Sunday, October 20, 2002		Books

American window on world religions
Roopinder Singh

Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs in America
Gurinder Singh Mann, Paul David Mumrich and Raymond B Williams. Oxford University Press, New York. Pages 160. $24.

A significant fallout of September 11 on life in America was a heightened interest in religion beyond the Judaeo-Christian tradition. It comes as a bit of a surprise to many Americans that religious traditions as diverse as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism have been part of the American cultural mosaic for more than a century. In fact The Dial magazine, which was favoured by intellectuals, published a Buddhist text as early as 1844, four years before the first Chinese immigrants arrived in the USA.

Religious freedom is enshrined in the US constitution. It comes even before freedom of speech, and has been a major factor in attracting immigrants to the USA. At the same time, there have been problems among adherents of various faiths who have often found it difficult to live together. This even resulted in bigotry that at times showed its ugly face in incidents like the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, in the wake of the WTC attacks.

The dark clouds of bigotry were often in conflict with the sunshine of enlightened understanding and the gusts of winds of liberalism. Race had always determined how potential immigrants would be treated. In 1852, California’s governor called the Chinese of the most worthy classes" of recent arrivals in the state. However, within 30 years, the US Congress published the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, by that time Buddhism had made inroads into the American society. The Theosophical Society, established in 1875, found Buddhism particularly attractive.

Buddhists had a separate room all to themselves at the conclave in which Swami Vivekananada explained Hinduism to the West at The World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in 1893. However, it seemed that newspaper accounts paid more attention to the exotic attires and ensembles than to the thoughts expressed by various religious leaders.

For long, Americans adhered to the ‘melting-pot’ metaphor and it was somehow assumed that various visible distinctions would vanish after a few generations. This has happened in a number of cases. However, religious minorities often seek to assert their identity. The so called non-native religions have also attracted western converts and thus there are converts to Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism, who add their own colour. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s ISKCON swept through America during the 1970s. Harbhajan Singh Yogi’s followers with their distinctive turbans in the 1980s were more "American Sikhs" than the members of the community who had emigrated from India and who traced their descent to the 1890s.

Asians, who emigrated to the USA, faced a tough life like most immigrants. They also had bigotry to contend with. Bhagat Singh Thind served in the US army but was denied American citizenship because of his race even though he argued his case all the way to the US Supreme Court in 1923.

Stockton had the distinction of having the first gurdwara in the USA in 1912. That, as Gurinder Singh Mann, points out in the book, was the only gurdwara till 1948. It shows that there was not much growth during the period.

Dalip Singh Saund went on to become the first Asian American to be elected to the US Congress in 1957. However, till the Luce-Celler Bill was passed in 1946, he could not become a US citizen, because a Federal law of 1790 decreed that only White immigrants were eligible for citizenship. Saundh’s wife, Marian Kosta, although America-born, had to give up her citizenship to marry him.

As a student, Saund had lived in a house run for students by the Stockton Gurdwara. There are now hundreds of such gurdwaras in the USA and tens of thousands of Americans who are curious to know more about the distinctively turbaned people.

The authors are prominent academicians who have done well to put across their knowledge in a simple, easy and lucid manner. Gurinder Singh Mann, is the Kundan Kaur Kapany Professor of Sikh Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Paul David Numrich co-directs the Religion, Immigration and Civil Society in Chicago Project at Loyola University Chicago, IL, and Raymond B. Williams is director of the Wabash Centre of Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Wabash College, IL.

The book is part of a 17-volume series on the evolution, character and dynamics of religion in American life from 1500 to the end of the 20th century. The publishers deserve a pat on the back for including the highly visible, though relatively small (2,50,000) Sikh community in the USA. The book is an excellent attempt to introduce the diversity of religious experience in America today. That it has been targeted towards young adults will make it even more relevant, because now, more than ever, America needs such a discourse.