Secularism

The concept of secularism is aimed to allow the freedom of practising religion and religious activities. 

By definition, secularism means segregating religion from any kinds of political, social, economic and cultural aspects and treating religion as a non-impactful entity.

Secularism exists to allow a secular society, one that’s free from inter and intra-religious dominations. Put simply, the concept of secularism aims to promote equality and freedom of practice between religions. 

India, being a secular country, allows people from all religions to freely indulge in their religious practices. This means anybody from a Hindu to a Muslim, a Christian to a Sikh; anybody can freely practice their religion without it being impacted by any political, social and economic factors.

Secularism in India

Now that we already know what secularism is, it becomes fairly important to understand the conceptions of secularism that were developed in India.

Indian secularism has ‘almost similar’ distinct conceptions that are:

• The Principled Distance Model of Secularism
• The Communal Harmony Model

The Principled Distance Model of Secularism

Being of the most recent models of secularism, the Principled Distance Model of Secularism entails a state to allow the religions to coexist peacefully with each other. This also includes mutual respect towards all religions.

This model proposes a principled distance between religion and other factors in India. 

Indian secularism treats every religion equally and doesn’t let political, social and cultural factors interfere with the regular religious practices of the people.

Not just that, but this model even allows the state to interfere in such cases where there’s any kind of discrimination in the name of religion. 

This states that anybody with a belief in any religion can indulge in any religious practices without anybody interfering in their beliefs.

The Communal Harmony Model

Based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi, the Communal Harmony Model is a notion where there’s just one God in different forms.

As Mahatma Gandhi was a seeker of communal unity, his beliefs included the fact that religions teach people to be good towards each other and respect each others’ beliefs. 

The true essence of religion is serving others and having moral ethics that benefit the people around us.

While this model wasn’t aimed towards a particular religion or a group of society, it laid the foundation of integrating mutual respect and regard within the different communities of people. 

There are instances when the integral harmony is disturbed. And when that happens, the authorities and the state have to step in. For that to happen, the state cannot be affiliated with any particular religion but needs to be distant from everybody.

The Western Model of Secularism

Quite misaligned from Indian secularism, western societies have naturally focused on dominating intra religious groups. 

While the state isn’t associated with the church or any other groups, there are often instances when minorities’ rights are neglected.

From a broader perspective, the state is expected ‘not’ to interfere with religious affairs the same way as religious parties don’t interfere with state affairs. A separate jurisdiction is given to each party where they are independent of reporting to each other.

While this may seem like an ideal democratic model, it also comes with its own set of guidelines. The state cannot extend any financial support to any of the educational institutions that are run by religious communities.  

In fact, all institutions falling under a religious community is such a jurisdiction that a state cannot interfere in.

Indian and Western Secularism – The difference

Fundamentally, Indian and Western secularism has their own set of differences that include:

Drawing the line 

While Western secularism focuses only on Church-state separation, the minorities often face issues that the state can’t handle right away. This is different in terms of Indian secularism. 

Indian secularism allows religions and beliefs to coexist peacefully without interfering in their affairs. If there are cases when a particular group or a section is exploited, the state can equally oppose this exploitation. 

The existence of every community 

Western secularism is just an agreement between a state and the church. However, Indian secularism is aimed towards the religious freedom of minority communities as well.

Indian secularism allows every individual to practise a religion they believe in, minorities and majorities of the society alike. Similarly, these minorities can have their own cultural and educational institutions.

State-supported religious reform

A part of a secular country also includes secularism across states, with every state having intra-religious domination. 

Indian secularism allows the idea of state-supported religious reform where the Indian constitution bans practices such as child marriage, religious taboos, and untouchability.

Conclusion 

Secularism, in its purest form, aims towards having absolutely no impact on any kind of religion by the state.

However, the distinction and disconnect between a state and its religion aren’t still enough to form a secular state. 

A secular state needs to be committed to such goals that focus on religious freedom, peace of the state and discrimination based on grounds like religion.

The ultimate goal is a peaceful state, and humans really can’t achieve this peace until they are respectful to each other’s religions, beliefs, and traditions.