Religion Watch Newsletter
INDIA, March 6, 2005: Religion is alive and well among Indian youth, who generally seems to hold rather conservative values on family and motherland, and show pride of being Indian, according to a recent survey. The Indian newsmagazine India Today devoted its entire January 31 issue to what young, middle-class people in Indian cities “think, do and want to be.” It also paid some attention to religious beliefs and values. More than 2,000 respondents aged 18 to 35 were interviewed in 10 major cities across India. Over 70 percent of Indian youth in those cities claim to visit a place of worship at least once a week (only 3 percent answer “never”). Even if the figure may be inflated, it still indicates a strong level of religious involvement. Interestingly, the figure is still higher in Bangalore, the high-tech capital of India: obviously, being modern and being religious is not seen as contradictory. Another indicator which confirms the attachment of young Indians to religion is the fact that 66 percent of them report fasting for religious reasons. This does not necessarily translate into a support for politics based on religion: secular values are obviously widespread even among religious people, and most of them want a separation between religion and state. 81 percent of them want a uniform civil code for all religions in the country – an issue much debated regarding Islam in India.–By Jean-Francois Mayer, RW Contributing Editor and founder of the website Religioscope (http://www.religioscope.com)