Community or Compromise?
Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity Among South Asian Christian College Students
By Costin Thampikutty, a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education at Rutgers University and the Senior Assistant Director of CSTEP at Manhattan University in the Bronx, NYC
Almost two decades ago, Sam George referred to the college campus as a "battlefield"1 in terms of how Christian student organizations (CSOs) and ministry groups would aim to minister to children of the Indian Christian diaspora. As a college administrator, I think the war metaphor might be a bit hyperbolic but as a researcher, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time over the past six years interviewing Christian Indian Americans and can attest that these experiences are a crucible for the faith development of students.
In this essay, we'll specifically explore how Indian American students involved in South Asian-specific Christian student organizations (CSOs) navigate the intersection of their ethnic and religious identities. In addition to their own reflections, I offer further analysis of the relationship between cultural and religious practices. By sharing students’ experiences, I highlight how ethnicity is playing an increasingly significant role in shaping religious identity in contemporary campus ministry.
Throughout the 2000s, Prema Kurien2 conducted interviews with second-generation Indian American members of the Mar Thoma Church.3 Through her inquiries, Kurien found that this group often chose to “decouple” their religious and ethnic identities and either leave their home denomination, or reject ethnic practices associated with membership, as they felt their spirituality was compromised by the intertwinement of ethnicity and religion.4 Strikingly, many of Kurien’s interviewees described that although they were members of the Mar Thoma church from childhood, they truly “became Christian” through involvement in both multiethnic churches and campus ministry groups during their time in college.5
Approximately twenty years later, I’ve found that Indian American Christians continue to navigate similar tensions between their ethnic and religious identities in college, and involvement in Christian student organizations (CSOs) has continued to influence this group. Yet, the multiethnic CSOs Kurien referred to decades ago are now joined on campus by a growth of South Asian-specific Christian student organizations due to
shifting demographics in campus ministry membership.6 The creation and growth of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s South Asian InterVarsity (SAIV) and Cru’s analogous Design Movement allow me to illustrate how Indian American members of South Asian-specific CSOs negotiate the intersection of ethnicity and religion. While the interview excerpts from this piece stem from two broader studies on Indian American Christian identity and CSO involvement experiences, participants’ insights are included here to directly represent their experiences. In short, some students in my studies firmly believed that ethnic and religious practices can and should be decoupled in line with Kurien’s’ findings from the 2000s, while others have proposed that South Asian CSOs offer spaces to intertwine and build their Indian and Christian identities together.
Why might these spaces be necessary in the first place? Particularly, students who opted to join South Asian CSOs spoke of the pressures growing up to “downplay” and “put to the side” their ethnicity.7 Thus, South Asian CSOs naturally offer an opportunity to simultaneously cultivate students’ ethnic and religious identities during college. Previous research has described how multiethnic Christian student organizations may minimize students’ racial and ethnic identities in a color-evasive approach.8 Additionally, South Asian Christian students may feel neglected in South Asian cultural organizations due to Hindu-centric programming, thus not feeling Indian enough.9 In contrast, South Asian CSOs encourage students to explore their Indian American Christian identity in full through the incorporation of cultural elements to club events and other programming such as Design Movement’s Jeevan10 Bible studies or SAIV’s Faith & Chai interfaith discussions. Thus, it comes as no surprise when students report that South Asian CSOs provide a sense of comfort:
“I think in a place like religion, where you have to be so vulnerable with other people, especially during worship or prayer, it's so much easier to be vulnerable with people of the same race as you that can also [have the same experiences].”11
As one Design Movement student, Nobin, said in other words, the toll of “being a minority within a minority” is drastically reduced in South Asian Christian student organizations.12
However, not all students agree that ethnic identity needs to play a pivotal role in Christian student organizations—at least not to the same degree. Instead, some students felt strongly about the need to branch out to fully realize their faith since ethnic specific CSOs may offer a “very limited idea of who God is.”13
Returning to Nobin, who grew up in a multiethnic non-denominational church, he felt that “we have to make sure that religion comes before ethnicity” in CSOs.14
Continuing with his sentiment, Nobin argued against “compromising” faith for comfort:
If we're making Christian student [organizations] about finding unity and comfort then really, we're just … conforming to what we want, rather than really pursuing God in that, and you can definitely pursue God in those groups. But … if the only reason you're there is because you can find other Indian [Americans] that make you feel good about yourself… you’ve got to start questioning your motives.15
Nobin’s sentiment is only reflective of one individual experience and does not represent an entire South Asian CSO chapter or parachurch organization. At the same time, questioning the function of culturally specific student organizations or cultural centers on campus is not a new phenomenon. Similarly, others have thoughtfully critiqued the role of culture in Indian churches more broadly. However, the excerpt above does highlight the assumed binary between inclusion and insulation within South Asian CSOs—while recognizing that the mission of these organizations aims to both “Honor Jesus and celebrate Desi culture” (Design Movement) or “love and lead from the intersection of their ethnicities and faith in Jesus” (South Asian InterVarsity). Thus, the evangelistic ethos of South Asian CSOs requires attention to both South Asian students who identify as Christians already and those who do not.
With any organization, multitasking in this manner can have unintended consequences and South Asian CSOs are not exempt. While these student groups may work towards an ethnic-specific vision, ethnocentricity may be cultivated instead, putting some students off. Offering recommendations regarding the decision-making process involved with church membership for Asian Americans, Linson Daniel specifically addresses the distinction between ethnocentric versus ethnic-specific churches.16 Although my interviewees usually made sure to clarify that their CSOs were not meant to substitute church attendance, I do believe Daniel’s thoughts can be further applied to South Asian CSOs as well.
According to Daniel, ethno-centricity focuses on cultural preservation whereas ethnic specificity focuses on both mission and culture simultaneously as non-mutually exclusive values.
As Nobin pointed out, I’ve continually found throughout my research that South Asian CSOs find varying levels of success in battling ethno-centricity due to the temptation to create a space for cultural belonging first and forming a cliquey culture as a result. To be fair, I’ve either studied or worked on a college campus for the past twelve years and I can’t blame any student for wanting an affirming space in our current climate.
Throughout my interviews over the past six years, I’ve noticed how opinions have shifted since the murder of George Floyd and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Recently, I and others have found that the significance of race, ethnicity, and culture continue to be increasingly important in Christian Indian American consciousness, especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.17
In fact, South Asian CSOs have provided healing for some due to the broader sociopolitical tensions in the United States. Speaking on her decision to join Design, Meryl noted the desire to find a safe space away from microaggressions perpetrated by white Christians:
“Around 2020… there was like a lot of political tension and things started to come to the forefront …I started to not be able to handle the microaggressions… with as much ease as I was before. And on top of that… the level of racism was increasing. I think a lot of my friends were just regurgitating the things they were hearing [from] their parents…and that became really difficult for me. And for that to have been part of my Christian community… I feel like gave me a little bit of religious trauma, and trust issues with the church.”18
For Meryl, the racism she experienced first-hand within her church left her hurt, and longing for a space of her own. Although Indian American Christians enjoy many privileges, especially in terms of religion within the United States, experiences with racism like these are not uncommon, as Khyati Y. Joshi writes in White Christian Privilege:
“While they [Christians of color] share many of the advantages of being Christian in America, those advantages may be harder to recognize or acknowledge, especially because of the racial discrimination and violence some groups have also faced. In this respect, their Christianity is often, ‘othered’, just as racial minorities as such are ‘othered.’”19
Christian Indian American students’ reflections on race seem to have shifted over the past six years. Early in my journey, I found that many Indian American students commonly emphasized how their Christian identity “translated across” all identities and played a superordinate role.20 As the following interview excerpt from 2018 highlights, many students felt that their Christian identity was all-encompassing as their faith was the priority:
“I've been able to realize that…race really has nothing to do with how we live, and it's rather how we live through the Lord. That should be our primary goal in life, to give all the glory to God through whatever we’d end up doing. So that should be our primary identity, I feel like we shouldn't use anything else. It should be the first thing that we think of, you know?”21
Undeniably, children of the Indian Christian diaspora hold an array of perspectives on the role of race and ethnicity in church, Christian student organizations, and within their own identities. As some argue, colleges and university campuses can be seen as microcosms of society.
If this is true, then I can say with full confidence that those looking to support this population through the pulpit specifically must deeply consider the intersections of Indian American ethnicity and Christianity as 1) ethnic-specific churches are often battling ethnocentricity and 2) multicultural congregations can still operate out of white normative values.22
While another opportunity is needed to fully dive into these intersections, my ongoing research sheds light on how many Indian American youth are digging, in real-time, into the history of Christianity in India, distancing themselves from white conservative Christianity, and balancing alignment and conflicts within their Indian American Christian identities. This is currently being done by reconsidering cultural practices, addressing societal stigmas, and pursuing social justice work. As Prema Kurien’s Millennial interviewees chose to decouple their ethnicity and religion, the Gen Z generation is diving into the messiness of intertwinement.
As Geomon George and Kamalesh Stephen suggest, “doing theology in the Asian Indian context is more than doctrine; it is engaging with everyday life.”23 Church leaders responsible for congregational well-being, campus ministry staff planting seeds for campus transformation, and those called to equip and empower the next generation of South Asian leaders then must be attuned to the experiences and needs of Indian American youth. Being comfortable with conversations on Indian American ethnicity and Christianity will not suffice. Instead, facilitating opportunities on campuses, in churches, and within communities to cultivate connections between faith and ethnicity will be key to supporting Indian American college students transitioning into adulthood. To know where to start, we can learn from the organizations they’re already engaged in on campuses.
Costin Thampikutty is a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education at Rutgers University and the Senior Assistant Director of CSTEP at Manhattan University in the Bronx, NYC. Costin’s scholarship focuses on Indian American college students’ involvement experiences in Christian student organizations. Currently, Costin is designing his dissertation to focus on the impact of involvement in South Asian Christian student organizations in terms of Indian American students’ sense of belonging on campus.
Sam George, Understanding the Coconut Generation (Mall Publishing, 2006), 164.
Prema Kurien, “Decoupling Religion and Ethnicity: Second-Generation Indian American Christians,” Qualitative Sociology 35, no. 4 (December 2012): 447–68, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-012-9238-0.
In her writing, Prema Kurien describes how the Mar Thoma denomination is part of the Malankara Syrian Christian church, which traces its origin to the arrival of the Apostle Thomas to Kerala coast, India in 52 CE. The American Mar Thoma Church was led by immigrants who grew up in Kerala and the first U.S. Mar Thoma parish was established in 1976 in New York City.
Kurien, 447.
Kurien, 453.
John Schmalzbauer, “Social Engagement in an Evangelical Campus Ministry: The Case of Urbana 2006,” Journal of College and Character 11, no. 1 (March 2010): 12, https://doi.org/10.2202/1940-1639.1247.
Interview with student, April 2023.
Mabel E. Sanchez, “Negotiating Intersectional Identities in a Christian Student Organization,” Journal of College and Character 22, no. 1 (February 1, 2021): 73–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/2194587X.2020.1860780.
Costin Thampikutty and Justin Samuel, “Conflict and Community: Outcomes of South Asian Indian American Students’ Involvement within Christian Student Organizations,” Journal of College and Character 22, no. 4 (November 1, 2021): 325–42, https://doi.org/10.1080/2194587X.2021.1977148.
Jeevan meaning “life” in Sanskrit
Interview with student, April 2023.
Interview with student, May 2023.
Interview with student, May 2023.
Interview with student, May 2023.
Interview with student, May 2023.
Linson Daniel, “Finding a Home at Church,” in Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships and Vocation, by Sabrina S. Chan et al. (InterVarsity Press, 2022), 149–68.
Geomon George. “Living in the Promised Land: The Impact of the Black Lives Matter Movement on Indian American Christians Living in the NYC Metropolitan Areas.” Theology Today 79, no. 4 (January 2023): 435–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736221134015.
Interview with student, December 2023.
Khyati Y. Joshi, White Christian Privilege (NYU Press, 2020), 5.
Interview with student, March 2018.
Interview with student, May 2018.
Daniel, 149–68.
Geomon George and Kamalesh Stephen. “Migration and Multiple Forms of Asian Indian American Christian Belonging.” International Bulletin of Mission Research 48, no. 3 (July 1, 2024): 357–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969393241242714.