India, Jan. 26 -- On Republic Day, we are reminded of the Preamble, yet the lived experience of millions stands in utter incongruity to its text. Article 25 and its companion rights pledge every Indian the freedom of conscience, belief, and worship. Article 30 gives minorities the right to run educational institutions. Before these words, and after them, countless citizens find themselves abandoned by law and by state power.

The recent Odisha incident, wherein a pastor was assaulted, is just the latest in the spectacle of savagery. A mob marched into a prayer gathering, beat him, garlanded him with slippers, forced him to consume cow dung and coerced him to chant a religious slogan.

This was an act of humiliation, not simply violence. A...