Religious education is a subject of Brazilian basic education, where its objective The main thing is to propose reflections on the foundations, customs and values of the various religions existing in the society.
It is a discipline that is characterized by the search for understanding the different forms of religion, exploring themes of its interest in an interdisciplinary way, through activities that encourage, above all, dialogue and respect between religions.
In this way, religious teaching can be given in two ways: A confessional, when information is given exclusively of a certain religion or the multi-religious or interfaith, when providing information about the main religious groups.
From the point of view of the school as a pluralist institution, the focus of religious education aims at awakening religiosity in students, from childhood to adolescence. However, this is a practice that can also occur in the home environment.
religious education in Brazil
The Federal Constitution of 1988 states that Brazil is a secular state and, therefore, cannot promote or defend doctrines of any religion. For this reason, the discipline of religious education is optional, that is, no one can be forced to take it and it also has no influence on the student's academic performance.
In this sense, the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education, according to the FC, reaffirms the optional character of the discipline, as prescribed in article 33:
Art. 33. Religious education, with optional enrollment, is an integral part of the basic education of the citizen and constitutes a discipline in the normal hours of the public elementary schools, ensuring respect for the religious cultural diversity of Brazil, prohibited any form of proselytism.
§ 1 The education systems will regulate the procedures for defining the contents of religious education and will establish the norms for the qualification and admission of teachers.
§ 2 The education systems will hear a civil entity, constituted by different religious denominations, for the definition of the contents of religious education.
However, on September 27, 2017, a ruling by the Supreme Court decided to establish that religious education in public schools may have the confessional character, that is, the classes can be taught according to the teachings of a specific religion, however, it still has the character optional.
See also the meaning of doctrine, proselytism and religious diversity.
