Religion in Spanish Schools: History, Law and Educational Debate

Religion in Schools: Relations Between Church and School Through History

1. Relationship between the Church and the school through the ages

Primitive Christianity and education

In pagan and Christian education, the official school of the ancient world gave way during the late Roman Empire, and the community of young people was lost until the barbaric invasions.

The medieval regime

In the medieval regime, Christian structures held a deeply rooted role in education. Clerical and sacral schools were predominantly owned and managed by monks and clergy. From the eighth century, teaching was in the hands of the Church, and religious content was deeply intertwined with clerical training. During the Carolingian period and the thirteenth century, pagan culture was reintroduced into the educational environment, although the Christian structure of clerical teaching remained largely exclusive.

The Renaissance and the modern era

In the humanist epoch, the Christian structure of clerical education still predominated, with little secular or pagan influence. In the modern era, a gradual change took place: the school moved toward confessional, and then secular, emancipation.

The Second Vatican Council and pluralism

After the Second Vatican Council, bishops sought to promote synchronic acceptance and respectful recognition of religious pluralism. The Church published a document defending the right of Christian students to religious training, with the aim of avoiding coercion.

Religion in the School: Conflict and Debate

Nineteenth and twentieth century conflict

During the nineteenth century, the Enlightenment and the path toward secularism led to secularist processes that were not necessarily hostile to the Church. In the early twentieth century, the question divided positions: uncompromising defenders of Catholic religion in public and private education, advocates of secularism, and an intermediate position.

During the Second Republic, a conflict arose over the place of religion. The school imposed a secular model, and religious teaching was suppressed in a sectarian and secularist climate.

Religious freedom and education

The Vatican later proclaimed the declaration Dignitatis Humanae on religious freedom and the document Gravissimum Educationis on education, recognizing the right of parents to choose the religious education of their children.

The 1978 Constitution

The 1978 Constitution marked a break with the previous regime and established a plural society. The state declared itself non-confessional. Article 27 guarantees the right to education, and Article 16 proclaims religious freedom.

The 1979 Episcopal Conference document

The 1979 document of the Spanish Episcopal Conference was decisive in understanding the new nature and identity of religious education. It affirmed that:

• Parents have the right to choose the type of education for their children.
• Students have the right to a personal and integral formation.
• The Church has a part in the integral human formation of students.
• Religious education facilitates the ecclesial service of religious freedom.

Solutions over time

Various solutions have been adopted over time. Under the UCD governments, Religion was offered as an optional subject, with ethics as an alternative. Under the PSOE government, the LOGSE of 1990 offered compulsory and optional religious education in schools, with an alternative of study activities for students who did not take it, and the subject was not evaluable.

Four Supreme Court rulings annulled several articles that developed the solution, leading to a second LOGSE-based solution in 1994. Royal Decree 24/38 of 16 December 1994 regulated religious education, which became evaluable without consequences for academic records.

New approaches: society, culture and religion

New approaches framed religion within society and culture, and proposed treating religion as a computable and evaluable subject for promotion.

Objections and Criticisms

Critics of the non-confessional state and secularist positions argue that religion should not be excluded as a university discipline, and that integral formation must include religion. The main arguments are:

• Anthropological and social argument: religion is structurally present in society and gives meaning and existence to human life.
• Historical argument: religion is a determining factor in history, and history cannot be understood without it.
• Cultural symbolism argument: religious symbols are cultural roots, even in a secularized culture.
• Intercultural argument: knowing and understanding different religions allows peaceful dialogue among different identities.
• Sociological argument: religious practice is closely linked to social environments, and understanding religion is key to understanding society.
• Linguistic argument: religion is expressed through concrete language, and understanding it requires knowledge of its symbolic, mythological and liturgical richness.
• Pedagogical argument: integral education in ethics, aesthetics and religion is necessary.
• Metaphysical argument: religious and metaphysical knowledge complement each other and help people transcend contingencies.

Ten Reasons for the Presence of Religion in Schools

1. Teaching a three-dimensional view: religion offers a vision beyond what is physically verifiable and recognizes human cultural creation.
2. Transcendence: it opens the human being to transcendence and offers a horizon of meaning and heritage.
3. Reading and teaching events: it provides a religious substrate of meaning and fosters critical capacity and cultural interpretation.
4. Thinking and reflection: it encourages silence, balance, interiority and personal growth.
5. Decision-making: it shows objectivity and freedom, and fosters autonomy.
6. Dialogue: it develops the ability to speak and to share one's own word in dialogue.
7. Living together: it teaches people to know and understand difference, and to live in diversity.
8. Improving the world: it helps people understand history and the world, and to perfect themselves.
9. Pedagogy of meaning: it integrates knowledge, values and everyday life.
10. Integral education: it contributes to the complete formation of the person in all dimensions.