Q: Can you be Sikh and an atheist at the same time?

A: You are using a lot of heavy contextual words that holds very little or no bearing on the Sikh perspective.

Our idea of the divine is the Universe. We hold life and our relationship with the Universe as sacred, and as such we have great moral responsibility with how we conduct our lives. God has tremendously different context to me than the standard accepted definition of this word. I would say, "the universe is the universe", "the universe is everything everywhere". That is hard to argue with; however, "there is divinity in the universe" is something that is felt and as such is a kind of revealed knowledge. The idea is that you practice Sikhi to see how it works for you and have an experience.

A: It depends on what you mean by ‘atheist’. If you reject the idea of a gray man on a cloud who decides what happens to everyone, but you do believe in the concept of people having a Soul, then that’s compatible with Sikhi. However, if you actively believe there is no Creative Force or Soul, then you will likely have difficulties with the Sikh scriptures.

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib starts off with the following:

"One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace."

That said, there are those who are born into Sikhi, who don’t cut their hair, wear a turban, and go to the religious services, but who may not feel strongly about the other beliefs. As with other religions, it can be tricky to determine where culture ends and where faith begins. There are plenty of people who were raised Catholic, don’t believe in God, but do find it important to have their children baptized.