**5. Conclusions**

In her analysis of di fferent types of religious activism, Gregg (2016) argues that religious activists are either (i) involved in social movements which challenge social practices and governmen<sup>t</sup> policies, (ii) fundamentalists who defends specific interpretations and practices of the faith, or (iii) apocalyptic warriors who look to hasten the apocalypse. However, like much of the scholarship on "religiously-motivated action", this analysis has been framed through Abrahamic traditions, promoting a clear separation between the religious and the secular realms as pointed out by Gunning and Jackson (2011, p. 370), who highlight how the idea of "religious terrorism" can be traced back to an article by David Rapoport (1984). In his "Fear and trembling: terrorism in three religious traditions", Rapoport (1984) analysed the use of terror in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, which then formed the basis of other scholarly work in this area including (Juergensmeyer 2003; Ranstorp 1996; Laqueur 1999 and Stern 2003). Indeed, the continuing impact of the work of Rapoport (1984) is demonstrated in the analysis of religious activism presented by Gregg (2016, p. 357).

Building on the analyses of relevant incidents and narratives highlighted by Sikh activists, I am proposing a typology of six di fferent types of publicly visible Sikh activism. It is important to note that these are not exclusive categories and that Sikh activists may engage in one or more of these categories at any time:

1. Social Justice: involves pursuing legal channels to investigate human rights abuses and standing in solidarity with others to challenge discrimination faced by minorities, for instance, by campaigning for Sikh articles (turban, 5Ks) to be worn in schools and workplaces. For Luthra, the emergence of Sikh organisations focused on social justice in the US, including Ensaaf, Surat Initiative, and the 1984 Living History Project can be linked to "the Indian government's human rights violations against Indian Sikhs from 1984 and into the 1990s ... [which] mobilized Sikhs in the diaspora to become politically engaged" (Luthra 2018, p. 289). Following the increase in hate crimes against Sikhs in the US post-9/11, in particular the attack at Oak Creek, Luthra observes that Sikhs are creating alliances with a variety of civil rights movements, "including LGBTQ rights, marriage equality, Black Lives Matter, and women's rights ... [as they] saw the fight for civil rights and social justice as consistent with Sikh values" (Luthra 2018, p. 289). This social justice activism often highlights and addresses issues previously disregarded by Sikh organisations, including the tackling of domestic violence and mental health issues among Sikhs. The Sikh activism focused on the environment as highlighted by Mooney (2018) would also fall into this category.


It is important to reiterate that the types of activism listed above are not discrete and do not always map directly to individual incidents. For instance, some participants in mixed faith Anand Karaj protests could be focusing on "religious enforcement" with the key driver being on maintaining the authenticity of the Anand Karaj (wedding) ceremony and upholding the Sikh Rehat Maryada, whereas others could be participating in "community defence" concerned with discouraging Sikhs, particularly women, from marrying out of the faith. Participants in 1984 rallies, for instance, could be participating for "social justice", seeking justice for the victims of November 1984, in "diaspora nationalism", relating to the establishment of Khalistan, in "community defence" against the Indian state due to the desecration of Harmandir Sahib in June 1984, or as a combination of some or all three of these di fferent types of activism. Indeed, as Nijhawan (2014, p. 214) found in his study of Sikh activists in Canada many Sikhs "resist being neatly packaged into the ideological clusters ("Khalistan supporters") and identity categories ("orthodox" versus "secular" Sikhs) that are often projected from the outside".

The categories above highlight how Sikh activists in diaspora have a number of different focuses and priorities, such that terms such as "orthodox", "conservative", "liberal", "progressive", "extremist", "radical" and "fundamentalist" lose their meaning when they are used to generalise the activities of groups of people. My research led me to engage with progressive Amritdhari Sikhs, conservative non-practicing Sikhs and with individuals from a whole range of religious, political, social and cultural positions in between. Therefore, while some Sikh activists may be motivated by "transcendent, utopian or religious goals" (Gunning and Jackson 2011, p. 371), including the need to ensure that respect of the Guru Granth Sahib is maintained, others are driven to activism in response to specific events, particularly the events of 1984. Others are driven by instructions on "how people must live, how the world ought to operate" (Smith 1996, p. 10) and may see it as their duty to police the behaviour of individual Sikhs and the narratives disseminated by Sikh preachers. In addition, there is little evidence that Sikh activists are "supported by trained and experienced leadership, ready established congregations, communication channels, authority structures and financial and office resources" (Smith 1996, pp. 14–15) and, rather, are more likely to become activists with little involvement from official structures which leads to an increased likelihood of vigilante action. Indeed, although Sikh activists may have a shared religious identity which "provides a basis upon which strangers can work together with relative ease in common purpose" (Smith 1996, p. 18), having a shared religious identity does not necessarily equate to having a shared vision, as diversity within religious traditions often leads to serious disagreements between co-religionists, leading to some of the issues highlighted above. When analysing "religiously-motivated action", therefore, it is necessary to be wary of applying models based on particular understandings of "religion" and to recognize that, while "religious narratives" play an important role, they are only one aspect of a suite of different and often equally important religious, political, social and cultural drivers of action.

**Funding:** This research was funded by CREST/ESRC, gran<sup>t</sup> number ES/N009614/1.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
