Interpreting the Pew Report on Religion in India: Neha Sahgal Sensing the Sacred

Would it surprise you to learn that most people in contemporary India believe in god? That Śiva is the most popular Hindu deity? That while half of Indians meditate weekly, only a third have ever practiced yoga? These are just a few of the findings of the Pew Research Center’s report on religious life in India. Published this past summer, the Pew report is a major milestone in the study of South Asian religions. It represents the most extensive publicly available data ever collected on religion in Indian society—including the intersection with politics, caste, and identity. One of the report’s big themes comes through in the title: “Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation.” Even as most Indians value religious diversity and share beliefs and practices across faiths, they nevertheless prefer to keep their communities separate—and they don’t always feel they have much in common with each other. To learn more, I sat down with Neha Sahgal, the report’s lead author and a specialist in international polling on religion. Sahgal is associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank that studies global trends and attitudes. In our conversation, Neha Sahgal made a compelling case for studying religion using survey research—and explained how quantitative data can shed light on even the most controversial aspects of Indian religions.

To find out more about the Pew report, visit: https://www.pewforum.org/2021/06/29/religion-in-india-tolerance-and-segregation/