Intra-religious domination

Topic: Secularism: Western and Indian Models · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 8 "Secularism"

Meaning

Intra-religious domination is when one group inside a religion oppresses other members of the same religion, for example by treating women as unequal, keeping dalits out of temples, or punishing members who disagree.

It matters because Indian secularism fights this as firmly as it fights domination of one religion by another. To do this, the Indian State may step inside a religion to end unfair treatment. Strict Western-style separation of State and religion does not allow this.

Explanation

What it is

• Intra means "within". The oppressor and the victim belong to the same faith.
• Inter means "between". Inter-religious domination is when one religious community oppresses another.
• Secularism opposes both. Its negative goal is a society free of inter-religious and intra-religious domination.
• Its positive goal has three parts:
• freedom within religions
• equality between religions
• equality within religions

Ending intra-religious domination serves the first and the third.

The forms it takes (NCERT)

• Gender inequality: very few religions treat men and women equally.
• Caste exclusion: dalits have long been barred from Hindu temples. In some places, Hindu women have been barred too.
• Capture by conservatives: a religion's organisations are often controlled by its most conservative group. That group allows no dissent.
• Sects and persecution: religions split into sects (smaller groups inside one religion). Sects often persecute members who disagree.
• Example: in 1974, Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims.

Why secularism is not anti-religion

• Karl Marx (1844) called religion the "opium of the masses". He meant that it dulls pain like a drug, and he believed it would disappear once people's material needs were met.
• NCERT rejects this view:
• Humans can never fully control disease, accidents, losing loved ones or death.
• Religion, art and philosophy help people cope with this suffering.

• So religion will not simply disappear.

• Result: secularism opposes religious domination, including domination inside a faith. It does not oppose religion itself.

Link to fundamentalism and its limits

• Religious fundamentalism is a rigid form of religion that allows no dissent. It is usually led by the most conservative group in the faith. It is the extreme form of intra-religious domination.
• NCERT's example is parts of the USA.

• It threatens peace inside a country and between countries.

• Limit on the State: the State may reform a religion only through law. The right to religious freedom still stands, subject to public order, morality, health and the other Fundamental Rights [3].

In the Constitution and practice

• Article 17 abolishes "untouchability" (treating dalits as "impure") and forbids it in any form. Enforcing any disability that comes from untouchability is an offence punishable by law [2].
• Article 25(1) gives all persons equal freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. This right is subject to public order, morality, health and the other Fundamental Rights [3].
• Article 25(2)(b) lets the State make laws for social welfare and reform. It also lets the State open Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus. This is the legal basis for temple-entry laws [3].
• Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955: it is a punishable offence to stop a person, on grounds of untouchability, from entering a public place of worship that is open to others of the same religion [4].
• Preamble: the word 'secular' was added by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 [5]. The Supreme Court has said this only stated openly what the Constitution already meant [5].
• S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994):
• A nine-judge bench held that secularism is a basic feature of the Constitution [5].

• It is part of the basic structure, meaning a core part that Parliament cannot destroy even by amendment.

• In practice:

• These provisions let the Indian State open temples to dalits and punish caste exclusion inside Hinduism.
• Western secularism keeps a strict wall between State and religion, so such reform from inside is a clear departure from it.

Don't confuse with

• Inter-religious domination: one religious community oppresses another community, as in the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre. Intra-religious domination happens within one faith.
• Ahmadis in Pakistan (1974) as an inter-religious case: this is a common trap. Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims by others who claim the same faith, so NCERT treats it as intra-religious domination.
• Secularisation: a sociological process in which religion's role in society declines over time. Opposing intra-religious domination is part of secularism, which is a normative doctrine (a theory of how society ought to be).
• Article 26: it covers the rights of religious denominations to manage their own affairs. Temple entry for all Hindus is in Article 25(2)(b), not Article 26 [3].

Prelims Hooks

• NCERT's example of intra-religious domination by a sect: Pakistan, 1974, Ahmadis declared non-Muslims.
• Article 25(2)(b) allows Hindu religious institutions of a public character to be opened to all classes and sections of Hindus. Trap: this is Article 25, not Article 26 [3].
• Article 17 abolishes untouchability. It is enforced through the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, which punishes blocking entry to places of worship on grounds of untouchability [2][4].
• Secularism's positive goal includes equality within religions and freedom within religions. These two directly target intra-religious domination.
• "Opium of the masses" is from Marx (1844). NCERT rejects it, so secularism is not anti-religious.
• S.R. Bommai (1994), a nine-judge bench, held that secularism is part of the basic structure [5].

Mains Points

• "Principled distance" vs. religious autonomy:
• Through Articles 17 and 25(2)(b), the Indian State can reform a religion from inside to end caste and gender inequality.
• Critics say this can go too far into a religion's right to run its own affairs.

• Supporters say equality within a religion needs the State to step in, because the dominant group inside the faith will not give up power on its own.

• Answer to the "pseudo-secularism" charge:

• Indian secularism rejects Marx's thesis and respects people's faith.
• It opposes domination both between and within religions.

• So reforming Hindu temple entry, or opposing gender inequality in any faith, follows from one consistent principle. It does not single out any one religion.

• Fundamentalism as a security and unity threat:

• Conservative capture of a faith silences dissenters and reformers.
• Fundamentalism threatens peace inside a country and between countries.
• Bommai (1994) made secularism part of the basic structure, which gives the State a constitutional duty to resist such domination [5].

Related concepts

• Secularism
• Inter-religious domination
• Religion as the opium of the masses
• Religious fundamentalism

Read more

• What secularism opposes: inter- and intra-religious domination