to identify myself being a Sikh. I believe, being an American born and Im sure many of you can sympathize with me, that if I was to get an interracial marriage, it would NOT be acceptable by many. There is a social and religious marriage that must be considered here. Socially it is not acceptable, whereas religious it is. Now what should we do is the question? Do we defy our parents who have raised us doing everything they can possibly imagine? I think this question leads to many other questions. Also, many believe that interracial marriages aid in minimizing the Sikh religion as a population, now who thinks that is true? unfortunately, Darwin's survival of species must be taken into account? So if these happen (I am actually torn into a position in considering an interracial marriage) what should we do? what should I do?
M.