Attachment Info
- Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation
- India is majority Hindu, but religious minorities have sizable populations
- Indians feel they have religious freedom, see respecting all religions as a core value
- India’s religious groups generally see themselves as very different from each other
- Stopping religious intermarriage is a high priority for Hindus, Muslims and others in India
- Substantial minorities would not accept followers of other religions as neighbors
- Most Hindus in India say being Hindu, being able to speak Hindi are very important to be ‘truly’ Indian
- Support for BJP higher among Hindu voters who link being Hindu, speaking Hindi with Indian identity
- Among Hindus, large regional divides on views of national identity and politics
- How regions of India are defined in this report
- Among Hindu voters in India, religious nationalism is accompanied by heightened desire for religious segregation, greater religious observance
- Hindus who see Hindu and Indian identity as closely tied express positive views about diversity
- Vast majority of India’s Muslims say Indian culture is superior
- Overall, one-in-five Muslims say they have personally faced religious discrimination recently, but views vary by region
- Muslims in India support having access to their own religious courts
- More Muslims than Hindus in India see partition of the subcontinent as a bad thing for communal relations
- Most Indians say they belong to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Class
- Relatively few in India see widespread caste discrimination; perceptions vary by region
- In the South and Northeast, many Dalits say they have faced caste discrimination
- Most Indians say it is very important to stop people from marrying outside their caste
- Religious groups show little change in size due to conversion
- Hindus gain as many people as they lose through religious switching
- Vast majority of Hindu converts to Christianity in India are concentrated in South
- Most Indians have a strong connection to their religion
- Indians say life’s milestones should be marked by religious ceremonies
- One-third of Indian Buddhists do not believe in God
- In India, most Hindus and some members of other groups say there is one God with many manifestations
- More Hindus feel close to Shiva than any other deity
- Indians show high levels of religious observance across socioeconomic levels
- Overwhelming shares say religion was very important to their family growing up and is to them personally now
- Respecting elders a key shared religious, national value in India
- Some religious beliefs and practices shared across religious groups in India
- Indians of many religions celebrate Diwali
- India’s Hindus mostly say a person cannot be Hindu if they eat beef, celebrate Eid
- In India, Hindus’ views toward beef consumption linked with attitudes toward segregation, nationalism
- Indian Muslims more likely to say eating pork is incompatible with Islam than not believing in God
- Indian Muslims are as religious as Muslims in neighboring countries, but fewer say there is just one correct way to interpret Islam
- Overall, Indian Muslims’ level of belief in heaven, angels resembles Indian Hindus more than other Muslims in South Asia
- Vast majority of Sikh adults in India say they keep their hair long
- India’s Sikhs are nearly universally proud of their national, state identities
- Screen Shot 2021-06-29 at 9.38.49 AM
- Screen Shot 2021-06-29 at 9.40.25 AM
- Screen Shot 2021-06-29 at 9.41.16 AM
- Screen Shot 2021-06-29 at 9.41.40 AM
- Who We Surveyed in India
1615 L St. NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
USA
(+1) 202-419-4300 | Main
(+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax
(+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries
Research Topics
ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Copyright 2024 Pew Research Center