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India is a highly religious country where religion plays an important role in the lives of many people. There are several important religions in India. Two of the world's great religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) originated in India as well as several other smaller religions. India also has the largest Muslim community in the world. While there was a horrifying explosion of religious hatred at the independence of the country (1948-49) and there have been scattered terrorist attacks, the various religious communities have for the most part managed to live in exceptionl harmony. The country's Muslim minority has for the most part found the country's democratic institutions offered adequate protections. It is unclear how rising Islamic fundamentalism and resort to violence will affect India. The country has a Hindu majority, but the state schools are secular. The Indian Constitution enshrines the right to practice, preach, and propagate any religion. No religious instruction is imparted or permitted in state schools or schools receiving state funding. We do note meditations in schools. I'm not sure how common this was. A reader writes, "The Indian state schools are secular. I am not sure if these meditations occur in state schools. There are, however, many private and religious schools in the country. Perhaps this is a Hindu school. Also some Christians in India have yoga meditation, so the school could be a Christian school."
India is a highly spiritual country where religion plays an important role in the lives of many people. There are several important religions in India. Two of the world's great religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) originated in India as well as several other smaller religions. India also has the largest Muslim community in the world. While there was a horrifying explosion of religious hatred at the independence of the country (1948-49) and there have been scattered terrorist attacks, the various religious communities have for the most part managed to live in exceptionl harmony. The country's Muslim minority has for the most part found the country's democratic institutions offered adequate protections. It is unclear how rising Islamic fundamentalism and resort to violence will affect India.
We do note meditations in schools. I'm not sure how common this was. Nor do we know if it is precrived as having religious content in the same way that prayer is viewed. A reader writes, "The Indian state schools are secular. I am not sure if these meditations occur in state schools. There are, however, many private and religious schools in the country. Perhaps this is a Hindu school. Also some Christians in India have yoga meditation, so the school could be a Christian school."
The preamble to the Constitution of India proclaimed India a "sovereign socialist democratic republic". The word secular was inserted into the Preamble by the Forty-second Amendment Act (1976). The term "socialist" reflects the degree to which socialism influences the many European colonies which became indepedent after World War II. The result was policies which retarded economic growth for many years until the free market reforms of the 1990s. This commitment to sicialism did not, however, affect the country's religious traditions. The Constitution mandates equal treatment and tolerance of all religious faiths. This is complicated by the fact that India has fought several wars with Muslim Pakistan which now haw nuclear weapons. India has a large Hindu majority, but there is no official state religion. This is in contrast to Muslim majority countries which do establish Islam as atate religion. The Indian Constitution enshrines the right to practice, preach, and propagate any religion. No religious instruction is imparted or permitted in state schools or schools receiving state funding. An exception here are university level institutions associated with religious groups. This secular approach to education has been tested in the courts. The Supreme Court of India found in S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India that secularism was an integral tenet of the Constitution.
I'm also not sure about Indian laws concerning schools operated by religious groups. They are clealy permitted. I am not sure to what extent they are regulated by the Government as to curciculum and extremist involvement. Religions are permitted to found schools. The largest religious school system are the thousands of Mslamic medrassas. I an not sure how the mrdrassas are financed. There is a security concern as a result of the wars with Muslim Pakistan and Islamic terrorism. Another issue is thst the educational achievement and literacy rate among Muslims is dar below tht of the majority Hindus. A key factor here is a reluctance of some Muslims to educate girls. There are also Hindu schools, but they are much smaller in number. There are also Christian schools some of which receive finding from Western churches.
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