Читать книгу The Atlas of Religion - Joanne O'Brien - Страница 32

The Sikh faith began in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century under the teachings of Guru Nanak. The Punjab remains the heartland of the Sikh religion, with up to 16 million Sikhs living in this state. The largest Sikh populations outside India are in the USA, UK and Canada, and were originally established through links with British rule in India during the British Empire. Canada’s first gurdwara opened in 1908 in Vancouver, the UK’s in London in 1911, and the USA’s in 1912 in California. The 2001 British Census asked the population to voluntarily state their religion and 336,179 Sikhs in the UK were recorded. The Canadian Census of the same year asked for religious affiliation and recorded 278,400 Sikhs. In contrast, the US Bureau of Census is prohibited by law from asking this question. However, an independent Religions Congregations Membership Study (RCMS) is planning a major survey of religious populations in 2010 that will include a county-by-county statistic of the Sikh population in the USA. This development is welcomed by the World Sikh Council’s America Region, which estimates that around 500,000 Sikhs are living in the USA.

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