In Dharma, every individual is left free to explore his or her respective beliefs and practices without any need for conformity and conversion.
The doctrine of “religious conversion” which has its roots in Abrahamic religions puts an end to individual freedom by restricting and imposing the individual to conform into a particular belief system, holy book, prophet and mode of worship and requires them to eschew the others, even branding non believers as infidels and it is even rightful to kill those who are not a part in their brethren and non believers. Dharma, on the other hand guarantees freedom at individual level to seek and explore what is best for them without any kind of restriction and imposition whether it is on beliefs, holy book, prophet or mode of worship.
In Dharmic context, religious freedom will mean being indifferent to another’s faith. That means there is no reason to look upon another differently just because they are of another faith, a believer or an atheist. It also gives all due respect to another person’s faith irrespective to whether you concur to it or not. The person is left free to explore his or her religious life without being challenged to change his or her religion. Such exploration need not be confined to any one religion, and may freely embrace the entire religious and philosophical heritage of humanity.
Dharma gives no room for religious exclusivity and separatism, therefore the establishment of Dharma as the foundation of Indian constitution is opposed and resisted by all exclusive religions that separates humanity into believers and non-believers and seeks to convert all. Acceptance of Dharma puts paid to religious exclusivity and separatism.
Every human being has the right to be free from being subject to the preaching of exclusive religious doctrines. Every person is free to participate in and learn from none, one or more ways to happiness and fulfillment without being asked to specify a religious identity or to convert from one to another.
Peaceful and tolerant society can only be achieved when all faiths and ideologies accept and integrate Dharma as its foundation to be followed through in its unadulterated form.
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Due to Dharma, the Hindu civilization has never, even when under murderous assault, indulged in pogroms on grounds of faith.
‘Dharma’, in fact, transcends the narrow boundaries of religion. It offers limitless freedom of choice of methods as well as goals. It encourages free inquiry and never seeks to confine people into categories and denominations. It is this inherent tolerance and catholicity that enabled people, in the ancient times, to pursue faiths independent of their rulers and vice-versa. The rights and duties of the rulers and the citizens, though never codified were always respected. Each institution of the society, each individual, almost intuitively knew where to draw the line, where to define the limit. Tolerance is, therefore, integral to ‘Dharma’., plurality is inherent in it. This tolerance and plurality do not find space in the concept of religions.
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