Theocracy is a system designed to manage and control the religious affairs, social practices, and lifestyle of a population following a specific faith within a territory. In common parlance, we understand this through terms like priesthood, mullahcracy, or clergy. In the past, states functioned with a direct collaboration between the administration and the religious hierarchy; in most cases, the two were synonymous. Even in modern states, theocracy maintains a strong presence—in some places the bond is loose, while in others, it acts like a tightening noose to rein in free thoughts.
Modern Manifestations
In the present world, we have witnessed the strict and literal application of Sharia law in various Islamic countries. With the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, religious prohibitions have been enforced on women's modern education, careers, and independent living. Simultaneously, discriminatory rules have been imposed on other religious groups and even on Muslims who do not follow the Hanafi school, such as Shias and Hazaras. In Iran, women's attire, freedom of movement, and participation in sports are controlled by religious mandates. In Syria and Iraq, the world witnessed the revival of medieval barbaric slavery under the guise of religious decrees during the regime of Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (2014–2018)[1]. Branches of such organizations continue their Jihad to establish similar religious states in several African countries.
Even in relatively democratic nations, a specific religion often receives state patronage with a distinct constitutional status as an "official" religion.[2] However, these countries generally recognize the presence and propagation of other faiths. In such nations, the religion of the majority serves as a primary feature of national identity. Examples of recognition of major religions in various countries can be found in the following.
- Buddhism: Adopted as the official religion in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Cambodia.
- Christianity: Official status in England, Scotland, Denmark, Iceland, Vatican City, Monaco, etc.
- Islam: The state religion in most Muslim-majority countries across North Africa and the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.
Even in countries with constitutional secularism, like our own India, we see evidence of the powerful presence of various religious theocracies within their respective communities.
The Persistence of Religion in the Age of Science
It is natural to ask: why does religion still flourish in this modern, scientific knowledge driven world? This happens largely due to the following:
- Lack of Scientific Education: In many countries, a vast portion of the population is deprived of modern knowledge. Educational infrastructure is weak, and higher education is limited to the wealthy elite.
- Vested Interests: The leadership of those, who use religion for business and politics, plays a major role.
- Intellectual Support: We must understand why even intelligent and discerning people become supporters of theocracy, discarding analytical and critical arguments in favor of unscientific thoughts and superstition. This intellectual class helps religion maintain its prestige today, nourishing the philosophy of the sigh of the oppressed.
Let us examine the above aspects in sustaining theocracy in modern states.
The Role of Education
Historically, religions developed their own education systems to train an educated class capable of leading rituals and defending theology. In the ancient and medieval era, education systems taught secular subjects like language, mathematics, and natural sciences alongside faith. Since human knowledge of the material world was limited then, there was less direct conflict. Great scholars like Socrates, Aristotle, Panini, Aryabhata, Al-Biruni, etc., contributed to human civilization through these religion-centric frameworks.[3] But, the conflict arose during the European Renaissance when scientists began explaining nature through observation. It begins with the publication of “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, championing the heliocentric model of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun which was in direct conflict with the Biblical narration of Earth centric universe.[4] Naturally, the Roman Catholic Church took a hard stance against such knowledge, and the foundation of coexistence of religious and secular education begins to break.
With the Industrial Revolution and the rise of parliamentary democracies, the need to educate a larger section of society grew. Religious education could no longer meet these needs. Independent, science-oriented systems emerged. Charles Darwin’s (1809–1882) Theory of Evolution was the final nail in the coffin for the coexistence of religious and secular education. It became impossible to run both types of knowledge system within the same curriculum.
Today, theocratic institutions take specific initiatives to:
- Exclude modern scientific subjects from their curricula to prevent doubts regarding unrealistic scriptural claims.
- Create confusion about established scientific theories using various strategies.
- Target children from an early age to trap them within a religious worldview.
- Infiltrate mainstream secular curricula with religious ideologies through political influence.
The Resurgence of Theocracy in the Modern Era
How much a theocratic education system is accepted or takes root in the branches of society depends on where a religion stands between the two poles of conservatism and tolerance. In the modern era, influenced by the European Renaissance, Christianity in Western civilization has largely shifted to a ceremonial role; its impact on daily civic life is negligible. Consequently, the demand for religious education in the West is minimal.
In the last century, with the spread of revolutions and socialist ideology, it was widely believed that society would eventually be liberated from religious influence. It was expected that people would view religious identity merely as a cultural heritage—critiquing and discarding anti-modern rituals with an open and rational mind.
However, toward the end of the 20th century, the socialist movements lost the momentum and got weakened due to the failure of the Soviet state and ideological shifts toward private ownership and market oriented economy in many of the socialist states. This created an ideological vacuum to masses who have been going through global economic crisis and also increasingly facing imperialist aggression. With the erosion of communist values, religion took the upper hand and came forward to fill the ideological voids among the masses. We saw a powerful theocratic resurgence in various countries. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution overthrew Shah Reza Pahlavi in Iran, establishing a state governed by theocracy. In Afghanistan, the Taliban seized power in 1992-93, and despite being ousted by a Western coalition, they returned in 2021 after two decades of struggle. Emergence of ultra fundamentalist Islamic state happened in parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Exploiting imperialist conflicts, the ISIS or Daesh established a brutal regime there. Though they were defeated in 2018 by local militia with the help of Western and other external forces, their remnants are still threatening the region and many parts of the world for establishing their version of Islamic states. The ISIS attracted a large number of Muslim youths from different parts of the world for joining their Islamic Jihad.
Islamic education systems play a vital role in leading these mass movements during crises, as their curricula are often designed to encourage “Jihad” against modernity. While other religions too have similar tendencies, none possess such an organized, grassroots system for propagating their doctrine from early childhood. Let us briefly review the Madrasa system for imparting Islamic education.
The term Madrasa simply means “school” in Arabic, but in our context, it specifically refers to Islamic educational institutions.[5] In India, these are divided into two distinct categories, namely Alia and Qawmi Madrasas. While the Alia Madrasas are Government aided and provide modern secular education with an emphasis on Islamic history, Qawmi Madrasas are purely funded by religious bodies or non-government organizations. Qawmi Madrasas follow a purely religious curriculum, and are restricted to only Islamic religious education. Their number far exceeds that of Alia Madrasas.
According to the Government data (2018-19), there were about 24,010 Madrasas in India, of which 4,878 were unregistered, though private sources suggest the number is much higher—potentially over 125,000, serving millions of students with a combined annual budget of approximately 1,400 crore rupees.[6]
The most influential curriculum is that of Darul Uloom Deoband (the Deobandi school), which follows the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, and a system of teaching learning process developed in the eighteenth century, called Dars-e-Nizami[7]. This system provides a 5-year primary 'Alim' degree and an 8-year advanced 'Fazil' degree. Unofficial sources claim that there are more than twenty thousand Deobandi madrasas in North India alone, belonging to an organization called Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.[8]
The author Yoginder Sikand notes how this curriculum remains largely disconnected from the modern world[9] with the following features:
- Ancient Texts: Most texts used are over 500 to 1,000 years old. A core text, the Hidaya, dates back to the 12th century.
- Irrelevant Topics: It provides detailed instructions on medieval issues like the liberation of slaves and the legal rights of hermaphrodites (Khuntha)—topics that have lost practical significance in modern civil law.
- Neglect of Modern Subjects: While "Urdu and Persian" courses might touch upon basic history or geography up to Grade 5, these are completely dropped in the 8-year 'Fazil' course.
- Educational Gaps: Many students enter the higher courses directly after memorizing the Quran (becoming a Hafiz) without ever studying basic science, English, or mathematics.
By keeping students strictly within the realm of religious education from childhood, theocratic institutions ensure that rational doubts about scriptural claims never take root. Instead, they foster an ideological environment that views modern secularism with scepticism or open hostility.
The education provided by Qawmi Madrasas plays a critical role in keeping the theocratic structure of Islam active and consolidated in modern society. As one Deobandi Alim puts it:
" Today, madrasas are the forts of Islam (islam ke qile), guaranteeing the existence of the faith, and the future of Islam and Muslim identity in India depends particularly on them " [10]
In these institutions, students are trained in debates against other branches (maslaks) of Islam, and heavy emphasis is placed on the Jihad to establish the dominance of their own doctrine. To illustrate the mindset of a student in this environment, Yoginder Sikand shares the statement of a student under the age of fifteen:
" At the madrasa we are taught that our main work, once we graduate, must be to combat
un-Islamic ideologies. Now, as far as people who do not call themselves Muslim are
concerned we all know where they stand and what they believe, so there is no need to
oppose them. But we must combat all those groups that claim to be Muslim but are
actually Zionist creations designed to destroy Islam from within. These include the
followers of Maududi[11], Qadianis[12], the so-called Shi‘as, the Barelvis[13] and so on. We have to
tell the Muslims to stay away from these people, because they are all agents of the Devil."[14]
It would be a mistake to view such statements as isolated opinions. The influence of Qawmi madrasas has been growing within Muslim society across this subcontinent. Their role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism, hegemonism, and extremist ideology is evident in various movements of political Islam. The Taliban in Afghanistan—who have stripped women and religious minorities of their various rights on education, employment and religion by enforcing Sharia law—are products of such Deobandi madrasas and followers of that very ideology.
However, it does not mean that such examples are absent in other religions. In our country, extremist Hindutva organizations are perpetrating various forms of persecution against people of other faiths. These incidents are more frequent in states where the Hindutva-aligned Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lead government is in power, often occurring under the silence or active assistance of the administration. The 'Hindu Nationalist' Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) takes initiatives to nurture Hindutva ideology from childhood in the educational institutions they manage. However, their system has not yet become a complete alternative to the government curriculum. Instead, with the help of a sympathetic central government, they are active in infiltrating the national curriculum with content that bolsters their ideology.
Through the activities of these various religious organizations, we can clearly see the vital role a non-secular education system plays in sustaining and furthering a theocracy.
The Political and Economic Engine of Theocracy
The role of religious merchandises and communal politics is crucial in sustaining theocracy. As previously noted, with the decline of socialist ideologies, politics based on the ideology of establishing a religious state has begun to attract people. However, it is not just communal political parties at work; other right-wing, left-wing, and centrist parties also aid the expansion of religious institutions in hopes of securing the support of religious blocs. Heads of state frequently capitalize on religious emotions to gain popularity. During the parliamentary election of India in 2024, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kanyakumari to meditate at the Vivekananda Rock, an event widely broadcast across the nation. In the United States of America (USA), a special prayer by a Christian nun was organized for President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2025. In China, in the past President Xi Jinping participated in the restoration of Buddhist temples.
Theocracy is now inextricably linked with the modern capitalist market economy. A 2016 study estimated that the income of faith-based organizations in the USA is approximately $378 billion. This exceeds the combined income of Apple and Microsoft for that same year and accounts for more than 2% of the total personal income in the USA.[15]
In most countries, the governing bodies of temples, mosques, and churches operate this "religion business" like large corporations. Like any other industry, it involves stakeholders of all sizes. A few such examples are:
· Selling garlands, incense, and icons by street vendors and shop owners.
· Running business of boarding and lodging of pilgrims in guesthouses, Dharamshalas, and luxury hotels.
· Administering ‘holy’ services by religious leaders in a various hierarchy (such as monks, priests, imams, alims, padres, bishops, etc.) and managing the affairs in religious houses and organizations like any secular business house. They plan and promote the growth of such enterprises.
The “customers” of this business are the faithful public. But unlike other service industries where money is exchanged for a tangible product or a service necessary for life, a religious “consumer” or “devotee” pays for hollow promises, which may include:
· Accruing spiritual credit (Punya) and atoning sins (Paap).
· Afterlife rewards for getting a ticket to Heaven or Paradise (Swargo).
· Expecting worldly gains in acquiring wealth, having children, recovering from illness, etc.
The “inventory” here is ethereal, and often there is no fixed scale for the price; it is a negotiation between the giver’s desire and the receiver’s claim.
The Divine Economy: A Simple Math
In his book The Divine Economy, Paul Seabright explains how small donations from many lead to massive wealth. In many African and Latin American countries, it is reasonable to assume that at least 1 in 10 adults gives 10% of their income (Tithe) to the Church. If two more give just 5%, the total income of faith-based organizations would equal roughly 2% of the national economy of those countries - even if no one else gave anything.[16] Seabright also provides an example of how “hollow” religious services can be as described below.
Many Pentecostal churches[17] organize 'Healing Ministries.' Members are asked to imagine that they have a tumour or diabetes and pray to God for a cure. When the author asked the General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Ghana, if it was ethical to promote the idea that the Prayer alone could cure cancer, he agreed on its impossibility. But at the same time he reasoned that as most of these people cannot afford any other treatment, there is no harm to pray as it gives them hope.
There is no evidence that these “healing ministries” do anything better than a placebo.[18] In fact, the prayer in the above example, is a placebo because it does not physically interfere with the disease.[19]
The Scale of the Religious Economy in India
The huge landscape of religion-centric business in our country was captured in a 2022 report[20] by the English daily, The Pioneer. According to that report, there are approximately 500,000 temples, 700,000 mosques, and 35,000 churches in India. The financial scale is staggering. While the Central Government's total revenue collection for 2022-23 was ₹19,34,706 crore, just six major temples alone collected ₹24,000 crore in cash. For perspective, the donations collected for the Ayodhya Ram Mandir in 2021 amounted to ₹5,450 crore. Examples of some of the notable annual incomes of high earning temples are as follows:
- Tirumala Tirupati: ₹3,023 crore
- Ambaji: ₹4,134 crore
- Vaishno Devi: ₹2,000 crore
- Somnath: ₹1,205 crore
- Dwarkadhish: ₹1,172 crore
- Golden Temple: ₹690 crore
Other massive revenue sources include the Kamakhya Temple (Guwahati), Krishna Janmabhoomi (Mathura), Banke Bihari Temple (Vrindavan), Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Thiruvananthapuram), Siddhivinayak Temple (Mumbai), and Kashi Vishwanath Temple (Varanasi).
It is important to note that the vast majority of this income is tax-exempt. For instance, against an income of ₹4,800 crore in the 2024-25 fiscal year, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams paid only ₹32.95 crore in GST—less than 0.7% of its earnings. Similarly, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple received a GST notice of ₹1.57 crore for seven years, which averages out to less than 0.033% of its annual income.[21] Beyond cash, temples hold massive quantities of donated gold. Tirupati reportedly holds 130 kg and Shirdi 380 kg of gold.
According to a survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the value of the "Temple Economy" in India is ₹3.02 lakh crore (approximately $40 billion), accounting for 2.32% of the country's GDP. In reality, this figure is likely higher. This economy encompasses everything from flowers, oil, and lamps to incense, bangles, icons, and ritual clothing—much of which is managed by unorganized and unregulated labour.[22]
The report also highlights shifts in public sentiment and spending habits, such as:
- Rising religiosity: A Pew Global Attitude survey found that over 25% of Indians have become "more religious" in the last five years.[23] Between 2007 and 2015, the number of respondents considering religion "extremely important" rose from 11% to 80%.
- Spending priorities on pilgrimage: The NSSO data shows that 55% of Hindus participate in religious pilgrimages, supported by small and medium-sized hotels. More and more people are spending for travels on pilgrimage as can be found in the following comparisons:
- Religious Travel: ₹2,717 per person per day.
- Educational Travel: ₹2,286 per person per day.
- Social Travel: ₹1,068 per person per day.
Total daily spending on religious travel across the country is ₹1,316 crore, with an annual expenditure of ₹4.74 lakh crore. The above data suggests that Indians undertake more pilgrimages than business trips and spend more on religious travel than on travel for education. Consequently, the Central Government has developed various "Religious Circuits," such as the Ramayana Circuit, the Char Dham Road Project, and the Buddhist Circuit.[24] The report estimates that pilgrimage sites, dargahs, and mosques in Islam generate similar levels of proportional income.
The Religious "Platform"
In today's digital world, religious institutions function much like an online digital service platform. Just as the business of platforms like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp grows with their user base, so does the influence of religious platforms. These corporate giants often provide free Internet based services to collect user data, which are then analysed and sold for commercial marketing. Similarly, religious platforms take various initiatives to gather believers under their umbrella, often competing with one another. Beyond traditional religious commerce, they too offer "secular" social services to attract and grow their "customer base". Some of such services include:
- Education and Health: Schools, hospitals, and medical centers.
- Welfare: Orphanages, rural vocational training, and aid for poor families.
- Relief: Humanitarian assistance during natural disasters.
These social activities serve as entry points that nourish the core religious business and act as a powerful engine for gaining political prestige and influence. In this way, religion remains a primary driving force in modern society.
The Clash with Modernity
In the past, a religion had provided stability across different stages of civilization, which is why it is inextricably linked to the history of human progress. In ancient states, a religion performed the role that a Constitution does today—governing social values, political structures, penal codes, production systems, and the distribution of resources.
As societies evolved from primitive nature-worshiping tribes to those of more complex production systems, a divide emerged among the members of the societies comprising of a vast labouring class and a small, powerful, privileged elite. The governing religion formulated the codes that validated the dominance of this minority over the majority. On one hand, it encourages universal virtues like seva (service), daya (kindness), prem (love), satota (honesty), and vinay (humility). On the other hand, it constructs a spiritual framework to justify social inequality. Concepts like Punarjanmo (reincarnation or rebirth), Parolok gomon (the afterlife), Karma (religious work), Paap (sin), Punya (virtue), Moksha (Detachment) , and Nirvana (freedom from rebirth) were fostered to counter rational human empathy.
The image of God was often modeled after an autocratic yet "merciful" King or Emperor, demanding unconditional, unwavering and uncritical surrender. Although the era of kings and emperors has largely faded in the present time, the disparity of wealth and resources in modern society is becoming increasingly extreme. A tiny fraction of humanity holds mountain of wealth, while a vast sea of people struggles with abject poverty. Consequently, the need for a religion—to sustain and contain this inequality in the society—has not ended.
This creates a "marriage of convenience" between the modern state apparatus and the theocracy. The overwhelming gatherings at temples, mosques, churches, and pilgrimage sites demonstrate how relevant religion remains, while simultaneously highlighting its conflict with modernity. This is why, even in the 21st century, various inhuman practices remain "valid" under the moral frameworks of different religions. In the name of God and faith, we continue to witness gender inequality and caste/race discrimination, polygamy and child marriage, and over and above brutal inhuman violence in the killing of infidels, rape, and the looting of property. Sadly, these incidents are not decreasing; they are on the rise.
(Translated from a Bengali article written by the author with the help of Google Gemini).
9/3/26
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State
[3] Most of these scholars followed ancient Greek or Roman traditions where deities represented natural forces, encouraging curiosity about nature. In the Middle Ages, this shifted toward a heavy emphasis on religious philosophy. (Author)
[5] Institutions providing only primary education to children are called Maktabs, similar to village primary schools.
[6]Comment by Maulana Muhammad Kaleem Siddiqui at the seminar on ‘Islamic Madrasas: Services and Challenges’, held on 24 August 2003 in New Delhi. Quoted in Radiance Views Weekly, 7–13 September 2003.
[7] Developed by Nizamuddin Sihalvi (1677-1748) in 1748 in India.
[8] Ayjaz Wani and Rasheed Kidwai, "Indian madrasas are thought-influencers," The Print, 2nd April, 2021 https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-madrasas-are-thought-influencers-their-funding-modernisation-should-be-priority/632654/
[9] Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Penguin Books, 2005.
[10] Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Penguin Books, 2005, p-7.
[11] Syed Maududi created an orthodox religious movement in the 1930s and 40s, developing concepts of an Islamic State and political/economic systems. He formed the political party Jamaat-e-Islami.
[12] Qadiani is a derogatory term used by other Muslims for Ahmadiyya Muslims, derived from the birthplace of their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. In Pakistan, Ahmadiyyas have been officially declared non-Muslim.
[13] The Barelvi movement is a Sunni revivalist movement that also accepts various Sufi doctrines.
[14] Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Penguin Books, 2005.
[15] Paul Seabright, The Divine Economy, Princeton University Press, 2024, pp. 11-12.
[16] Paul Seabright, The Divine Economy, 2024, p. 12.
[17] Pentecostalism: A Protestant Christian movement that emphasizes a direct personal experience of God through baptism.
[18] Placebo: A "dummy" treatment with no therapeutic value, used for psychological effect or as a control in testing.
[19] Paul Seabright, The Divine Economy, 2024, pp. 67-68.
[20] The religious economy: $40 billion and growing, Shivaji Sarkar, The Pioneer, May 23, 2022.
[21] How Indian Temples Earn and When GST is Levied, efiletax.in. - https://www.efiletax.in/blog/how-indian-temples-earn-and-when-gst-is-levied/
[22]The religious economy: $40 billion and growing, Monday, 23 May 2022 by Shivaji Sarkar in The Pioneer.
[23] Refers to the period 2017–2022.
[24] The religious economy: $40 billion and growing, Shivaji Sarkar, The Pioneer.
