The question to ask is, why then is it so difficult for people of different communities to respect each other's beliefs and to co-exist peacefully? Let us talk now in the Indian context. India is a secular democratic socialist republic. A large subcontinent, residents of which can practice any religion "freely." For many years the people of this country have lived together peacefully and without trouble even thought they belong to different religious faiths. A good example of this would be the people living in pre-partition Punjab. Most of the Hindus and Muslims living there practiced agriculture and so celebrated the same festivals related to the crop cycles. They ate the same food, talked in the same language and even dressed in similar clothes. It was virtually impossible to tell a Hindu from a Muslim at that time in Punjab. Both communities prided themselves on being a part of the Punjabi community. One of the reasons for the tolerance at that time could possibly be the amount of importance given to a communal identity as opposed to religious identity. The people of the villages at that time lived more or less in isolation from the rest of the world and so there was a greater inter-dependence between people of different religious faiths. This could also be one of the reasons for greater tolerance levels prevailing at that time.
India was a Hindu dominated country before Islam and Christianity spread significantly in the country. Both these religions allowed conversions to propagate and spread. People from the lower castes of the rigid Hindu caste system converted to them. Another possible reason for conversions could be that that rulers of the country followed that religion and people thought that the fact that they too practiced the same faith might earn them preferential treatment. During the British period religious riots were engineered to divide and rule and leave the people of the country further fragmented thus preventing people to rise against the British as a unified nation.