RELIGIOUS EDUCATION FOR AUTONOMY: NOTES ON RELIGIOSITY, EDUCATION AND DIVERSITY

Abstract

In a project of education for autonomy, the notion of citizenship is important and is provided with political significance, since it aims at the formation of autonomous, creative and critical individuals, capable of the responsible exercise of their freedoms, as well as their obligations. In this sense, every curriculum is dynamic and involves several social agents who are based on different ideologies. For this reason, every curriculum is also a field of dispute. In this article, we present a discussion about the disputes involving Religious Education, and we advocate for a scientific curriculum built on and by the epistemological foundations of Religious Studies, as an area of knowledge that serves theoretically and methodologically to Religious Education. By linking a brief history of the theme to the process of secularism in Brazil, we make a distinction, even if limited, between religion and religiosity, in order to improve and expand the understanding of what the object of Religious Education is, namely: the religious phenomenon. We argue that it is by gathering the theoretical bases of a secular and reflective Religious Education that a project of formation of creative and autonomous students is built, strengthening a model of education of and for diversity.