Religion

Another Generational Difference

Another topic that is vastly different between generations in our family is the role of religion in family formation and function. In the words of my mother,

“I wish my kids were more religious. I used to make you participate in a lot of religious activities “.

Mom

As is apparent from her words, my parents have used religion as a main source of guidance in our upbringing and family formation. Without religion, they would not have had the courage to move to the U.S. and start a new life. Because they attribute their success and comfortable life to their devotion to religion, they were sure to raise us to be as religious as them. Unexpectedly, my brothers claim that religion plays “minimal to zero” role in their lives. Because my brothers do not refer to religion as a source of comfort or guidance in their lives, it is likely that their approach to having a family and starting a career will be very different from that of my parents.

Homogamy

As discussed in lecture, homogamy was very important to my parents in terms of religion. This was one feature that my parents were not willing to compromise on because they knew they wanted to raise their children Hindu. In fact, my mother was more devout than my father was, so he stopped eating meat in order to be more homogamous with her. Because my brothers claim that

“religion really doesn’t play any role in my life right now”,

Saral & Samarth

it is likely that they will search for partners that are either just as non-religious, or mildly of a different religion. This opens them up to the option of heterogamous marriages.