CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, October 16, 2007: Hinduism is a vast, deep, ancient, inexhaustible, timeless and yet ever-adapting reservoir of wisdom that is brought together in narratives and practices that Hindus have diffuse access to in India, where, it is said, one becomes Hindu “by osmosis.” Our first thought was that of all the immigrant religions, Hinduism, for its very particularity, would be the one most difficult to pass onto the second generation. We expected Hindu youth in our focus groups to manifest bewilderment about their religious identity.
We did not expect what in fact we found well represented among the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) students we began to talk with five years ago: enthusiastic, knowledgeable American-born and American-raised Hindu youth of both sexes. Our subsequent study of Hindu institutions and Hindu families has revealed some of the ingredients in what seems so far to be a success story: religious institutions (temples, congregations, Sunday schools, summer camps, special classes), most of them newly founded; teachers (of the dharma and of music and dance); friendship and kinship networks; and the increasingly intentional efforts of parents.
For the full article from the Youth and Religion Project, University of Illinois at Chicago, click on the url above.