Lizard

I give my heart felt thanks for your answers. The Sikh religion is a beautiful religion and I would be happy for my children to be Sikh, but my husband is too unwell to guide them and my mother-in-law does not really practice Sikhism As a mother I feel the children must know God's place in their lives and in their world and so I have to teach them the way I understand best. I will continue to let them experience the beauty if the Sikh religion and if they choose to be confirmed Catholic or take Amrit when they are older, I will be happy either way. Thank you again for your answers. I truly believe we love the same God.

Thank you for your reply. I think there are some misunderstandings about the Carholic faith. I appreciate the Sikh religion does not accept that Jesus is an incarnation of God, but I am not trying to discuss about religious differences. Mary is not an idol we worship. She is a holy person, similar to the way you might address a Guru. Statues are to focus the mind on prayer not to pray to. Saints are asked to pray to God for us, we do not pray to saints. We want to emulate their good lives God is beyond our understanding. The Holy Spirit is a part of God like Naam. It is our way of trying to use our limited abilities to understand God. I do not want to offend the Sikh religion. I understand from your message that being Catholic would not affect the validity of the ceremony. please advise if I am wrong Thank you

I thank you for your kind advice, and realise I have not really given enough information to explain what I am thinking. When we married, we agreed that we would let the children decide on their religion when they were older, and bring them up as good people as you suggested. My husband is not a practicing Sikh. I am a practicing Catholic. My mother in law lives with us. She was born a Punjabi Sikh and practices Sikhism, Hinduism and also beloved in superstions, astrology and I think often confused tradition with religion. As my husband and I have not tried to impose our religions on the children their religious experiences are largely from being with my mother in law. Their understanding of Sikhism is that you put money in the box, have prasad and langar. She will take them to the Hindu temple and do similar. She also used to steal from shops, but when my children started copying I took them to apologies and pay and after that they all stopped. We like everyone else have difficult times. Just teaching children right and wrong does not help them deal with this. In these situations, my belief in God is my strength. For them to be told by their grandmother that these are due to washing clothes on Tuesday and Saturday, having a bathroom above the kitchen or because people were bad in a previous life are not helpful. I have read about the Sikh religion and I agree it is good but I do not want to convert. I want to respect elders but I cannot allow my children to be confused. My husband has a lot of health problems. I try to encourage him to go to the Gudwara with limited success. I want him to tell the children about the Sikh religion when he is well as my knowledge is mainly academic. I want to teach them the Catholic religion to guide them away from superstitions and idolatry. I believe both Sikh and Catholic believe in this. As said earlier, I wish to respect my elders and I want to take Sikh beliefs into account in making decisions for my family. I do not want to make decisions based on Hinduisim, superstition or other beliefs. I do not know and cannot find information as to whether my mother in laws concerns about funerals are based on the Sikh religion and wanted to find out from a practicing Sikh Thank you for your help

Hi I am a Catholic married to a Sikh and hope you wi be able to help me with some answers as I have limited knowledge of the Sikh religion. To cut a long story short, we have decided to get our children baptized as Catholic. This is not the same as Amrit but more like a naming ceremony. My mother in law is very upset as she states this prevents my children participating in the lighting of the funeral pyre when she dies and prevents her sole from attaining rest. I do not understand why this would be. Some of my in laws are Hindu and she says it would be ok for them to be Hindu but not Catholic. Since Catholics and Sikhs believe in one God and Hindus believe in many Gods, I cannot understand why there are these differences in acceptance. Please can someone help me understand