As someone involved with inter-faith groups for many years, I find Preet Kaur Gill’s request that Sikhs be considered a separate ethnic group so depressing (Sikh ethnic tick box needed in 2021 census, Letters, 24 October). I wonder what Guru Nanak would have to say about it? It is, in my view, this desire to keep religions exclusive that has brought religion into disrepute and has been the cause of so much division and destruction in the past, and in our world today.
Religion, at its best, is surely a genuine open-minded search for truth, where we can share ideas and experiences, learn from each other and recognise the validity of other people’s search. Sadly it appears so often to be a tribal or ethnic label which binds a group of people together to the exclusion of others. Woe betide anyone who lets down the tribe by thinking independently and joins another tribe, or gives up tribalism altogether. This can often lead to exclusion from the family, or sometimes an even worse fate.
Richard Dodd
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
• Preet Kaur Gill should be careful what she wishes for. She cites the 1983 decision in Mandla v Dowell-Lee; but would be wise to consider also the 2009 supreme court decision in the JFS case: (The JFS ruling is a victory for Jews, 16 December 2009). There’s something not quite right-feeling about the suggestion that Sikhism is both a religion (open to all) and an ethnicity. There will no doubt be unintended consequences if the ethnicist persuasion prevails.
Bob Mountain
Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
• Preet Kaur Gill MP has demonstrated she has her finger on the pulse. On 23 October the Sikh community moved a step closer to securing a separate Sikh ethnic tick box in the UK’s 2021 census after the Office for National Statistics called an open meeting of stakeholders to update them on progress.
About 80 or so Sikh representatives from a wide range of Sikh organisations participated. By the end of the evening the ONS was left in no doubt about the level of support for a separate Sikh ethnic tick box, with many accusing the ONS of discrimination for ignoring the fact that Sikhs are a legally recognised ethnic group. In a show of hands, virtually all present called for a Sikh tick box in the ethnicity question and to also retain the optional religious question. Only two Sikhs present dissented, with one calling for a Sikh tick box under religion only and another calling for a Sikh tick box under ethnicity only.
Dabinderjit Singh
Principal adviser, Sikh Federation (UK)
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
