The Routledge International Handbook of Religious Education

Derek Davis, Elena Miroshnikova

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136256417
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

How and what to teach about religion is controversial in every country. The Routledge International Handbook of Religious Education is the first book to comprehensively address the range of ways that major countries around the world teach religion in public and private educational institutions.

It discusses how three models in particular seem to dominate the landscape. Countries with strong cultural traditions focused on a majority religion tend to adopt an "identification model, " where instruction is provided only in the tenets of the majority religion, often to the detriment of other religions and their adherents. Countries with traditions that differentiate church and state tend to adopt a "separation model, " thus either offering instruction in a wide range of religions, or in some cases teaching very little about religion, intentionally leaving it to religious institutions and the home setting to provide religious instruction. Still other countries attempt "managed pluralism, " in which neither one, nor many, but rather a limited handful of major religious traditions are taught. Inevitably, there are countries which do not fit any of these dominant models and the range of methods touched upon in this book will surprise even the most enlightened reader.

Religious instruction by educational institutions in 53 countries and regions of the world are explored by experts native to each country. These chapters discuss:

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• Legal parameters in terms of subjective versus objective instruction in religion

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• Constitutional, statutory, social and political contexts to religious approaches

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• Distinctions between the kinds of instruction permitted in elementary and secondary schools versus what is allowed in institutions of higher learning.

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• Regional assessments which provide a welcome overview and comparison.

This comprehensive and authoritative volume will appeal to educators, scholars, religious leaders, politicians, and others interested in how religion and education interface around the world.

1
Religious education in Argentina

Norberto Padilla

Religious and social composition of Argentina

The population of Argentina is largely Catholic, but all other main religious denominations are present, some since the early nineteenth century.

In 1853 the country obtained a lasting and foundational Constitution. One of the greatest concerns of its framers was to attract useful (European) immigrants, especially bearing in mind the British, German, Dutch, and others to whom freedom of worship should be guaranteed. The preamble of the Constitution invites “all men of the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil” and ends by “invoking the protection of God, source of all reason and justice.” At the same time, the framers reached a compromise solution on church-state relations, by which Article 2 determines that the federal government supports the worship of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.

Other articles adopted the Patronage, which was considered a right inherited from the Spanish Domination. It meant interference of the state in the internal matters of the Catholic Church, as for example in Episcopal denominations. Only the President and Vice-President were requested to belong to the Catholic Communion, as well as to be born on Argentine soil or to have Argentine parents if born abroad. All other public offices were open to people with independence of their religious affiliation, even if this was not always part of reality. Free exercise of religion is a right for “every inhabitant” (Article 14), and specified, albeit unnecessarily, in Article 20 for foreigners. The Constitution was reformed in 1860, 1866, 1898 and 1949 but remained untouched in the matter of church-state relations.

On October 10, 1966 an Agreement between Argentina and the Holy See was achieved after nearly eight years of fruitful conversations. Church and state relations would be based on autonomy and cooperation and the Patronage was in fact abolished and deleted when the Constitution was amended in 1994.¹ The requirement for the President and Vice-President to belong to the Catholic Communion was suppressed.

The religiously pluralistic character of Argentina has been progressive. During the nineteenth century, both before and, mainly, after the adoption of the 1853 Constitution, immigrants belonging to the Reformed tradition established their communities, as did Jewish immigrants. At the same time, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Polish, French and other Catholic immigrants were supported by their new Argentine priests and religious congregations, which affected their Catholic lives and shaped their beliefs to a far greater extent than their own communities of origin. This pattern continues to this day.

During the first half of the twentieth century, Protestant denominations were mainly focused on their own ethnic communities (as were the Orthodox—Greek, Russian, Melkite or Apostolic Armenian—with theirs); a great missionary impulse was given by the Baptists, free Evangelicals and Pentecostals and, later, by Mormons, Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Throughout Latin America, the Pentecostal phenomenon, especially in the more deprived locations, is a challenge for the Catholic Church because many christened Catholics have turned to those communities and built their religious lives around them.

Allan Kardec’s Spiritism experienced expansion, until recently, when, in some way, it was supplanted by Afro Umbandism. As for the Islamic faith, it became more prevalent during the late twentieth century, when mosques and Islamic schools were opened.²

The question about religion has not been included in Argentina’s official census in the last four decades, thus researchers are sometimes without adequate census data except that which comes from the religious communities themselves, but this information is not always reliable. In August 2008 a sociological study was conducted to ascertain more facts about the religion and beliefs of the Argentine population. According to this study, 91 percent have a belief in God, 76 percent say that they are Catholic,11 percent are agnostic or non-believers,9 percent belong to Protestant, Evangelical or Pentecostal denominations, 1.2 percent are Jehovah’s Witnesses, 0.9 percent are Mormons, and 1.2 percent belong to other religions.³

In Argentina today, mainly in the great urban centers, there is a growth of spiritual experiences with a diffused belief in God and without the mediation of confessional structures. Also, secularism has spread among the younger generations and in the cultural field.

Constitutional context: interface among state, religion, and religious education

The Argentine Constitution grants the Catholic Church a preeminent position as seen in Article 2 (the support of its worship); however, freedom of religion is widely recognized and always has been. Argentina is a country of harmonious coexistence between religious and ethnic groups.⁴ The Constitution grants the right “to teach and to learn” (Article 14) but has no specific regulations on religious education. Beyond this provision, it is important to have in mind that Argentina is a federal nation, and the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires have the right to organize their own educational system, although the Congress is empowered, according to Article 75.18:“To provide for the prosperity of the country, for the advance and welfare of all the provinces, and for the progress of education, drawing up general and university educational plans.”

Moreover, in Article 75.19, the Constitution reads as one of the powers of Congress:

To enact laws referring to the organization and basis of education consolidating national unity and respecting provincial and local characteristics; which ensure the state responsibility that cannot be delegated, family and society participation, the fostering of democratic values and equal opportunities and possibilities with no discrimination whatsoever; and which guarantee the principles of free and equitable State public education as well as the autonomy and autarchy of national universities.

Both the Congress and the provinces must provide that the indigenous peoples are respected in their identity and have “the right to bilingual and intercultural education” (Article 75.17). Also, the provinces have not only the right, but the duty, of ensuring “elementary education” (Article 5).

Article 75.22 grants constitutional status to International Declarations and Treaties on Human Rights so the constitutional plexus makes it mandatory to enforce and guarantee their provisions. The UN Conventions on Civil and Political and Economic and Social Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights (Pacto de San José de Costa Rica), and the Convention on the Rights of Children are some of the ones recognized. These documents include relevant provisions: for example, the American Convention on Human Rights⁵ grants parents or guardians, as the case may be, the right to provide for the religious and moral education for their children or wards according to their own beliefs (Article 12.4).

Many denominations (especially the Catholic Church) have schools, and their faith is a specific subject in school plans. Other privately owned schools include religion as a curricular or optional subject, some have interdenominational teaching, and others choose not to have religion at all. The Catholic Church as well as Protestant, Adventist and Jewish communities, own and operate universities that grant degrees and titles recognized by the state. The National Council of Superior Education (CONEAU) surveys academic requirements without interfering in confessional particularities of the universities that have that character.

There is a deeply rooted tradition of “secular school” (“escuela laica”), since law 1420 was enacted in 1884 after an intense and divisive debate. This law, originally applicable in the capital of the Republic and places of federal jurisdiction, was enacted throughout the country. According to this law, religion in state schools could be taught by the ministers of all creeds only after class hours. This meant a defeat for the Catholic Church, and so it was intended to be by some of its promoters but, because education was granted to be obligatory and free of charge, it was useful for integrating the children of immigrants coming from all over the world.⁶

In 1943, under the military regime then in power, which had strong, conservative Catholic influence, Catholic religious teaching was introduced in all schools, providing an alternative teaching on morals and ethics for those who refused it. In 1954 the Government of President Perón, by then in a clash with the Catholic Church, eliminated religion from public school teaching and it has not been re-established. For non-Catholics it had previously been a sometimes traumatic experience of discrimination when a few of them (religious and non-believers) had to leave the classroom.

Some provinces have religion in their curriculum (Córdoba, Jujuy, Salta); others provide that the religion of the parents’ choice can be taught after class hours. The Constitution of the Province of Córdoba, for example, grants the right of parents to have religious teaching of their choice for their children in public schools, but this clause has not been enforced. The Constitution of the Province of Buenos Aires requests that education must be according to the Christian moral principles, respectful of freedom of conscience. Recent regulations in this, the most populated of the provinces, have prohibited religious symbols and all religious rites related to school life other than interfaith ones, something clearly meant to restrain the presence of the Catholic Church. The Constitution of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires specifies that education shall be “secular” (“laica”), and so do other provincial constitutions. In 2001 the Province of Catamarca intended to introduce religion in its curriculum, but had to withdraw its plan after complaints by the Jewish Community associations.

The National Law of Education 26.206 (2006) creates the National Educational System at all levels. One of the purposes of the law is an integral education, but there is no reference to transcendence as a dimension of education or to religious values as part of it, as the precedent Federal Law of Education expressly manifested. The character of the agent of education is recognized not only for the state but also for families, civil organizations and creeds.⁷ Within the frame of this law, the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires develop their own plans according to their individual requirements.

State and religious autonomy

Religious communities are free to create schools that follow the official curriculum with autonomy granted to introduce their own planning.

It is relevant to mark the positive attitude towards minority religious groups in all educative centers: the right to celebrate holy days for Jews, Muslims and Seventh-day Adventists, and the right to refuse to pledge allegiance or make other patriotic expressions for those who object on religious grounds.

State financial support for religious education

The state gives economic funding to private education independent of religious affiliation. This covers teachers and personnel of the school if specific labor conditions are respected. Thus, there are private schools with state support and those without state support. The proportion of students in private schools is high: a quarter of the total. Interestingly, 41.1 percent of private schools are confessional; 65.2 percent of private schools have state funding. For example, 48 percent of education in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires is in private hands. In some provinces it ranges from 34 percent to 100 percent;⁸ the majority of the confessional private schools are Catholic.

With the exception of the northern Province of Salta, there is no religious education in state schools, even if local constitutions allow it. It is optional and open to whatever parents and legal guardians demand for their children. The authorities of each creed (mainly the Catholic Church) are responsible for the contents of religious instruction and they own institutes for training teachers of religion that in many cases are attended also by non-Catholics. In March 2012, non-Catholic parents and a civil rights organization filed a claim alleging that their children were forced to recite prayers and attend Catholic Cathechetical teaching. The Court of Appeals decision, not yet final, is that all ways of imposing the practice of the Catholic religion must cease and the government must provide that the teaching of religion be done with impartiality, obectivity, and respect of freedom of conscience and of expression, so that pupils and their families should not be forced to disclose their religious beliefs. In an unofficial way, in some towns and villages the bishop or the parish priest is invited to address the students. But for religious education children must attend the parishes and congregations that their parents choose.

Religious education is taught in private schools according to each church or the internal regulations of the creed chosen by the school (sometimes interdenominational instruction). And the school board is free to decide on qualifications for religious teaching. State funding does not apply to the wages of teachers of religion. Although religion is not part of the official curriculum, the school is able to deny promotion to the next term if the student fails in that examination; nevertheless the student can apply to another school and follow his or her studies and get a degree according to the official curriculum.

The Catholic Church gives religious education great priority, in which the matter of “effectiveness” is taken seriously. Immediately after the 2nd Vatican Council, some religious institutes closed their schools in cities and turned from the upper- and high-middle classes to the lower classes who lived in poorer areas of the country. Later, a better balance was achieved under the guidance of the Catholic authorities in the way of missions and social and charitable work, while schools in deprived areas are funded in great measure by wealthier families whose children attend schools of greater social standing. The Catholic view has been, in the past, greatly influenced by the concern over state funding for their schools and in some ways this did not show enough concern about education as a whole. This has changed, and the commitment of the Catholic Church is now broader, focusing on quality and content of public and private education.

In the last decade, new issues have app...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Religious education in Argentina
• 2 Religious education in Asia
• 3 Religious education in Australia
• 4 Religious education in Austria
• 5 Religious education in Azerbaijan
• 6 Religious education in Bangladesh
• 7 Religious education in Belgium
• 8 Religious education in Brazil
• 9 Religious education in Canada
• 10 Religious education in China
• 11 Religious education in Colombia
• 12 Religious education in Estonia
• 13 Religious education in the European Union
• 14 Religious education in Finland
• 15 Religious education in France
• 16 Religious education in Germany
• 17 Religious education in Greece
• 18 Religious education in Hungary
• 19 Religious education in India
• 20 Religious education in Indonesia: the case of Islamic education
• 21 Religious education in Ireland
• 22 Religious education in Israel
• 23 Religious education in Italy
• 24 Religious education in Japan
• 25 Religious education in Kazakhstan
• 26 Religious education in Latin America
• 27 Religious education in Latvia
• 28 Religious education in Lithuania
• 29 Religious education in Malaysia
• 30 Religious education in Mexico
• 31 Religious education in Nepal
• 32 Religious education in Norway
• 33 Religious education in Pakistan
• 34 Religious education in Peru
• 35 Religious education in Poland
• 36 Religious education in Portugal
• 37 Religious education in Romania
• 38 Religious education in modern Russia
• 39 Religious education in Scotland
• 40 Religious education in Senegal
• 41 Religious education in the Slovak Republic
• 42 Religious education in the Republic of Slovenia
• 43 Religious education in South Africa
• 44 Religious education in Spain
• 45 Religious education in Sudan
• 46 Religious education in Sweden
• 47 Religious education in Switzerland
• 48 Religious education in Syria
• 49 Religious education in Ukraine
• 50 Religious education in the United Kingdom
• 51 Religious education in the United States of America
• 52 Religious education in Uruguay
• 53 Religious education in Vietnam
• Index