UNDERSTANDING SECULARISM

 

CLASS-VIII: SPL-III

 

02.     UNDERSTANDING SECULARISM

•        A country which does not promote any religion as it’s country’s religion is a secular country. India is one of them.

•        India adopted a policy to separate the power of religion and the power of the state.

•        The separation of religion from the state is known as secularism.

•        The state can intervene in religion in order to end an evil social practice which it believes discriminates and violates fundamental rights.

•        The Indian secularism is different from other democratic countries as the Indian states can intervene in religious affairs.

•        The term secularism refers to the separation between the power of religion and the power of the state. This is important for a country to function democratically.

Why is it important to Separate Religion from the State?

•        Almost all countries of the world will have more than one religious group living in them. Within these religious groups, there will most likely be one group that is in a majority. If this majority religious group has access to State power, then it could quite easily use this power and financial resources to discriminate against and persecute persons of other religions. This could result in the discrimination, coercion and at times even the killing of religious minorities. The majority could quite easily prevent minorities from practising their religions. Any form of domination based on religion is in violation of the rights that a democratic society guarantees to each and every citizen irrespective of their religion.

•        It is important to separate religion from the State in democratic societies is because we also need to protect the freedom of individuals to exit from their religion, embrace another religion or have the freedom to interpret religious teachings differently.

 

Understanding Indian Secularism:

•        The Indian Constitution mandates that the Indian State be secular. According to the Constitution, only a secular State can realise its objectives to ensure the followings:

1. One religious community does not dominate another;

2. Some members do not dominate other members of the same religious community;

3. That the State does not enforce any particular religion nor take away the religious freedom of individuals.

•        The Indian State is not ruled by a religious group and nor does it support any one religion.

•        In India, government spaces like law courts, police stations, government schools and offices are not supposed to display or promote any one religion.

•        The intervention of the State can also be in the form of support. The Indian Constitution grants the right to religious communities to set up their own schools and colleges. It also gives them financial aid on a nonpreferential basis.

In what way is Indian secularism different from that of other democratic countries?

•        Some of the above objectives are similar to those that have been included in the Constitutions of secular democratic countries in other parts of the world. For example, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the legislature from making laws “respecting an establishment of religion” or that “prohibit the free exercise of religion”. What is meant by the word ‘establishment’ is that the legislature cannot declare any religion as the official religion. Nor can they give preference to one religion. In the U.S.A. the separation between State and religion means that neither the State nor religion can interfere in the affairs of one another.

•        There is one significant way in which Indian secularism differs from the dominant understanding of secularism as practised in the United States of America. This is because unlike the strict separation between religion and the State in American secularism, in Indian secularism the State can intervene in religious affairs.

•        Indian Constitution intervened in Hindu religious practices in order to abolish untouchability.

•        In Indian secularism, though the State is not strictly separate from religion it does maintain a principled distance vis-à-vis religion. This means that any interference in religion by the State has to be based on the ideals laid out in the Constitution.

•        The Indian State is secular and works in various ways to prevent religious domination.

•        The Indian Constitution guarantees Fundamental Rights that are based on these secular principles.

•        However, this is not to say that there is no violation of these rights in Indian society. Indeed it is precisely because such violations happen frequently that we need a constitutional mechanism to prevent them from happening.

•        The knowledge that such rights exist makes us sensitive to their violations and enables us to take action when these violations take place.

Word Glossary:

•        Secularism: it refers to the separation of religion from the state.

•        Coercion: Forcing someone to do something. In the chapter, the term refers to the force used by a legal authority such as State.

•        Freedom of Interpret: It refers to the freedom that all persons shall have to understand things in their own way. In the chapter, it refers to individual liberty to develop their own understanding and meaning of the region they practice.

•        Intervene: In the chapter, the term refers to the state’s efforts to influence a particular matter in accordance with the principles of the constitution.

 

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