Students must practice these AP Inter 1st Year Civics Important Questions 10th Lesson Secularism to boost their exam preparation.
AP Inter 1st Year Civics Important Questions 10th Lesson Secularism
Long Answer Questions
Question 1.
Define Secularism and explain the conceptions of Secularism.
Answer:
Definitions:
- G.J. Holyoake defines “Secularism is an idea of promoting a social order as separate from religion without actively dismissing or criticising religious beliefs.”
- Eric S. Waterhouse defines “Secularism is an ideology which provides a theory of life and conduct as against one provided in religion.”
Conceptions of Secularism: Conceptions of secularism may be explained as follows:
1. Secularism – a humanistic and atheistic philosophy:
Secularism has several personal, cultural, political and social implications. It was humanistic in nature as it seeks the well-being of human beings. It assigns importance to the saying that man is the measure of till things. It neither supports nor opposes religion. It allows individuals with the discretion of choosing and following their religion.
2. Political and social dimension:
Secularism has certain political and social dimensions. It stands for the achievement of autonomous political and social order having naturalistic and materialistic perspectives. It allows religious freedom in the matters of family, association and society.
3. Liberty and democracy:
Secularism serves as a beneficial element of liberty and democracy. It also acts as the basis of liberal democracy. It strongly opposes the existence, continuance and survival of authoritarian religious leaders and institutions. It advocated democracy and decentralisation of governmental powers.
4. Opposition to religion:
Secularism is vehemently opposed to the supporting of religion in public matters. It condemned the presence and dominance of eclesiastical authorities. It relegated religion to unimportant matters of life. It considered that people could follow their rituals without affecting the peace and order in society.
Question 2.
Describe the meaning and various dimensions of Secularism.
Answer:
Meaning: The term ‘Secular’ in Latin language means ‘of this world’. It denotes the meaning ‘the opposite of religion’. Secularism is essentially an advocacy of independent, separate or distinct ideologies separate from religion. It is a view of life based on the principle that morality, education and government should not be related to the religion. Secularism does not aim at repudiation of religion. It merely assures that Church and State are two separate entities.
Dimensions of Secularism:
Secularism is expected to have basically three dimensions. They are i. Social Dimension, ii. Economic Dimension, iii. Political Dimension. They may be explained as follows.
i. Social Dimension:
Secularism stands for eschewing or ignoring superstitions in social life. It never allows individuals to think and act in terms of one’s caste, colour, creed, etc. It desires individuals to abstain untouchability, bonded labour and other evil practices in their day to day activities while dealing with their neighbours. It advises them to treat others on equal and respectable manner. It cautions them against the practice of caste disparities, colour differentiations, racial bigotry, etc. At the end, it prescribed harmonious relations between individuals in society.
ii. Economic Dimension:
Economic dimension of secularism relates to the freedom of individuals to embrace, practise and propagate an occupation which they like best. It restrains them against the practice of religious discrimination between individuals in utilizing natural, human and economic resources in productive operations. It did not allow the State authorities to observe discretion in sanctioning permits and licenses to the entrepreneurs on religious grounds. It assigns significance to elements like merit, talent, enterprising spirit, etc. while allocating industrial licenses and other operations among individuals in the economy.
iii. Political Dimension:
Secularism has also some political dimensions. It allows the citizens to have complete freedom in political affairs. It believes that politics, administration, legislation and execution of public policies are entirely different from religious matters. Accordingly citizens in a secular state are conferred several political rights and freedoms in choosing the candidates and exercising their franchise during elections. It gives scope for any citizen to hold any public office within the state irrespective of religious considerations. It will not consider religion as a pre-requisite for granting political rights.
Question 3.
What do you know about the meaning and merits of Secularism?
Answer:
Meaning: The term ‘Secular’ in Latin language means ‘of this world’. It denotes the meaning ‘the opposite of religion’. Secularism is essentially an advocacy of independent, separate or distinct ideologies separate from religion. It is a view of life based on the principle that morality, education and government should not be related to the religion. Secularism does not aim at repudiation of religion. It merely assures that Church and State are two separate entities.
The merits of secularism may be explained as follows:
1. Equality:
Secularism forms as the basis of equalitarian society. It treats the people belonging to all religious denominations as equal. It gives no recognition to the man-made inequalities and discriminations based on caste, colour, community, region, religion, language, race, etc. People will have a strong favourable impression towards the nation.
2. Religious Freedom:
Secularism enables the individuals to enjoy their religious freedom to their full extent. The state will not interfere in the religious affairs of individuals. The Constitution and various laws in a secular state will provide individuals with complete freedom to embrace, profess, practice and propagate any religion as they like.
3. Law and Order:
Nowadays one can observe unhappy, miserable and pro-religious movements that are organized by different sections of government, state and other department. The maintenance of communal harmony became a challenging task for the state in pacifying the feelings of the people belonging to various religious denominations. Secularism avoids communed clashes and religious bigotry and animosities in the society. This is due to the fact that secularism ultimately promotes religious harmony among the people.
4. Rule of Law:
Secularism accords recognition to the concept of Rule of Law. A state following secularism will enact laws and implements them keeping in view the interest of not a particular religious denomination, the people belonging to all religious denomination.
5. Tolerance:
Secularism preaches tolerance and kindness. It believes in universal brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God. It professes, propagates and practices the noble principles of charity, kindness, love, magnanimity, non-violence, etc. As a result, secularism is characterized by the peaceful co-existence of people and smooth working of the polity and social institutions in the state.
6. National Integration:
Secularism serves as the best means for fostering national unity and integrity feelings among the people. It is also considered as the best device for achieving unity in diversity. It brings unity among the people of various religious beliefs and practices.
7. Protection to the Minorities:
Secularism treats all alike. It makes no discrimination between the people of majority and other sections of society. At the same time it extends special facilities to the minority sections for preserving and promoting their interests against the dominance of majority religious group. It teaches the people about the significance of religious tolerance towards minority sections.
Question 4.
Define Secular State and elaborate the features and importance of Secular State. [March. 2016]
Answer:
A secular state is defined as the state that has no official religion. It is exactly an opposite view of a theocratic state. A secular state does not mean that it does not have religions in it. All religions existed in it. All religions carry their activities in these states without any hindrances. At maximum, a state may impose reasonable restrictions on the religious activities to maintain either public order, decency, morality, or peace. Religion is a personal matter of the individual. State does not interfere in the religious activities in normal course. State does not have any particular religion nor it recognizes one. It does not provide funds to any one particular religion for its propagation. State does not discriminate between the individuals in the name of religion. Religion has no role to play in the state activities.
Features of Secularism: Secularism has the following features
1. No place for religion:
Secular state does not assign significance to any particular religion. It will not make laws or implement them on religious grounds.
2. Equal status:
Secular state accords equal status to its people. It makes no differentiation between individuals on the grounds of their caste, colour, community, religion, race, region, language, etc. As a result, people will have satisfaction and extend co-operation to the government in the implementation of various policies and programmes. They live together with the fellow members of other religious denominations.
3. No state religion:
Secular state does not recognize any particular religion as the state religion. It adopts neutral policy in religious matters. It implements various laws, and social welfare measures without basing on the religious feelings of the people. It will not assign special role to any particular religion in public activities. All public places like educational institutions, government offices and judicial organizations will carry on their activities without aligning to a particular religion.
Importance of Secular State:
The concept of Secular State became more important in recent years. Factors like spread of democratic spirit, science and technology, development of transport and communication facilities, rational thinking, welfarism, etc. led to the growing importance of secular state. On the whole, importance of secular state may be explained with the following points.
- Secular state strengthens the non-religious forces in different fields in the state.
- It drives away the social evils and superstitions from the minds of the people.
- It contributes to social reformation by driving away the communal bigotry arid religious fundamentalism.
- It promotes scientific temper and helps intellectual progress of the people.
Question 5.
Point out Secularism in Indian context.
Answer:
After independence the Constitution of India provided for secularism as the basic philosophy underlying the organization and functioning of Indian Republic. Accordingly the Constitution of India declared India as a secular state. The governments in India (including the union, state, provincial and local authorities. adopt secularism in theory and practice. It should not practise religion in public matters in the matters of legislation, execution and administration of the state. People of India are allowed complete religious freedom for professing, practising and propagating their respective religious beliefs. The state will be neither irreligious nor anti religious. Instead, it adopts a neutral policy in religious matters. It is not entitled to impose taxes or collect them purely on religious grounds. Admissions into the state or government aided institutions are completely prohibited on religious grounds. Similarly, propagation of religious programmes in public institutions are banned. Hence secularism carries a lot of importance as per the constitutional provisions.
It may be noted that the word ‘Secular’ did not find place at first in the Constitution. The Preamble too did not contain any wording of secularism. However, keeping in view the ongoing communed incidents for decades together after independence, the top leaders in the union government felt the need for incorporating the word ‘secular’ in the Preamble. They wanted to avoid religious tensions and forbid communal clashes between the various religious denominations in India. The Constitution (Forty Second Amendment. Act, 1976 made a provision for the word ‘Secular’ in the Preamble. Smt. Indira Gandhi, India’s third Prime Minister, at the time of introducing the Constitution (Forty Second Amendment. bill in Parliament stated thus “Secularism is neither favouring nor showing indifference to a religion to religion. It implies equal respect for all religious denominations. There is no future for any nation by adopting mere tolerance. Positive respect by every religious group towards other religious groups is the need of the hour”.
Question 6.
Is India a Secular State ? Justify this with some examples.
Answer:
The Indian Constitution proclaims that India is a secular state. The term ‘Secularism’ was included in the Preamble of the Constitution and incorporated ‘Freedom of Religion’ as a “fundamental right” guaranteed to all the citizens in the third chapter of the Constitution.
Articles 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution guarantee for all the Indian citizens, freedom to worship, to follow and to propagate any religion of their own choice. Thus the secular traditions and values of India are enshrined in the Constitution of India.
India is a secular state. It is justified by the fact that the secular roots of our country are so strong in the Indian Constitution in the form of right to freedom of religion from Articles 25 to 28 as mentioned below. Right to freedom of religion denotes the secular nature of Indian political system. It aims at transforming India into a perfect secular state. Both the citizens and aliens enjoy this right.
Article 25 empowers every person to profess, practise and propagate a religion of his liking. However, the state can make a law regulating the activities of religious publicity or propaganda by the individuals in the larger national interests. Individuals, while enjoying or popularizing religion must consider public order, morality and health of others in the country.
Article 26 guarantees every person to
- Establish and maintain religious and charitable institutions.
- Manage his/her religious affairs.
- Own and acquire moveable and immovable properties, and
- Maintain such properties in accordance with law.
Article 27 prohibits the state to impose or collect taxes from individuals purely on religious grounds. It also forbids the state to impose and collect taxes for the benefit of a particular religion.
Article 28 bans religious instructions in educational institutions wholly or partly receiving state aid.
Question 7.
Suggest measures for making India a Secular State.
Answer:
The measures for making India a secular state may be explained as follows –
1. The ministers and government officers shall not attend to or participate in the meetings held by religious associations. They shall not adopt any religious methods or poojas at the time of laying foundation or inaugurating the public buildings or programmes and give an impression that they do not favour a particular religion.
2. Government shall ban all those religious associations which carry on their activities against national or social interests, and the Constitution.
3. Government shall not allow the construction of religious structures which may impede peace and tranquility in a particular locality.
4. Government shall implement land reforms, family welfare, employment generation and other programmes without any religious bias.
5. Government shall ban those political parties which use religion for securing votes. Similarly, all parties formed on communal basis shall be banned. Use of religious sysmbols during elections should be banned.
6. Government shall take steps for publishing textbooks on secular basis. The text books shall consist of lessons preaching religious tolerance or universal religion.
7. Efforts shall be made for solving the various social and economic problems on rational and scientific basis without reference to religion.
8. The various information and communication agencies shall not disseminate information and incidents on religious grounds. They shall not give undue importance to communed riots which may provoke further unrest between the same groups elsewhere.
Short Answer Questions
Question 1.
Write about the origin of Secularism.
Answer:
The ancient Roman emperors denied recognition to the Christian religion. In the medieval period social and religious reformers like Martin Luther and Calvin Zwingle challenged the spiritual monopoly of religious heads. They advocated that religion and spiritual matters are purely personal and private matters. Their speeches marked a break through in religious matters. In modern period, political thinkers like Machiavelli and Jean Bodin emphasized the need for the separation of religion from politics. John Locke and other liberal thinkers advised the people to follow religious tolerance. In course of time, the writings of the above thinkers influenced the people who began to treat religion as a private and personal affair. In the United States, President Thomas Jafforson explained the real meaning of secularism by stating that there exists a wall of separation between the state and the religion.
Question 2.
List out the factors that led to the spread of Secularism. [May. 2022]
Answer:
The factors that led to the spread of secularism may be explained as follows.
- People’s negative attitude towards superstitions
- Spread of rational thinking
- Spread of democratic values and institutions
- Advancement in science and technology
- Awareness about the evils of religion
- Impact of social legislation
- Need for secular approach
- Social and economic betterment of individuals
- Influence of secular political leadership
- Importance to international peace and order.
Question 3.
Narrate any three conceptions of Secularism.
Answer:
The three concepts of secularism may be explained as follows.
A. Secularism – a humanistic and atheistic philosophy:
Secularism has several personal, cultural, political and social implications. It was humanistic in nature as it seeks the well-being of human beings. It assigns importance to the saying that man is the measure of all things. It neither supports nor opposes religion. It allows individuals with the discretion of choosing and following their religion.
B. Political and social dimension:
Secularism has certain political and social dimensions. It stands for the achievement of autonomous political and social order having naturalistic and materialistic perspectives. It allows religious freedom in the matters of family, association and society.
C. Liberty and democracy:
Secularism serves as a beneficial element of liberty and democracy. It also acts as the basis of liberal democracy. It strongly opposes the existence, continuance and survival of authoritarian religious leaders and institutions. It advocated democracy and decentralisation of governmental powers.
Question 4.
Briefly analyse the dimensions of Secularism.
Answer:
The dimensions of secularism may be analysed as follows.
i. Social Dimension:
Secularism stands for eschewing or ignoring superstitions in social life. It never allows individuals to think find act in terms of one’s caste, colour, creed, etc. It desires individuals to abstain untouchability, bonded labour and other evil practices in their day to day activities while deeding with their neighbours. It advises them to treat others on equal and respectable manner.
ii. Economic Dimension:
Economic dimension of secularism relates to the freedom of individuals to embrace, practise and propagate an occupation which they like best. It restrains them against the practise of religious discrimination between individuals in utilizing natural, human and economic resources in productive operations. It did not allow the State authorities to observe discretion in sanctioning permits and licenses to the entrepreneurs on religious grounds.
iii. Political Dimension:
Secularism has also some political dimensions. It allows the citizens to have complete freedom in political affairs. It believes that politics, administration, legislation, and execution of public policies are entirely different from religious matters. Accordingly citizens in a secular state are conferred several political rights and freedoms in choosing the candidates and exercising their franchise during elections. It gives scope for any citizen to hold any public office within the state irrespective of religious considerations.
Question 5.
What do you mean by theocracy or theocratic state?
Answer:
The state having an official religion is called a Theocratic State. In such states all other religions or religious activities are either prohibited or discouraged, or highly regulated or controlled by the state. AN the official and important offices of the state are either appoirfted or elected only those from the official religion. State officially participates in the religious affairs and rituals. State provides funds to the religious propagation and to the restoration or construction of the places of worship. Religious co-existence and religious tolerance are said to be minimal in these states. The religious teachers and the religious rituals play a pivotal role in state affairs. Religious personal law is predominant in the enactment of laws and in the way of life of the people. Even in food habits and dress, the importance of religions dictates the public life. States like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and so many other Islamic states are the best examples of a theocratic state.
Question 6.
Distinguish between secular state and theocratic state.
Answer:
Secular state and theocratic state are not same and identical. They completely differ from each other as mentioned below.
Secular State
- Secular state is based on elements other than religion.
- There will be no official religion in a secular state.
- Citizens belonging to all religions enjoy religious freedom without any discrimination.
- Rule of law prevails in a secular state.
- Secular state is based on the principle of equality of all religions.
Theocratic State
- Theocratic state is based primarily on religious elements.
- There will be a particular religion which is declared as official religion in a theocratic state.
- Citizens of a particular majority religion will have priority and privileges over those of other religious denominations.
- Religious diktats take precedence over the ordinary laws.
- It is based on the principle that official religion is prominent than any other religion.
Question 7.
Explain any four merits of Secularism.
Answer:
The four merits of secularism may be explained as follows.
i. Equality:
Secularism forms as the basis of equalitarian society. It treats the people of all religions equally. ‘
ii. Religious freedom:
Secularism enables all the individuals to enjoy their religious freedom to their full extent. The state or the government will not interfere in the religious activities of the people living in the secular state.
iii. Law and order:
Secularism avoids communal clashes and religious bigotry and animosities in the society. This is due to the fact that secularism ultimately promotes religious harmony among the people wHich paves the way for the maintenance of proper law and order.
iv. Rule of law:
Secularism gives utmost importance to the concept of ‘Rule of Law’. A state following secularism will enact laws and implements them keeping in view the interests of not a particular religious community, but it keeps in mind the interests of all the religious communities.
Question 8.
What are the features of Secular State?
Answer:
The features of secular state may be explained as follows. They are:
i. No place for religion:
Secular state does not assign any significance to any particular religion. It will not make laws or implement them on religious grounds.
ii. Equal status:
Secular state accords equal status to its people. It makes no differentiation between individuals on the grounds of their caste, colour, community, religion, race, region, language, etc. As a result, people will have satisfaction and extend co-operation to the government in the implementation of various policies and programmes. They live together with the fellow members of other religious denominations.
iii. No state religion:
Secular state does not recognize any particular religion as the state religion. It adopts neutral policy in religious matters. It implements various laws and social welfare measures without basing on the religious feelings of the people. It will not assign special role to any particular religion in public activities. All public places like educational institutions, government offices and judicial organizations will carry on their activities without aligning to a particular religion.
Question 9.
Write about the importance of Secular State.
Answer:
The concept of Secular State became more important in recent years. Factors like spread of democratic spirit, science and technology, development of transport and communication facilities, rational thinking, welfarism, etc. led to the growing importance of secular state. On the whole, importance of secular state may be explained with the following points.
- Secular state strengthens the non-religious forces in different fields in the state.
- It drives away the social evils and superstitions from the minds of the people.
- It contributes to social reformation by driving away the communal bigotry and religious fundamentalism.
- It promotes scientific temper and helps intellectual progress of the people.
Very Short Answer Questions
Question 1.
Define Secularism.
Answer:
- G.J. Holyoake defines “Secularism is an idea of promoting a social order as separate from religion without actively dismissing or criticising religious beliefs.”
- Eric S. Waterhouse defines “Secularism is an ideology which provides a theory of life and conduct as against one provided in religion.”
Question 2.
What are the types of Secularism?
Answer:
Secularism is of two types, namely,
- Subjective
- Objective.
Subjective secularism means the gradual separation of religious feelings from everyday transactions of the people. Objective secularism implies the elimination of religious rituals and institutions from public life and government activity.
Question 3.
What is D.E. Smith’s definition of Secularism?
Answer:
D.E. Smith stated three connotations of secularism. They are : a. Liberty and freedom of religion b. Citizenship and the right to equality, non-discrimination and neutrality c. Separation of state from religion.
Question 4.
Write about origin of Secularism.
Answer:
The term Secular’ in Latin language means of this world’. It implies the meaning the opposite of religion’. In modern times, the term was used at first by G.J. Holyoake, a British writer in 1851.
Question 5.
Mention any four factors that led to the spread of Secularism.
Answer:
- People’s native attitude towards superstitions
- Spreading rational thinking
- Spreading democratic values and institutions
- Advancement in science and technology.
Question 6.
Write about any one conception of secularism.
Answer:
Secularism has severed personal, cultural, political and social implications. It was humanistic in nature as it seeks the well-being of human beings. It assigns importance to the saying that man is the measure of all things. It neither supports nor opposes religion. It allows individuals with the discretion of choosing and following their religion.
Question 7.
What is the social dimension of Secularism?
Answer:
Secularism stands for eschewing or ignoring superstitions in social life. It never allows individuals to think and act in terms of one’s caste, colour, creed, etc. It desires individuals to abstain untouchability, bonded labour and other evil practices in their day to day activities while dealing with their neighbours. It advises them to treat others on equal and respectable manner.
Question 8.
What do you mean by theocracy? [May. 2022; Sep. 2021; Mar. ’20,’19,’18,’16; May ’17,’16; Mar. ’17 -A.P ; Mar. ’15 -T.S& A.P]
Answer:
The state having an official religion is called a Theocratic State. In such states all other religions or religious activities are either prohibited or discouraged, or highly regulated or controlled by the state. All the official and important offices of the state are either appointed or elected only those from the official religion. State officially participates in the religious affairs and rituals.
Question 9.
List out any two differences between secular state and theocratic state.
Answer:
- Secular state is based on elements other than religion, whereas theocratic state is based on religious elements.
- There will be no official religion in a secular state, whereas there will be a particular religion which is declared as official religion in a theocratic state.
Question 10.
In what way does secularism enable religious freedom to individual?
Answer:
Secularism does not recognize any particular religion as the state religion. Secular state adopts neutral policy in religious matters. It implements various laws and social welfare measures without basing on the religious feelings of the people.
Question 11.
How does rule of law promote Secularism?
Answer:
Secularism accords recognition to the concept of Rule of Law. A state following secularism will enact laws and implements them keeping in view the interest of not a particular religious denomination, the people belonging to all religious denominations. It will not take into account the religious dogmas while making laws. Similarly, it makes no discrimination between the people on the grounds of religion in the matters of legislation enforcement and adjudication of laws.
Question 12.
Define Secular State.
Answer:
A secular state is defined as that state which has no official religion. It is exactly an opposite view of a theocratic state. A secular state does not mean that it does not have religions in it. All religions existed in it. All religions carry their activities in these states without any hindrances. At maximum, a state may impose reasonable restrictions on the religious activities to maintain either public order, decency, morality or peace.
Question 13.
Write about any two features of Secular State.
Answer:
i. No place for religion:
Secular states does not give any significance to any particular religion. It will not make laws or implement them on religious grounds.
ii. Equal status:
Secular state accords equal status to its people. It makes no differentiation between individuals on the grounds of their caste, colour, creed, sex, etc.
Question 14.
What is the importance of Secular State?
Answer:
The concept of Secular State became more important in recent years. Factors like spread of democratic spirit, science and technology, development of transport and communication facilities, rational thinking, welfarism, etc. led to the growing importance of secular state.
Question 15.
Mention any two elements that justify India as a Secular State.
Answer:
- The term ‘secular’ was included in the Indian Constitution in the year 1976 through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act.
- Indian Constitution guarantees six fundamental rights out of which, the most promising right i.e. right to freedom of religion from articles 25 to 28, is enough to justify India as a secular state.