Article 25 - Indian Constitution [with Explanation]

This article is a compilation of Article 25 as it is. You can understand it well, that’s why its explanation is also given below, you must read it. Its explanation is also available in Hindi, for this you can use the link given below;

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📖 Read This Article in Hindi

Article 25

Chapters of Content

📜 Article 25

25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion — (1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law—
(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;
(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.

Explanation I — The wearing and carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion.
Explanation II — In sub-clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly.

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🔍 Explanation

Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, socio-cultural systems, shared practices and world views that link humanity to an order of existence.

Religion is usually a symbol, a sacred history or scripture, a system of worship and an ideology whose main purpose is to find the meaning of life, its origin or explanation of the universe, or to achieve spiritual transcendence.

Religious freedom is also mentioned in our Preamble and this shows its importance. Religious freedom should also be given priority. Because in a way, our values, our values, our social norms are largely governed by religion.

Perhaps that is why we chose the path of secularism so that all religions can work together to establish a multi-religious society with a common goal, to make India prosperous, to give India the prestige it deserves in the world, etc.

There are a total of four articles in the ‘ right to religious freedom ‘ (which you can see in the chart below), in this article we are going to understand the first article i.e. article 25 .

Right to religious freedom ↗️
⚫ Article 25 – Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion ⚫ Article 26 – Freedom to manage religious affairs ⚫ Article 27 – Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion. ⚫ Article 28 – Freedom to attend religious education

| Article 25 – Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion

The first clause of Article 25 says that subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part (i.e. Part III of the Constitution), all persons are entitled to freedom of conscience. and shall have equal right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion .

(1) The first thing to be understood here is that the freedom of conscience, the freedom to freely believe, practice and propagate religion given under Article 25 is not absolute. Rather it is subject to restrictions .

And that is restriction, public order, morality, health and part 3 of the constitution.

Overall, this means that religious freedom comes under the public interest. It means to say that anarchy cannot be spread in the name of religion, gathering in the name of religion cannot be allowed to spread any disease like Corona.

(2)The second thing is that religious freedom is under Part 3 of the Constitution. That is, no person can be denied equality in the name of religion or no person can be denied the right to live in the name of religion .

(3)The third thing is that in this article, instead of the word ” citizen “, the word ” all persons ” has been used. That is, religious freedom is not limited to the citizens of India, but foreigners also get this right.

(4) The fourth thing is that there are four main terms under Article 25(1) – freedom of conscience, freedom to freely profess, practice and propagate religion . What does this mean let us understand one by one;

Freedom of conscience – Under this, every person has the fundamental right to have religious beliefs according to the thoughts of his conscience and to express those religious beliefs and beliefs through such behavior which is approved by religion.

In other words, any person can make whatever relationship he wants with his God. If someone wants, he can become a devotee of God and if someone wants, he can also become a friend. So do whatever your conscience tells you in this matter.

Right to believe – This right is based on the principle that freedom of conscience would be meaningless if there was no freedom to freely express faith in word or deed .

That is why under it the right has been given to declare one’s religious belief and faith publicly and without fear.

Right to Practice –It means, the right to perform religious rituals or worship, tradition or custom or any ceremony and to demonstrate one’s faith and thoughts.

It simply means that you can worship God in whatever way you want, in whatever way you want, you can bring it into your behavior.

Right of propagation – Propagation means presenting your faith or your religious principles to other people. This has been done so that any person can spread his religion, spread its good things; So that there is a kind of continuity in religion.

But remember here that it does not mean conversion at all because doing so would be encroaching on the freedom of conscience of that person.

Yes, if a person voluntarily adopts any other religion according to his conscience, then it is not called conversion. That is why this provision is disputed as there is no way to know whether a person has done so voluntarily or not.

Overall, Article 25 ensures personal religious freedom . Let us understand some constitutional interpretations related to religion;

In Articles 25 and 26, there is not only freedom to practice or propagate on matters of faith or belief, but freedom to perform all religious acts and rites which the followers of any religion consider to be part of religion.
Believing in the existence of God is not necessary in religion. For example, Buddhism and Jainism do not believe in God.
Actions performed in pursuance of religious conduct or religious belief are considered part of religion.
What is the substantial part of religion, it is known primarily from the principles of religion. And finally the higher court interprets it. As you must have heard that Allahabad High Court had said that loudspeaker is not an integral part of Islam.

Remember here that a society or organization whose object is to propagate any philosophy does not get protection under Article 25 or Article 26. Like Arvind Society.

So far we have understood clause 1 of article 25. As we have seen above there are two clauses under Article 25, so let us now understand its second clause;

Article 25(2)(a)

Article 25(2)(a) says that nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law which—Regulates or restricts any economic, financial, political or other temporal activity associated with religious practice.

Meaning to say that there is generally no interference by the state on religious practices. As long as it is not against public order, health or morality.

But such activities which are related to religious conduct but in reality they are economic, social or political, then their regulation can be done by the state.

Article 25(2)(b)

Article 25(2)(b) says that nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law which—Provides for the opening of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus for social welfare and reform.

There are two main terms here – (1) social reform and (2) opening of Hindu religious institutions to all .

social reform– The simple meaning of social reform is to end such practices or beliefs which hinder the progress of the country and it is not an integral part of religion.

Keeping this in mind, the recognition of second marriage of Hindus has been abolished. And many such reforms have been done over time.

Hindu religious institutions to be open to all – Every member of the Hindu society has the right of entry to worship in a public temple. This provision is very controversial, especially regarding the Sabarimala temple.

However, remember here that this provision is read with Article 26(b). That is, Articles 25(2)(b) and 26(b) are interpreted with the help of each other.

Article 26(b) gives the right to manage its religious affairs. That is, under Article 26(b), the trustees of a Hindu sect have the right to exclude people of other sects according to the rites of their temple.

But if the state wants, it can override that right by making a law under this section .

remember thatThis clause applies only to public institutions, not private institutions.

And secondly, the term Hindu used here also includes Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. And wearing and carrying a saber has been considered a part of the belief in Sikhism, so only Sikhs have been given the right to wear a saber.

The hijab controversy is a related issue in which the Muslim side says that it is an integral part of Islam. If they prove this, then Muslim women can probably go to school wearing hijab.

So overall this is Article 25, I hope you have understood. To understand other paragraphs, you can use the link given below.

So overall this is Article 25, I hope you have understood. To understand other article, you can use the link given below.

| Related Article

Hindi Articles	English Articles
⚫ अनुच्छेद 23 ⚫ अनुच्छेद 24 ⚫ अनुच्छेद 26 ⚫ अनुच्छेद 27	⚫ Article 23 ⚫ Article 24 ⚫ Article 26 ⚫ Article 27

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⚫ Basics of Parliament
⚫ Fundamental Rights
⚫ Judiciary in India
⚫ Executive in India

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Disclaimer - The articles and their interpretations presented here are based on the original Constitution (latest edition), DD Basu's commentary on the Constitution (mainly) and various scholars of the Constitution (whose writings are available in newspapers, magazines and audio-visuals on the Internet). We have just tried to make it interesting and easy to understand.