Libertad de enseñanza en materia religiosa y su plasmación legal

Abstract

Freedom of education regarding q:ligious matters is not achieved simply by making provisions in study plans for the possibility of taking up an optional course dedicated to the study of this or that particular religion. A neutral type of religious formation, in which greater or Iesser doses of Catholicism, Protestantism or Atheism are to be mingled together, is simply not feasibIe. Religious liberty rests upon freedom of education as a prerequisite. This freedom exists when any citizen -or, in the case of a person who is unable to fend for himself,his parents or guardians-- is given a variety of options in educational matters which enable him to choose that educational center which best suits bis necessities or purposes. Religious liberty in education is onIy one more element -although perhaps the most relevant one- contained within the notion of freedom ef education. Most legal texts of the highest order -constitutional charters of many States and numerous international agreements- usually name the right to freedom of education along with other fundamental rights, a special mention usually being given to religious Iiberty in education. However, it must be borne in mind that in numerous occasions of basic rights legal texts in many aspects are merely declarations of principIes, and in practice these principies may indeed neverbe fully applied. There are two main factors which make freedom of education possible in an effective manner: a) freedom garanted in the creation of educational centers which are allowed the possibility of organizing themselves in accordance to particular lines not imposed from without and which are to be respected by the Law, and b) equality with regard to the financlng of all educational centers, public or prívate. The topic of the «confessionality» of education refers to the doctrinal content of non-religious subject maters. This content is to be found in a large number of subjects, particulary in the branch of Humanities. The systematic study of the doctrinal content of a particular religion is another matter altogether which bears no relation to what is to be understood by the terro confessionality of education. This conceptdoes not contradict the principIe of religious liberty. On the contrary, the guarantee of this liberty is to be found in the existence of pluralism in schooIing which permits one to freely choose whatever type of education best corresponds to his own convictions in religious matters.