When The State Plays God: The Paradox of Faith and Freedom

Faith, an individual’s glimmer of hope in trying times, the solace one seeks, takes an ugly turn when the state takes charge. The state, in the name of religion, begins to play god, the moral compass shifts and the dual-edged sword of balancing faith and individual liberty takes the limelight.

Illustration by The Geostrata

Theocratic states have consistently been ranked amongst the least free countries, receiving the lowest scores on civil liberties and political rights. History has been witness to how states built based on religious norms inevitably lead to the destruction of the social fabric. From medieval Europe to the Middle East today, the state machinery established on religious order has paved the way for the persecution of minorities and the trampling of human rights.

Infringement of minority rights has been soaring, especially in theocratic states or nations with a dominant state religion. Nations, while claiming to uphold religious traditions and beliefs, have comfortably trampled upon human rights, turning religion from a private affair into an instrument of control, leaving society wounded with cracks, caused by the very faith once meant to unite. 

WHEN RELIGION DICTATES 

Theocracy finds its birth in the Greek word ‘theocrat’, signifying belief in being ruled by the divine. Today, the system has been shaped into religious leaders exercising political powers, where religious beliefs build the foundational basis of statecraft. Theocratic form of governance is not a newfound phenomenon and goes back to ancient Egypt, where the king represented and sometimes symbolised divinity.

However, the political and philosophical views find grave disagreements where the supporters and critics clash over the contemporary definition of the philosophical belief. 

Philosophers today view theocracy as an unreasonable and immoral political view, which is in direct conflict with human existence, trampling on the individual’s right to equality before law, freedom of speech and expression, and hampering individual liberty. Nations, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, officially recognised as theocratic states, transform the laws into political weaponry as a means to reassert their control in the name of divinity.

THEOCRACY AND IRAN

The Iranian revolution of 1979, is considered to be a turning point in Iran’s history. The current system operates on the framework of sovereignty to Allah the almighty, with a machinery that views the state not as an end in itself but rather as a modern setup to serve and perfect the revolution.

The highest authority of Iran, the supreme leader (the ayatollah), is considered to be the guardian of the revolution and not the republic. Obedience to the supreme leader amounts to obedience to god. Iran is one of the most repressed and censored states globally, with dreadful punishments including a death penalty for the insult of the prophet, proudly becoming one of the three nations across the world to enact such a law. Iran further imposes widespread discrimination against religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians and unrecognised groups such as atheists and the Baha'i community.

The Baha'i community has been an unfortunate victim of countless targeting, including arbitrary detentions, raids on homes, exclusion from higher education and expulsion from jobs.

In March 2024, the Baha’i community, facing yet another brunt of the Iranian state machinery, was forced to witness the destruction of more than 30 Baha'i graves at the Khavaran mass grave site. 

The UN fact-finding mission affirmed that the minorities, including the Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs and Azerbaijani Turks, have been forced to witness inhumane brutalities, human rights violations, rape, with instances amounting to crimes against humanity. The death of Mahsa Amini, by the dictatorial morality policy of Iran, for her hair being visible under the headscarf, is a wound too fresh, that sparked massive protests across the nation, bringing the theocratic regime and its dastardly policies to the limelight. 

A country that states, an individual born to a muslim family risks the death penalty for apostasy if they change religion, where minorities, including the Gonabandi community and the Yaresan community, suffer discrimination in education, employment and access to places of worship, a bipartisan liberal state remains a wishful dream. 

PAKISTAN'S BLASPHEMY LAW AND THE IMPOSITION ON INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY

The blasphemy laws, yet another colonial baggage shaping nations, were passed by the Pakistan government with the sole motive to establish the ultimate authority of Islam and shift the Pakistan law to toe the same lines as Sharia law. However, the law has shifted in its essence and now focuses more on trampling minority religious rights.

The law was further expanded upon in the 1980s under the Zia regime as part of the ambitious dream of Islamisation of Pakistan. Declared an Islamic Republic in 1956, Pakistan institutionalised the relationship between religion and the state machinery with the passing of Article 295-c, stating the death penalty for blasphemy.

As stated in the law, any derogatory remarks spoken or written in the name of the Prophet or insinuated are punishable with death, life imprisonment and shall also be liable to a fine. Pakistan, one of the three nations, alongside Iran, enforces the death penalty for insulting the Islamic faith.

The law stands in sharp contrast to the very fundamental right to religion as enshrined under Article 20 of the Pakistan Constitution, with the minorities as the sole target, including the Ahmadiyya Muslims, Christians and the Hindu community. The infamous Asia Bibi case, where a Pakistani Christian, accused of blasphemy and insulting the Prophet, spent decades in jail, only to be later acquitted in 2018, highlights the dire state of affairs. This, however, is not an isolated incident. 

Pakistan and its history, much like its links with terror, have been marred with countless such brutalities, targeting the minority groups and even the Muslims who dare to question the state's framework. Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, rose in defence of Asia Bibi and publicly reinstated his opposition to blasphemy laws, was brutally murdered in 2011 by his own bodyguard.

The mere accusation of blasphemy with no physical evidence is proof enough to deem the fate of any individual. Between 1986 to 2010, 1,274 people were charged under this law, with a dwindling minority percentage of the population and abhorrent laws that continue to infringe on an individual’s right to freedom. The question remains: could an individual’s liberty be preserved under a theocratic rule? 

THE DUAL-EDGED SWORD 

While the International Human Rights Law states that states must remain impartial and must not actively partake in religion, ensuring the enjoyment of religious freedom by all individuals and groups, these very beliefs are constantly put at stake in theocratic states where majoritarianism dictates and systematic repression of minorities, vulnerable groups, women, and children takes over.

Laws that criminalise blasphemy go against the very essence of liberalism and have been historically misused to incite violence and settle personal gains, creating false parallels and faulty benchmarks for states to further steer the country.

A nation that inherently prioritises a particular group based on religion shall never see eye to eye with human rights and their protection, pushing countless innocents into becoming silent victims of state-branded brutalities, their faith questioned, and prayers remaining unheard as the very god they preach to, battles to prove their legitimacy.

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BY ANANYA SHARMA

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