RELIGION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION LA RELIGION DANS L’ÉDUCATION PUBLIQUE Edited by GERHARD ROBBERS To José María González del Valle RELIGION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION LA RELIGION DANS L’ÉDUCATION PUBLIQUE Proceedings of the Conference Trier, 11 – 14 November 2010 Actes du colloque Trèves, 11 – 14 novembre 2010 Edited by GERHARD ROBBERS This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means and storage in data banks. Copyright: European Consortium for Church and State Research http://www.churchstate.eu/ © 2011 Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-00-036029-9 CONTENTS – SOMMAIRE Gerhard Robbers, Preface...................................................... 7 José de Sousa e Brito, General Aspects of Religion and Education in the Secular State ................................... 9 David McClean, Religious Dress and Symbols in Schools ......................................................................... 17 Norman Doe, Religion and Public Schools in the States of the European Union – A Juridical Overview ............... 29 Stefan Hammer / Johannes Franck, Religion in Public Education – Report on Austria .............................. 39 Rik Torfs, Religious Instruction in Public Education in Belgium ........................................................................ 63 Hristo P. Berov, Religion in the Public Education System of Bulgaria ........................................................................ 73 Achilles C. Emilianides, Religion in Public Education in Cyprus .......................................................................... 87 Jiří Rajmund Tretera / Záboj Horák, Religion in Public Education in the Czech Republic .......................... 99 Lisbet Christoffersen, Religion in Public Education – Denmark ........................................................................... 113 Merilin Kiviorg, Religious Education in Estonia ................... 117 Matti Kotiranta, Religious Education in Finland ................... 139 Francis Messner, Religion et éducation en France ................ 155 Hans Michael Heinig, Religion in Public Education – Germany ........................................................................... 167 Nikos Ch. Maghioros, Religion in Public Education – Report on Greece .............................................................. 195 Balázs Schanda, Religion in Public Education in Hungary ........................................................................ 217 Paul Colton, Religion in Public Education in Ireland ............ 227 Alessandro Ferrari, La religion dans l’éducation publique – le cas italien ...................................................................... 257 Ringolds Balodis, Religion in Public Education – Latvian Experience ........................................................... 273 Andrius Sprindziunas, Religion in Public Education in Lithuania ....................................................................... 295 Patrick Kinsch, L’État et l’enseignement privé au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ...................................... 311 Philippe Poirier, La religion dans l’enseignement public au Luxembourg ................................................................. 319 Sophie van Bijsterveld, Religion in Public Education in the Netherlands ............................................................. 363 Józef Krukowski, Religion in Public Education – Poland ............................................................................... 383 André Folque, Religion in Public Portuguese Education ....... 399 Emanuel P. Tăvală, Religion and Public Education in Romania ........................................................................ 425 Marek Šmid, Religion in Public Education – Slovakia .......... 443 Blaž Ivanc, Religion in Public Education – Slovenia ............. 455 Agustín Motilla, Religion in Public Education – Spain .......... 473 Lars Friedner, Religion in Public Education – Sweden ......... 493 David McClean, Religion in Public Education – United Kingdom ............................................................... 503 Jean Duffar, La religion dans l'éducation publique – Droit international et européen ......................................... 521 Michał Rynkowski, Religion in European Schools ................. 567 6 PREFACE The 22nd annual conference of the European Consortium for Church and State Research took place from 11 to 14 November 2010 in Trier, Germany. It was dedicated to the topic of Religion in Public Education. The conference would not have been possible without the intense work of Ms. Claudia Lehnen, Ms. Gerhild Scholzen-Wiedmann, Ms. Dr. Angelika Günzel, Ms. Dr. Christine Schmidt-König, Mr. Oliver Windgätter, Ms. Cerin Kizhakkethottam, Mr. Moritz Reger, Ms. Maria Hermanns, Ms. Christine Brentrup, Ms. Bärbel Junk, Ms. Ingrid Kehrer, Ms. Linda Kern, Mr. Niklas Klein, Ms. Annabelle Mertes, Mr. Arash Faghih Nassiri, Ms. Aleksandra Pistalo, Mr. Robert Schiller, Ms. Jana Schollmeier, Mr. Dr. Christoph Streiß and Mr. André Woitkewitz. I do thank them all. I am highly indebted to Professor Norman Doe, Cardiff, for his invaluable help in preparing this volume of proceedings. Generous support has been given to this conference by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the Association of German Dioceses (VDD), the EU Research Department at the University of Trier, the Friends of the University of Trier. Gerhard Robbers GENERAL ASPECTS OF RELIGION AND EDUCATION IN THE SECULAR STATE JOSÉ DE SOUSA E BRITO 1. Let us start with the secular state, since the constitutional princi- ples of the secular state are the very matter under discussion when we want to solve today’s difficult legal problems in the domain of religion and education. The secularisation of the state is the result of a long intellectual and political process that is both presupposed and implied by the Bill of Rights of Virginia of 1776, by the Constitution of the United States of 1787 and the First Amendment to the Consti- tution of 1791 and by the French declaration of rights of 1789. It derives from the definition of the ends of the state as purely worldly. Such ends are so enumerated in the preamble to the American Con- stitution: “establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty”. Therefore the state has nothing to decide in matters of religion but to protect the decisions of individuals. Ac- cording to the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law re- specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. The state cannot discriminate between individuals accord- ing to their religion or non-religion, but must remain neutral or im- partial. This is also the meaning of “État laïque” in the French constitu- tions of 1946 and 1958, as is clearly stated in the travaux prépara- toires. In 1946 Robert Schumann, in the only statement before the vote, equates the principle of laicity with the doctrine of the neutral- ity or impartiality of the state towards all the members of the nation, as a consequence of religious liberty. Therefore, he says, it can not be conceived as a restriction.1 This non-restrictive character is 1 See the quotations of Schuman in Jean Morange, “Laïcité” in Denis Alland, Stéphane Rials (eds.), Dictionnaire de la culture juridique, Paris: Presses Universitaires de JOSÉ DE SOUSA E BRITO stressed in the Constitution of 1958 by adding that the Republic “re- spects all beliefs”.2 From the constitutional principle of laicity has to be distinguished the regulation of it in French law, which underwent many changes after the introduction in 1882 of the école primaire publique, which was truly laïque without using the word, following the many turns of the ideological conflict between the two faces of France – catholic France and the France of laicism. There is however an aspect of the regulation of the principle that has constitutional significance, even if it is not part of the Constitution strictly speak- ing: the preamble of the 1946 Constitution, reaffirmed by the 1958 Constitution, says that “the organisation of free and lay public in- struction at all levels is a duty of the state”. The term “laicism” des- ignates the doctrine or ideology supportive of laicity and is mainly used by the critics of such doctrine. Since the Catholic Church after Vatican II adopted the principle of state secularism or laicity, “laic- ism” designates a certain conception of laicity according to which religion has no access to the public realm and is relegated to the private sphere and the state – and with it public schools – should be based on reason alone, ideas that do not correspond to French law but are typical of the French republican tradition. 2. That the secular state is an essential element of the liberal or de- mocratic constitutional state is generally agreed upon, since it is a logical consequence of religious liberty. But then the question arises as to whether the secular state for similar logical reasons is bound to depend for its own survival on the very religion that it is forbidden to protect. The question was famously raised by the German constitu- tionalist Böckenförde as a kind of dilemma: “The liberal secular state lives from presuppositions that it cannot itself ensure. This