Buddhism, Islam and Religious Pluralism in South and Southeast Asia

In Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand – countries where at least 70% of adults are Buddhist – upward of nine in ten Buddhists say being Buddhist is important to be truly part of their nation, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of six countries in South and Southeast Asia. 

For instance, 95% of Sri Lankan Buddhists say being Buddhist is important to be truly Sri Lankan – including 87% who say Buddhism is very important to being a true Sri Lankan. Although most people in these countries identify as Buddhist religiously, there is widespread agreement that Buddhism is more than a religion.

"For most people in the South and Southeast Asian countries we surveyed, religious identity is about more than beliefs and practices – it's also about culture, family tradition and ethnicity," said Senior Researcher Jonathan Evans. "We also found that many people strongly tie a particular religion to national identity. But even with this, people express a general sense of religious tolerance."

Buddhism in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand

The importance of Buddhism in national identity is reflected in the prominence that all three countries' laws give to Buddhism. According to the survey, most Buddhists in all three countries favour basing their national laws on Buddhist dharma – a wide-ranging concept that includes the knowledge, doctrines and practices stemming from Buddha's teachings. This perspective is nearly unanimous among Cambodian Buddhists (96%), while smaller majorities of Buddhists in Sri Lanka (80%) and Thailand (56%) support basing national laws on Buddhist teachings and practices.

When asked about the role of religious leaders in public life, Cambodian Buddhists again stand out as the most likely to favour an intersection between religion and government. For instance, 81% of Cambodian Buddhists say religious leaders should vote in political elections, a position taken by smaller proportions of Buddhists in Sri Lanka (66%) and Thailand (54%). But even in Cambodia, no more than half of Buddhists say religious leaders should participate in political protests (50%), talk publicly about the politicians they support (47%) or be politicians themselves (45%).

Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia

In some ways, Buddhism's links to national identity in these countries parallel the role of Islam in the neighbouring Muslim-majority countries of Indonesia and Malaysia. Nearly all Muslims in both countries say being Muslim is important to be truly Indonesian or Malaysian. Muslims in both countries commonly describe Islam as a culture, family tradition or ethnicity – not just "a religion one chooses to follow." For instance, three-quarters of Malaysian Muslims say Islam is "an ethnicity one is born into."

Most Muslims in both nations favour making Sharia the official law of the land. Muslims in Malaysia, where Islam is the official religion, overwhelmingly support using Sharia as the national law (86%). Support for sharia is somewhat lower among Muslims in Indonesia, where 64% of Indonesian Muslims nevertheless say sharia should be used as the law of the land.

Muslims in both Indonesia and Malaysia are more likely than Buddhists surveyed in neighboring countries to favor high-profile roles for religious leaders in politics. For example, most Muslims in Indonesia (58%) and Malaysia (69%) say religious leaders should talk publicly about the politicians and political parties they support.

Religious pluralism in Singapore

The survey also included Singapore, which has no religious majority and by some measures is the world's most religiously diverse society.

Most Singaporeans (56%) say that having people of many different religions, ethnic groups and cultures makes their country a better place to live. Few (4%) say it makes their country a worse place to live. On several measures of religious tolerance, Singaporeans express broadly accepting views toward other groups. Nearly nine-in-ten adults in the country say Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Chinese traditional religions are all compatible with Singapore's culture and values.

Additional findings:

Religious tolerance: In general, tolerance of other religions is widely espoused in all six countries.

Adults in Malaysia and Sri Lanka (62% each) are even more likely than those in Singapore (56%) to say that religious, ethnic and cultural diversity benefits their country.

Across all major religious groups, most people say they would be willing to accept members of different religious communities as neighbours. For instance, 81% of Sri Lankan Buddhists say they would be willing to have Hindu neighbours; a similar share of Sri Lankan Hindus (85%) say the same about Buddhists.

Shared beliefs and practices: There also are signs of shared religious beliefs and practices across religious lines.

Sizable majorities in nearly every large religious community in all six countries say that karma exists, even though belief in karma is not traditionally associated with all the religious groups surveyed.

Many people pray or offer their respects to deities or founder figures that are not traditionally considered part of their religion's pantheon. For example, 66% of Singaporean Hindus say they pray or offer respects to Jesus Christ and 62% of Sri Lankan Muslims do the same to the Hindu deity Ganesh.

Religious switching: Despite expressions of tolerance and religious mixing, religious identity also can be a firm line between groups. Many people across the countries surveyed say it is unacceptable for people to give up their religion or convert to another faith.

In Indonesia, 92% of Muslims say it is unacceptable for a person to leave Islam, and 83% of Christians say it is unacceptable to leave Christianity for another religion. Overall, Muslims are more likely than other religious communities to say conversion away from their faith is unacceptable. But this is also the position taken by two-thirds or more of Buddhists in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand – the study's three Buddhist-majority nations.

In five of the six countries surveyed, nearly all adults still identify with the religion in which they were raised. Only in Singapore do a sizable share of adults (35%) indicate their religion has changed during their lifetime.

These are among the key findings of a Pew Research Center survey conducted among 13,122 adults in six countries in Southeast and South Asia.

Interviews were conducted face-to-face in Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand and on mobile phones in Malaysia and Singapore. Local interviewers administered the survey from June to September 2022, in eight languages. The country-level margins of sampling error range from 2.44 to 3.19 percentage points.

The report was produced by the Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. Funding for the Global Religious Futures project comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation.