India’s Constitution does not treat scientific temper as a hobby for laboratory-bound minds; it elevates it to a civic virtue. Enshrined in the Directive Principles, the call to promote scientific temper applies equally to citizens and to every arm of the state. It is, in essence, a reminder that reason must inform our collective conduct, even when guided by faith. It was this constitutional spirit that Justice Abhay S. Oka invoked in his recent lecture on “Environment—Rights and Duties under the Constitution” in Chennai. His remarks were neither an assault on religion nor an endorsement of atheism. Rather, they were a plea to harmonise devotion with discernment. Faith, he implied, need not be diminished by reason; it can, in fact, be ennobled by........

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