O ensino da religião como resposta à laicização

This article intends to provide some arguments in favor of the teaching of the religion in the public schools, in the context of the denominated secular states. In this sense, any kind of confessional argument is avoided, including the appeal to agreements between states and churches. Rather, a foundation is sought in the various dimensions of the educational process itself. In this sense, religious education would, in the first place, develop the (self) critical spirit of the students, in relation to their religious or non religious choice; secondly, it would seek to explore the anthropological conceptions that result from religious traditions, and which eventually determine certain ethical and political choices of societies; finally, religious teaching would develop in students the sense of mystery, analogous to the sense of poetics, which is fundamental to a more complete conception of the human. The practical way of articulating these arguments with the current working scheme of the teaching of religion remains an open challenge.