82% Sikh youth pray frequently, highly religious compared to others, shows CSDS-Lokniti survey
New Delhi: An overwhelming majority of Sikh youth are highly religious, so much so that just 1 per cent of them have never prayed, a survey released last week has found.
The survey, titled ‘Indian Youth: Aspirations and Vision for the Future’, was conducted in July-August this year by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) under its research programme ‘Lokniti’, in collaboration with German think tank ‘Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’ (KAS).
High religiosity among Sikhs
Around 82 per cent Sikh youngsters pray regularly or sometimes even if there is no festival being celebrated. The corresponding figure was 74 per cent for Christians, 72 per cent for Muslims, 69 per cent for Hindus and 46 per cent for others.
Around 86 per cent Sikh youngsters visited a place of worship (gurudwara) even when there was no festival, compared to 57 per cent each for Hindus and Christians and 56 per cent for Muslims.
The share of Sikh youth drawn towards TV channels showing religious programming has gone up from the previous round of the survey, which is opposite to the trend observed across all other communities. In 2016, 73 per cent Sikhs reported watching religious shows on TV, which has risen to 82 per cent this year.
The share of youth drawn towards religious shows on TV has fallen by 3 per cent among Hindus (60 from 63), 13 per cent among Muslims (49 from 62) and 1 per cent among Christians (51 from 52).
“The proliferation of
Shabad Kirtan Gurbani channels (religious TV channels) in Punjab during the last few years may account for the relatively higher tendency among Sikhs to watch religious programmes on TV, although the trend towards an increase in religious programmes on TV and launch of channels exclusively dedicated to religious discourse is not limited to Punjab alone,” the report said.
50% supported ban on stand-up comedy on any religion
The survey data showed that around 50 per cent of the overall respondents supported a ban on stand-up comedy on any religion, while only a third (32 per cent) opposed it and 18 per cent had no response.
Around 48 per cent youngsters supported a ban on comedy movies on religious leaders.
The share of youngsters from the Sikh community supporting a ban on stand-up comedy about religion was overwhelmingly high at 86 per cent, while only 13 per cent opposed it and 2 per cent gave no response.
Among Christian respondents, 62 per cent supported a ban on comedy relating to religious matters.
A little over half (51 per cent) of the Hindu respondents were in favour of banning stand-up comedy on any religion.
Among Muslims, slightly more youth opposed bans (39 per cent) on such stand-up comedy shows than those who supported it (38 per cent), while 23 per cent gave no response.
On comedy movies on religious leaders, 85 per cent Sikhs supported a ban, followed by 65 per cent Christians, 49 per cent Hindus and 36 per cent Muslims. Here too, more Muslims opposed (46 per cent) such a ban than those who supported it.
“When it comes to religion, people do not take satire in a very sporting way,” said Sanjay Kumar, professor and co-director of Lokniti, the research programme at the CSDS.
“People in smaller numbers exhibit a higher desire to protect their religion. They engage in more religious activities. And when they see some kind of attack on their faith, they become aggressively defensive. What we saw in Amritsar (alleged sacrilege and lynching) is a manifestation of that,” said Kumar.
There are Sikh stand-up comedians like Jasmeet Singh Bhatia, Jaspreet Singh and Angad Singh Ranyal who have garnered millions of views on their YouTube stand-up comedy shows, but they too do not crack jokes on religion.
“It is mostly because the volume of respect towards religion and religious matters is extremely high among the Sikhs — this is their cultural heritage. They consider their Gurus as their role models because of the numerous sacrifices they made and any disrespect to them is followed by strong resistance,” said Pali Bhupinder Singh, a playwright and expert on cultural matters in Punjab.
https://theprint.in/india/82-sikh-y...d-to-others-shows-csds-lokniti-survey/784879/
