Common Socio-Religious Attitudes in India

The Pew Research Center’s “Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation” survey, published on June 29, 2021, found that Indians generally feel that their country has lived up to one of its post-independence ideals: a society in which religious adherents can live and practice freely. India, a primarily Hindu nation, is also home to millions of Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists.

The survey, based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face pre-Covid-19 interviews of adults conducted in 17 languages between late 2019 and early, reveals the following facts, among many others: Indians of all religious backgrounds overwhelmingly say they are very free to practice their faiths and consider religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation.

Most people assert that one must respect all religions to be “truly Indian” and that tolerance is a religious and civic value. Indians are united in their belief that respecting other religions is an important part of what it means to be a member of their own religious community.

Some beliefs also cross religious lines. For example, 77% of Hindus and Muslims believe in karma; 32% of Christians and 81% of Hindus believe in the river Ganges’ purifying power. In northern India, 12% of Hindus, 10% of Sikhs and 37% of Muslims identity with Sufism. Most Indians state that respecting elders is very important to their faith.

And yet they often feel that they don’t have much in common. For example, 66% of Hindus and 64% of Muslims see themselves as very different from each other; however, two-thirds of the Jains and about 50% of the Sikhs say they have a lot in common with Hindus.

This perception is reflected in the traditions and habits that separate India’s religious groups. For example, 65% of Hindus oppose Hindu women marrying non-Hindu men and 67% oppose Hindu men marrying non-Hindu women, whereas 80% of Muslims oppose Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men and 76% oppose Muslim men marrying non-Muslim women.

All religious groups also overwhelmingly form friendships within their religious community: Hindus (86%), Muslims (88%), Sikhs (80%) and Jains (72%).

In many ways, Indian society resembles a “patchwork fabric” with clear lines of separation between religious communities. Although fewer Indians say that their neighborhoods should consist only of co-religionists, many would prefer to keep certain religions out of their residential areas or villages. For example, 45% of Hindus say they are fine with having non-Hindu neighbors; however, another 45% disagree. In addition, 36% of Hindus don’t want a Muslim neighbor, 61% of Jains say they are unwilling to have neighbors from at least one of these groups, including 54% who would not accept a Muslim neighbor.

Additional key findings include: ➤ 64% of Hindus say it’s very important to be Hindu to be “truly” Indian, and 59% of Hindus link Indian identity with being able to speak Hindi and being Hindu. A full 80% of Hindus who hold the first view also hold the second view. ➤ 53% of Indian adults say India’s religious diversity benefits the country, whereas 24% see it as harmful. The figures among both Hindus and Muslims are similar. ➤ 95% of India’s Muslims are very proud to be Indian. A full 85% of them agree that “Indian people are not perfect, but Indian culture is superior to others.” ➤ 24% of Muslims say their community faces “a lot” of discrimination in India; 21% of Hindus say Hindus face widespread religious discrimination in India. ➤ 95% of Sikhs say they are very proud to be Indian, and 70% of them say that a person who disrespects India cannot be a Sikh. Only 14% say Sikhs face a lot of discrimination in India. ➤ Sikhs are the most likely to see communal violence as a huge problem — 78% of them consider it a major issue, compared with 65% of both Hindus and Muslims. ➤ 20% of Indians say members of Scheduled Castes face a lot of discrimination, 19% say there is a lot of discrimination against Scheduled Tribes, and 16% see high levels of discrimination against Other Backward Classes. Members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are slightly more likely than others to perceive widespread discrimination against their two groups. ➤ 72% of Indians say they would be willing to have a Scheduled Caste neighbor. But 70% of them say that most or all of their close friends share their caste. ➤ 64% of Indians say it’s very important to stop their community’s women from marrying into other castes; 62% hold the same view about their community’s men marrying into other cultures’ castes.

➤ 91% of Indian Muslims consider religion very important in their lives; 84% of Hindus do too. A full 84% of Muslims are more likely to claim that they know a lot about their religion than Hindus (75%). ➤ Significant portions of each religious group pray daily: 77% of Christians do so — even though they are the least likely to say religion is very important in their lives (76%) — and 59% of Hindus and 73% of Jains do so. Both groups also say they perform puja daily (57% and 81%, respectively), either at home or a temple. ➤ 97% say they believe in God, and roughly 80% of people in most religious groups say they are certain that God exists. The main exception is Buddhists, 33% who say they don’t believe in God. Still, among Buddhists who think there is a God, most say they are certain in this belief. ➤ The prevailing view is that there is one God “with many manifestations” (54%); 35% say “There is only one God” and 6% say there are many. ➤ When those Hindus who believe in God were asked which god they feel closest to, 84% selected more than one god or indicated that they have many personal gods. This is true among Hindus who say they believe in many gods (90%) or in one God with many manifestations (87%), as well as among those who say there is only one God (82%). The God that Hindus most commonly feel close to is Shiva (44%). In addition, about one-third of Hindus feel close to Hanuman or Ganesha (35% and 32%, respectively). ➤ Many Indians embrace beliefs not traditionally associated with their faith: 77% of all Muslims and Hindus believe in karma, as do 54% of Christians. In addition, 27% of Muslims and 29% of Christians say they believe in reincarnation. ➤ Most Muslims and Christians say they don’t participate in the Diwali celebrations, the Indian festival of lights, traditionally celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. But 31% of Christians and 20% of Muslims report that they do.

The survey covered all states and union territories except of Manipur and Sikkim, where the rapidly developing COVID-19 situation prevented fieldwork from starting in the spring of 2020, and the remote territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep archipelago, which are home to only about 0.025% of India’s population.

The survey covered the IllegallyOccupied Jammu and Kashmir; however, no fieldwork was conducted there due to Indian-occupation’s security concerns. Therefore, the margin of sampling error for the full sample of 29,999 respondents is ± 1.7 percent.

This study, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, is part of a larger effort by the Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies worldwide. The full report is available at https://www.pewforum.org/2021/06/29/religion-in-india-tolerance-and-segregation/. ih