Ahmedabad, India

It would be a fair to argue that India is one of the most "religious" places on earth. As I write that, I'm not quite certain what I mean by "religious". I don't mean it in the sense of just and ethical society flowing out of a strong religious base. And I don't mean the kind of in-your-face presence of religion in every single edifice of society that you would see in some predominantly Muslim or Buddhist societies. What I mean is a much more intricately woven nature of things where religious symbols and ideas are visible in a million little things every day, from tiny Hindu temples on street corners to calls to Muslim prayer to the smell of incense from Jain ceremonies and the crosses worn around the necks of Christians. Religion permeates India. 

While Hinduism is the religion of a vast majority of Indians, it is also home to the world's third largest community of Muslims, as well as several tens of millions of Christians. Significant Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist minorities also call India home. North Indian Muslim communities trace their roots to the early days of Islam, while some of South India's Christian communities trace their roots to the fourth century (by means of historical evidence) and to Apostolic times (by means of tradition). These various communities have dwelled together in many places for centuries. While it would probably be an overstatement to say that they have always dwelled harmoniously, coexistence was the norm in most times and places prior to the mid-20th century. This coexistence was often strengthened by defined economic roles played by each religious group, differing widely in various localities.

The bank of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, seen from the Gandhi Ashram

The city of Ahmedabad, home to 6 million people, and the largest city of the northwest Indian state of Gujarat, is a perfect example of this religious admixture. Officially, 90% of the city is Hindu. While that may be slightly inflated, no one denies that the vast majority of the population is Hindu. Yet the city's very name (remembering Ahmed Shah, a 15th century Muslim Mughal ruler) and many of its greatest monuments -- Mughal-era mosques and Jain temples -- testify to the strong influence of other religions. The Gandhi Ashram, established in a quest for a more just society by Mahatma Gandhi in the early 20th century, is also infused with religious symbolism and thinking. 

Hutheesingh Jain Temple - Ahmedabad

The architecture of these structures testifies to the interweaving of various religious influences. One of the city's major mosques, built in a low, vaulted style typical of North India, is renowned for its intricately carved stone window grills, replete with ancient Indian symbols and aesthetic. A Jain temple shows that religion's close connections to both Buddhism and Hinduism through its ornate sculptures. Even a late-19th century Christian church, built by Irish Presbyterian missionaries, uses the traditional South Asian artistry of carved stone windows with a combination of South Asian symbols of life, growth, and nature alongside traditional Christian iconography and even some very specific Irish Presbyterian symbols. I don't believe that any of these overlapping symbols indicate a syncretism of belief itself, but rather a shared sense of created beauty.

window of the Siddi Sayyed Mosque in Ahmedabad, carved from stone

This dwelling together has changed markedly in the last 70 years, as it has in many other multi-religious parts of the world over the past century or so. The Partitions of the late 1940s that created predominantly (but not exclusively) Hindu India and predominantly (but not exclusively) Muslim Pakistan were marked by extreme inter-communal violence, especially in Delhi and the Pubjab. Today, a small minority in Pakistan seeks to impose fundamentalist Islam on all, including the Christian minority and a majority of more moderate Muslims (events in Peshawar yesterday only underscore this). Here in Ahmedabad, a stronghold of Hindu fundamentalism, a previously highly integrated city has segregated into religiously homogenous districts, with the Muslim minority informally confined to the city center, Hindus dominating the rest of the city, and Christians and other smaller groups, largely by default, clustered in a few districts. The legacy of the inter-communal violence that rocked Ahmedabad and Gujarat in 2002 still taints the Chief Minister of the state, Narendra Modi. Modi, a member of the Hindu nationalist BJP party, is at present the leading contender to become Prime Minister of India in 2014.

carved stone windows and wooden doors at Gujarat United Theological College

What does the future hold? Will, as some have suggested, the nations of the world become more and more religiously homogenous? Will minorities within religions bent on imposing their vision on everyone within a state be successful? Will Christians stand up for the rights of all who are persecuted for their religious beliefs, drawing on the truth that all men and women are created in God's image? Time will tell. But it is clear that Gujarat, with its religious complexity, will be on the front lines of this 21st century tension.

A poor photographic attempt at detail of the above