O Ensino Religioso nas instituições de ensino públicas: contribuições das teorias decoloniais

Abstract

This work aims to search for contributions of decolonial theories – specifically the concept of "coloniality of power" developed by Aníbal Quijano – for Religious Education as proposed by the BNCC. From the beginning of the European colonization of the territory currently occupied by Brazil, the native and enslaved peoples brought from the African continent were subjected to forced labor, collective deportation and cultural subordination. The research assumes that this subordination is still perceptible in speeches, actions, legislative codes, customs, and that it is related to the historical alliance between Christianity and temporal power, whose ties were only officially ruptured in Brazil at the end of the XIX century, from the promulgation of the Constitution of 1891. The research also supposes that even after a series of advances in the legislative scope, the minority religious groups, mainly of Afro-indigenous origin, still suffer from prejudice, discrimination and violence historically built. Based on this finding, it proposes that decolonial theories can contribute so that Religious Education in public educational institutions not only values silenced cultures, but be capable of making students aware of the historical processes that produced a cultural subordination that places knowledge coming from the European/American axis at the top of the hierarchy of power, hindering dialogue and the promotion of cultural and religious diversity.