FREEDOM OF RELIGION
- February 5, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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FREEDOM OF RELIGION
TOPIC: Indian Polity
Context- A Karnataka school’s denial of entry to six girls in hijab throws the spotlight on freedom of religion.
Concept-
How is religious freedom protected under the Constitution?
- Article 25:
- Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion.
- The provisions of this article are not absolute. State can take appropriate measures when it comes to public order, health, and morality;
- For example; the state can take measures to open Hindu religious places for all sections of the Hindu society. (The intervention done by the state in recent matters like the ‘triple talaq’ and ‘Sabarimala temple entry’ are associated with these provisions)
- Article 26:
- Freedom To Manage Religious Affairs-As per the provisions of this article all religious communities have the following rights (subject to morality, health, and public order);
- They have the right to form and maintain religious and charitable institutions.
- They have the right to manage their own religious affairs.
- They have the right to acquire property of both immovable and movable kind.
- They have the right to administer these properties subjected to the provisions of law.
- Article 27:
- Freedom to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion
- As per the provisions of this article people are free to give taxes for the religious promotion of any religion they want.
- However, the State cannot force the people to pay taxes for the promotion and maintenance of any religion or religious institution.
- Article 28:
- Freedom to attend religious instructions or religious worship in certain educational institutions.
- According to this article the institutions which are runned by particular religious groups have the right to give religious instructions.
- The educational institutions that are receiving the state funding are not allowed to practice religious instructions.
- If an institution has been run by the state but established as an endowment or trust which required religious instructions to be given there, are exempted from this restriction, and allowed to give such instructions.
- The person belonging to the state-run institution or the one which is funded by the state’s aid, cannot be compelled to join religious instructions or worship etc. without his/her consent.
- Freedom To Manage Religious Affairs-As per the provisions of this article all religious communities have the following rights (subject to morality, health, and public order);
What is the essential religious practices test?
- In 1954, the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion. The test to determine what is integral is termed the “essential religious practices” test.
- In several instances, the court has applied the test to keep certain practices out. In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform Tandava dance in public streets, since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.