My husband and I are
from two separate cultural and religious traditions. He’s of Indian Sikh extraction, and I’m of
Irish-Canadian Christian background.
While all that culminated in two kickass weddings that took place about
five years ago, now that we’re having a baby there’s some interesting things to
consider.
I love my faith. I
don’t love dogma, because I don’t think that anything can be incontrovertibly
true, nor should anything be so blindly followed as to prevent questioning or
challenging over millenia. Never have,
never will. I actually love the idea
behind all faiths, because I’m fond of the idea that each one is essentially
seeking the same thing – to make our human experience more understandable in
the greater scheme of the universe.
My husband is probably more culturally Sikh than religiously
so. He keeps his kesh and his turban, but
his leanings are more scientific than spiritual. He, too, abhors dogma and the ignorance that
results from blind adherence to codified sets of rules that don’t adapt to
changing times or attitudes.
We’ve been asked how we’re going to raise our kid, probably
because people see us, don’t see an obvious outward match, and then get curious
about the myriad possibilities for our plans for our progeny. It’s an interesting question to a lot of
people, and every single person who’s asked has an opinion of their own. They’re sometimes far less interested in our
response than in the opinion that they already hold.
This child of ours will grow up knowing a little bit about
every faith, and a fair bit about two in particular. He or she will say grace before dinner, and
will be able to greet older Indian family members with “Sat Sri Akal”. Baby will know the stories of Jesus and the apostles
and prophets, and those of the Gurus and brave sardars and sardarnis who fought
for their place in the world, because baby’s Dad and I will tell him about all
of them. I’ll probably sing hymns to the
baby, and maybe my husband will sing shabads.
No choices regarding religion will be made for this child, because we
believe that being born in a family like ours provides the ultimate in faith
learning environments.
We will ensure that our baby grows up equipped with enough knowledge
to be able to find a path. I’m pretty
sure that’s all that parents can ever really do.
