Ensino religioso nas escolas públicas: origem e desenvolvimento do projeto católico

Abstract

The article presents the religious education project of the Catholic Church in reaction to republican secularism in Brazil. After successive approaches, this project was decreed for the entire country in 1931 and incorporated by the Federal Constitution of 1934: elementary, secondary, professional and teaching schools should offer religious education during class hours, optional for students. Starting with the 1988 Constitution, dissent in the Catholic segment intended to replace the confrontation with a hegemonic dispute within the educational field, in the context of a religious field undergoing profound and rapid change. Different legal norms, originating from different demands, defined this discipline in divergent modalities, confessional and non-confessional. Originating from the religious field, the conflict was installed in the educational field, with no prospect of a solution.