Exploring Religious and Spiritual Experiences across Faith Groups in India

The growing interest to understand the role of religion in human life makes it imperative to grasp its influence across faith, age and gender. Religion as a multifaceted and dynamic concept shapes various facets of interaction at individual and societal levels. The study investigated the relationship of religious beliefs and practices in four major religious communities in the Indian setting, across three developmental stages and gender comprising of non-student segment of population in North India. The sample (N=1116) comprised of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, three developmental stages, that is, young (18-30 years), adult (30-45 years) and middle adulthood (above 45 years) and included 586 males and 530 females. Participants completed Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS, 1999) covering ten aspects of religious beliefs and practices, along with two more aspects of self-rated religiosity and sense of meaning in life. Results indicated that religion, developmental stage and gender had interactive effects on most of the religious beliefs and practices measures. It was further observed that each religious community had a unique clustering of components of religious beliefs and practices, across developmental stages and gender. The paper highlights the diversity and commonality among the faith systems and brings out its implications for harmony and quality of life.

Key words: religion, diversity of faith groups, religious beliefs and practices, developmental stages,