In comprehensive research conducted by Pew, most Indians think that India has lived up to one of its post-independence ideals of creating a state where followers of many religions can live peacefully and practice their religion freely.
India has a large and diverse population and is home to Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs live in India. It also has one of the world’s largest Muslim population and also millions of Christians and Buddhists.
Pew Research Center has carried out a mass survey of religion across India, based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face interviews of adults conducted in 17 languages between late 2019 and early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic. People of different religious backgrounds overwhelmingly said they are very free to practice their faiths.
Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. Across the major religious groups, most say it is very important to respect all religions to be “truly Indian.” https://t.co/lwqcC0SVxF pic.twitter.com/I4ua6iROg5
— Pew Research Global (@pewglobal) June 29, 2021
The research concluded that Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of their national ethos and respecting other religions to be the true sign of being Indian.
In the research, it was discovered that despite home to many different religions, most Indians shared values accompanied by a number of beliefs that cross religious lines for e.g.
- The majority of Hindus in India (77%) believe in karma, but an identical percentage of Muslims do, too.
- A third of Christians in India (32%) – together with 81% of Hindus – say they believe in the purifying power of the Ganges River, a central belief in Hinduism.
- In Northern India, 12% of Hindus and 10% of Sikhs, along with 37% of Muslims, identity with Sufism, a mystical tradition most closely associated with Islam.
The research also states Indian Muslims (95%), expressed great enthusiasm for Indian culture: 85% agree with the statement that “Indian people are not perfect, but Indian culture is superior to others.”
Also, all of India’s religious groups share patriotic feelings, cultural values, and some religious beliefs. But Most Muslims and Christians say they don’t participate in major Hindu religious festivals like Diwali, which is traditionally celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.
However, a substantial percentage of minorities of Christians (31%) and Muslims (20%) report that they do celebrate Diwali. Celebrating Diwali is especially common among Muslims in the West, where 39% say they participate in the festival, and in the South (33%).
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