Contextual Data -- and is anyonelkistyenbing in Tirupathi, Andhra

HINDUISM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A FACTOID FROM THE INTERNET

According to the 2000 US Census, there are 1.679 million Indian Americans in the US of whom 1.081 million are Hindus. The one million Hindus constitute 0.4 percent of the US population of 290 million. Hindu-Americans consider themselves as synonymous with Indian American. Non-Hindu Indian Americans constitute 70 percent of Indian Americans or 700,000. To put it another way, Hindu Americans constitute 64 percent of Indian Americans. Yet Hindu-Americans consider themselves as synonymous with Indian-Americans and India as synonymous with Hindutva. This presumption is not supported by the empirical data. Of the US overall US population of 290 million, Christians constitute 225 million or 77 percent, with another 20 percent of Christian background identifying themselves Atheists and Agnostics. Jews constitute 4 million or 1.3 percent, Muslims 1.6 million or 0.5 million, Buddhists 1.5 million or 0.5 percent, Hindus 1 million or 0.4 percent.

Despite their small numbers, Indian Hindus have prospered enormously in the open and tolerant American Christian atmosphere. Hundreds of Hindu temples have been built throughout the US, many of them highly visible constructions in Christian neighborhoods. Unlike Muslims and Buddhists in the US who both exceed the Hindu population in the US, Hindus are more aggressive in religious display. They, for the record, do not mix much with fellow Indians among the Christians, Dalits, Buddhists and Muslims. The community-based organisations far outnumber united NRI groups.
-- Raju George C. Thomas, Visiting US Fulbright Professor, Faculty of the Political Sciences, Jove Ilica 165, Belgrade University, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Montenegro

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