Right to Freedom of Religion (Article 25-28) @militarychoicebl | Military Choice

Right to Freedom of Religion (Article 25-28) @militarychoiceblog

Freedom of Conscience, Profession, Practice and Propagation: Article 25 of the Constitution of India provides the freedom of conscience, to profess, to practice and to propagate any religion. These rights are available to citizens as well as non-citizens.

◦ Conscience: A person may or may not choose to follow any religion.
◦ Right to Profess: One can declare his/her religious beliefs and faith openly and freely.
◦ Right to Practice: Performance of religious worship, rituals, ceremonies and exhibition of beliefs and ideas.
◦ Right to Propagate: Persuading people to convert from one religion to another. However, the Constitution does not allow forcible conversions.
• It only gives us the right to spread information about our religion and thus attract others to it.
◦ Limitations: The government can impose restrictions on the practice of freedom of religion in order to protect public order, morality and health.

Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs: Article 26 of the Indian Constitution provides every religious denomination (or any section of it) the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes.
◦ It also empowers the religious denominations to manage their own affairs in matters of religion.
◦ Moreover, the right to own and acquire movable and immovable property and the right to administer such property is also provided to every religious denomination.
◦ The rights provided under Article 26 are also subjected to public order, morality and health.

Freedom from Taxation for Promotion of a Religion: The Indian Constitution under Article 27 lays down that no person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.
◦ It says that no public money, collected through taxes, shall be spent for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion.
• Favouring, patronising or supporting any religion over the other is prohibited.
◦ It prohibits only levy of a tax and not a fee.
• The purpose of a fee is to control secular administration of religious institutions and not to promote or maintain religion.

Freedom from Attending Religious Instruction: Article 28 states that no religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State (the territory of India) funds.
◦ However, the provision is not applicable to educational institutions administered by the State or established under any endowment or trust.
◦ Moreover, no person is required to attend any religious instructions or worship without his consent in any educational institution recognised by the State or receiving aid out of State funds.
• In case of a minor, the consent of his guardian is needed.

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