ABSTRACT
Brazilian history has roots in Catholic tradition: during the fi rst 200 years from the arrival of Portuguese conquerors, in 1500 C.E., education was fully in the hands of the Jesuits, and after their deportation, was both in the hands of the state and other religious orders. The 20th century has seen a strong eff ort to make public education fully secular (85% of elementary Brazilian students go to public school). This eff ort is prompted by the continued presence of confessional teaching in state schools. The still powerful Catholic Church, and more recently the several Protestant Pentecostal churches, act against this secular trend. For some scholars and advocates of secularism, public school is no place for religion. Roseli Fischmann (2012), of the University of São Paulo, states that religion in public school always brings proselytism pushed by majority religions, and this is a constraint for minorities. For Sergio Junqueira (2009), from the Catholic University (Paraná), Director of GPER (Research Group Education and Religion), and the members of Fonaper (Forum Nacional Permanente de Ensino Religioso-Permanent National Forum of Religious Education), pluralism should be guaranteed in religious education, but spirituality must be inserted both in private and public school. However, recent research provides evidence that proselytism and constraints, both illegal under Brazilian law, are widely practiced in various public schools all over Brazil (Fischmann, 2012).
