Teaching Religion in Brazil, in Public Schools and Confessional Colleges

Abstract

This essay is part of a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). They are published together with an introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.This short essay describes two personal experiences in a huge country with diverse situations, in a context that is broadly Western and European (Iberian). The first half (by Afonso Soares) describes Religious Education (RE) in public schools, in a religiously diverse (but overwhelmingly Christian) country with separation between church and state. The second part, by Eduardo Cruz, describes RE in the context of a confessional (albeit largely secularized) university. Our accounts are quite different because of the differences in the contexts we describe: one describes the curriculum for public schools that are open to some form of religious education, and the other describes mandatory courses in confessional universities. Classroom activities, assignments, curriculum, and approaches to teaching are quite different at this kind of university compared to public high schools, and they vary from place to place. Classes in high school last only an hour, whereas college classes are typically two to three hours long. What distinguishes college-level work is more demanding activities, such as seminars prepared by groups of students. Religious Education in Elementary and High SchoolsThe discipline of Religious Education (RE) is the result of the didactic transposition of knowledge produced in the Sciences of Religion (ScR) for classes in elementary and secondary public education. Unfortunately, there is not wide agreement between the various sectors involved with the subject (education professionals, religious leaders, political officials, and spokespersons for public opinion) about how the kind of knowledge acquired by religious experience of humankind should be related to the pedagogical methods that introduce it to young citizens in the school system. The difficulty is indeed epistemological but also carries considerable political weight. There has long been tension between ensuring the legitimate access of students to RE (on behalf of the principle of religious freedom) and preserving the secular state (which cannot compromise with one or another religious denomination).

Teaching Religion Around the World: A Modest First Glimpse

“…This essay brings to light ongoing concerns about balance and content in a curriculum that effectively spans primary through secondary schooling. Eduardo Cruz and Afonso Soares () describe a history of tensions in Brazil on matters related to the religious education of children in secular state‐run schools. Like the examination of Irish study of religion, this essay is also divided between primary and college‐level education and it describes a patchwork situation defined in part by laws but also by states’ rights to determine local curricula.…”