O ensino religioso nas escolas públicas do Brasil: implicações epistemológicas em um discurso conflitivo, entre a laicidade e a confessionalidade num estado republicano

Abstract

The history of religious learning in Brazil has always been marked by a conflicted discourse between secular and denominational assumptions. This conflict is reflected in the discussion about the permanence or not of this discipline in the Brazilian school system and the guidelines for this area of knowledge, as it is considered in the present legislation. This discussion gained emphasis in the 21st century, when the "Agreement between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Holy See concerning the legal status of the Catholic Church in Brazil" was processed and approved, reheating the arguments from the advocates of the secular state and of the citizens’ religious freedom. In this context, it is worth asking what are the epistemological implications of this conflicted discourse over the pedagogical practice in public schools in Brazil. In the absence of a consensual epistemological knowledge in the area, several models of religious learning were created and currently coexist in the schools of the nation. This study seeks to point the way this epistemological debate may follow considering the principles presented by the Ministry of Education in the general guidelines for basic education, which are focused on understanding the essence of the human as a being of relations.