Confessionalidade e secularismo: a função da educação confessional à luz do debate sobre o livre arbítrio e de sua relação com o estado laico

Abstract

The present study proposes an analysis of the role of confessional education, focusing on the Christian religion, with special attention to the Roman Catholic and Reformed Protestant confessions. Christian confessional education encompasses various contexts, including the family environment, the faith community (Church), and formal educational institutions (schools and universities). This work conducts a comparative investigation between the Roman Catholic and Reformed Protestant confessions, with emphasis on understanding the function of confessional teaching within the realm of formal higher education. The way these two confessions interpret anthropology directly influences the objectives and functions of formal education in accordance with their worldviews. The research examines how the confessions conceive their anthropologies, revisiting the historical debate on free will. The Catholic confession upholds the belief that humans possess free will, while the Reformed confession maintains the antagonistic perspective that humanity lost this ability to choose after the entry of sin into the world. In the Brazilian context, there are several confessional institutions of formal education, spanning both basic and higher levels. Therefore, this text seeks to understand the social function of confessional teaching and the relationship between its purposes and the provisions of a secular state. The study develops an analysis of the scope of confessional teaching in a democratic and secular state, considering the interactions between these institutions and the government.