(1) Except with his own consent, a person shall not be hindered
in the enjoyment of his freedom of conscience, including freedom of thought and
of religion, freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone
or in community with others, and both in public and in private, to manifest and
propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
(2) Except with his own consent (or, if he is a person under the age of
eighteen years, the consent of a person who is his parent or guardian) a person
attending any place of education, detained in any prison or corrective
institution or serving in a defence force shall not be required to receive
religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or
observance if that instruction, ceremony or observance relates to a religion
that is not his own.
(3) Every religious community shall be entitled, at its own expense, to
establish and maintain places of education and to manage any place of education
that it wholly maintains and such a community shall not be prevented from
providing religious instruction for persons of that community in the course of
any education that it wholly maintains or in the course of any education that it
otherwise provides.
(4) A person shall not be compelled to take any oath that is contrary to his
religion or belief or to take any oath in a manner that is contrary to his
religion or belief.
(5) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held
to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section to the extent that
the law in question makes provisions that is reasonably required-
a) in the interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality
or public health;
b) for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons,
including the right to observe and practice any religion without the unsolicited
intervention of members of any other religion; or
c) for the purpose of regulating educational institutions in the interests of
the persons who receive or may receive instruction in them,
and except so far as that provisions or, as the case may be, the thing done
under the authority thereof is shown not to be reasonably justifiable in a
democratic society.
(6) References in this section to a religion shall be construed as including
references to a religious denomination, and cognate expression shall be
construed accordingly.