Religious Education in Public Schools of Salta Province. The Philosophical Debate

Abstract

More than a century after the sanction of the Argentine Law 1420 of Common Education, the case “Castillo v. Salta Province, Board of Education” revives the old debate about the admissibility of religious education in public schools. In this essay I put the constitutional question aside and I address the conflict from a philosophical point of view. I examine arguments for and against religious education in public schools, and I set them within broader conceptions about the primary aims of education and the proper distribution of educational authority. Taking a nonreligious –though not antireligious– position, I argue that while there are no reasons to justify that religious education be offered in public schools, there are good reasons not to do it. With this aim, I focus on the principle of equal liberty of conscience and argue that State neutrality on religious matters is the best way to grant it.