Asian Indian and Pakistani Religions in the United States

Abstract

American religion is the product of immigration, and the change made in the U.S. immigration law in 1965 continues to affect American society, culture, and religion profoundly. Immigrants from India and Pakistan were admitted in significant numbers for the first time as a result of that change. The number of Asian Indian and Pakistani residents more than doubled between the 1980 and 1990 censuses, and this immigration continues apace. Adherents of all the religions of the Indian subcontinent—including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Christians—are now at home in America, creating a new religious landscape and requiring new religious adaptations to pluralism in America. New modes of rapid communication and modern mobility create transnational communities and networks that intimately link the United States with India and Pakistan and instigate transformations in all three countries—in America most of all.