Constitutionalism as a new “Religion”

The very constitutions that colonizers claimed would liberate the colonized became tools for their cultural eradication and subjugation

I. Introduction:

The core issue here is the disconnect between the equality enshrined in constitutions and laws and the reality of inequality that people experience in their daily lives across societies. Even though laws are meant to provide equal rights and freedoms to all citizens, there is a big gap between what is written in legal texts and the unequal treatment different individuals face.

II. Roots in Protestant Reformation’s View of Truth:

This problem stems from the Protestant Reformation in Europe, which sparked a big shift in how Western societies viewed knowledge and truth. Traditional values and institutions were rejected as being corrupted by moral authorities like the Church. Instead, people were told to base their understanding of truth solely on the Bible, treating it as the perfect, universal word of God that cannot be questioned or interpreted differently.

This clashed with the Indian philosophical perspective, which sees truth as relative rather than universal. In Indian thought, truth is bound by context and can change across space and time. Indian traditions like the Purana celebrate having multiple valid interpretations of the same truth, rather than just one rigid interpretation.

III. Biblical Truth Shapes Western Legal Tradition :

In contrast, the Bible became is seen as the supreme spiritual authority whose symbolic words represented the only consistent and infallible truth, to ensure maximum consistency with the presumed perfection and infallibility of the Divine since God is presumed to be perfect. This hardliner view on truth paved the way for European laws and constitutions to be built on purportedly universal Western values of equality and individual freedom. But these laws viewed all humans as inherently flawed and in need of being “civilized” by following the law.

This European legal tradition rested on three core principles:

1. Law is the foundation of well-functioning societies

2. Law exists to educate and shape people

3. following these principles defines a true nation.

Ideas like these traced back to figures like Romulus, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad

IV. The “Civilizing” European Colonial Mission:

The European colonial project was an exercise in cultural hegemony and erasure of staggering proportions. The colonizers approached the lands and peoples they subjugated with an unshakable conviction in the inherent superiority of their Western civilization — a conviction rooted in their warped interpretation of Christian doctrine and rationalist philosophy.

They viewed the native populations not as equals inhabiting complex societies with rich traditions and value systems, but as uncivilized “heathens” mired in ignorance and barbarism. The colonizers saw it as their self-appointed duty to “civilize” these peoples by eradicating their traditional institutions and ways of life, which were deemed opposite to the supposedly universal precepts of Western Enlightenment thought.

V. Brutal Imposition of Western Constitutionalism:

The dismantling of native institutions was a calculated and brutal process. Indigenous governance structures, legal codes, educational systems, spiritual practices — all were systematically targeted for destruction or co-option. In their place, the colonizers imposed their own constitutional and legal frameworks, which they held up as the apogee of civilization — secular analogs to the Christian Bible that had long served as the base for European societies. These constitutions, deeply rooted in Western liberal thought, “codified” a narrow set of individualistic rights and freedoms that were distinctly alien to the more native value systems prevalent in many colonized societies. They established legal hierarchies that concentrated power in the hands of the colonial administrations while denying any meaningful autonomy or political representation to the subjugated peoples. It stripped the colonized of their cultural identities, delegitimized their traditional ways of being and knowing, and reduced them to the status of mere subjects in need of being “uplifted” and “enlightened” by their European masters.

VI. Hypocrisy of “Civilizing” Through Violence:

In this perverse inversion of the stated purposes of these constitutions, the colonized peoples found themselves not empowered or liberated by these legal codes, but rather shackled by them. Their rich traditions of Native jurisprudence, spirituality, and social organization were systematically erased, the reason for them not being written texts and supplanted by an alien value system that treated them as little more than subhuman vessels to be molded in the European image. The constitutions that were “gifted” to these conquered peoples were not instruments of emancipation, but rather tools of subjugation — weapons in the arsenal of cultural genocide deployed by the colonial powers. They represented not the apex of human civilization, but rather its moral fallacy — a perverse apotheosis of the very barbarism and inhumanity that the colonizers had purported to transcend.

VII. Justifying Atrocities Through “Universal” Law:

This same rationale of bringing universal rights through law was used to justify genocide and atrocities by European powers against their colonies, even as principles of rationality and enlightenment were being discussed in Europe itself. The “universal” values upheld by laws were selectively applied, with colonized people’s lives seen as expendable casualties on the path to being civilized.

VIII. Marxist Reinforcement of Constitutional Paradigm:

Marxist ideologies, which ostensibly sought to overthrow the capitalist systems and oppressive power structures of the West, ended up paradoxically entrenching the constitutional frameworks they had initially opposed. By fusing the rhetoric of egalitarian rights found in constitutions with narratives of historical oppression and class struggle, Marxist thinkers reframed these legal codes not as universal guarantors of liberty, but as insidious tools of domination wielded by the capitalist ruling classes against the masses. This potent synthesis of constitutional morality and dialectical materialism proved to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it equipped revolutionary movements with a powerful ideological weapon to challenge the legitimacy of Western nations and their institutions, highlighting the wide chasm between their professed values of equality and the brutal realities of colonial subjugation, exploitation, and dispossession.

However, by co-opting the language of constitutional rights and recasting it through the prism of power dynamics and historical oppression, Marxism inadvertently reinforced the very notion that these legal frameworks represented the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy and moral authority. The debates shifted from challenging the fundamental premises of Western constitutional thought to battles over whose interpretation and application of these principles held more validity. In this dialectic, constitutional morality itself became synonymous with the morality of power — a zero-sum game where competing factions vied for control over the narratives and mechanisms that would enshrine their particular vision of rights and justice into legal hegemony. The constitutions themselves, rather than being transcended or dismantled, became the very battlegrounds upon which these ideological wars were waged.

IX. Technology reigns on culture:

As the tides of technological progress and material pursuits swept across human societies, they precipitated a profound shift in the collective psyche — a shift that undermined the very foundations of traditional spiritual paradigms. The relentless pursuit of mastering the physical world, harnessing its resources, and satiating ever-expanding material desires gradually displaced the once-central role of spirituality in shaping human cultures and value systems. The austerities, disciplines, and contemplative practices that had long sustained spiritual traditions withered under the onslaught of modernity’s siren call. Spirituality itself came to be viewed as antiquated, irrational, and at odds with the empirical worldview championed by science and technology. The “boring” and abstract nature of spiritual pursuits paled in comparison to the tangible marvels and gratifications offered by the technological age.

In this climate of intensifying secularization, the pre-industrial institutions that had once served as the custodians and transmitters of spiritual wisdom found themselves increasingly obsolete and marginalized. Their authority and relevance eroded, supplanted by the seemingly limitless potential of human ingenuity and rational inquiry.

X. Decline of Spirituality, Vacuum Filled by Constitutionalism:

It was within this void, this vacuum of spiritual moorings, that the constitutional paradigm rapidly ascended to fill the role of a universal moral and epistemological framework. With the decline of traditional spiritual authorities, the law itself assumed the mantle of a secular religion — a codified set of beliefs, values, and prescriptions that sought to govern all aspects of human existence. Once conceived as a pragmatic system for regulating social interactions, constitutional morality metastasized into an all-encompassing worldview that extended its reach far beyond legal jurisprudence. It became the foundation upon which modern societies constructed their very identities, shaping not just their systems of governance, but their conceptions of truth, justice, and the fundamental nature of human existence itself.

In this secular paradigm, the constitution supplanted sacred texts as the ultimate arbiter of morality and the wellspring of human rights. Its precepts, enshrined in the sacrosanct language of the law, became the immutable truths that societies were compelled to organize themselves around — truths that brooked no dissent or alternative interpretations.

Becoming the Anti-Hero:

The law once envisioned as a pragmatic tool for facilitating harmonious coexistence, had instead become a tyrannical force — an inflexible dogma demanding unwavering fealty from all who dared to exist within the sphere of its influence. Its authority extended far beyond the regulation of interactions between individuals and nations; it now sought to dictate the very terms upon which humanity ought to understand and conduct itself.

In this Modern world, where the spiritual had been dethroned and the technological reigned supreme, constitutional secularism emerged as the new religion — a faith built not upon the transcendent, but upon the cold, unyielding language of legal texts and the coercive power of the institutions that enforced them. In this modern secular context, the role of law shifted from being a pragmatic regulator of human affairs to becoming an all-encompassing moral educator enforcing certain values as universal. The constitution, meant to protect against tyranny, became the very wellspring of a new tyranny of institutions imposing their version of universal rights and equality on everyone.

XII. Need for Decolonisation:

To be subsumed within this “limiting ambit” is to be forced to adopt a worldview that is fundamentally alien to one’s own cultural and spiritual traditions, to surrender the rich tapestry of diverse human experiences and ways of being to a homogenizing force that demands conformity to a narrow set of secular values and legal precepts. The true universal, that, may lie not in the imposition of a singular constitutional morality, but in the embrace of a genuine diversity view — a recognition and celebration of the myriad ways in which human societies have grappled with the profound questions of existence, morality, and social organization. In this diversity, this kaleidoscope of human experiences and epistemologies, we may find the key to transcending the limitations imposed by the current secular constitutional paradigm.

My core ideas are taken from:

“India that is Bharat” — Jayakumar Sai Deepak

“Technopoly ” Neil Postman