Religion can be a source of comfort and motivation for soldiers. It can also be a source of conflict in a diverse army. How then do religiously diverse armed forces engage religion? How do they maintain cohesion while recruiting from a religious society and conducting operations in multifaith environments? By drawing on the experience of the multifaith Indian Army, which has recruited from and operated in a conflict-ridden religious society, this chapter identifies the challenges religion poses for the military and outlines the institutional mechanisms the army relies on to cope with these challenges.

The multifaith Indian army defends a constitutionally secular state, yet it remains a force of believers. This poses distinct challenges for the institution. First, the military has to accommodate religiosity – faith and culturally embedded religious practices – while establishing the primacy of institutional authority over religious authority in the minds of its soldiers. In India, religious conflict is a staple of the political environment in which the military exists. The army is regularly deployed to enforce the writ of the state during periods of Hindu-Muslim communal violence and domestic insurgencies. Second, given this backdrop, the open acknowledgment of religiosity with its accompanying practices exposes the military to the danger of faith-driven mutinies and interfaith conflict within its own ranks. These faith-related challenges have a bearing on the military’s organization and operations.