When I finished reading the Education Law, I was left with the impression that something was missing. A new and careful reading confirmed that religious education was not even mentioned in the Complementary Provisions. This fact violates the freedom of education and also against the choice of parents, who decide the school for their children according to their beliefs and convictions, in addition to other reasonable criteria.
But what caught my attention is the divorce that exists in law and life, between law and society. It seems that the legislator does not pay attention to the course and entity of the social background. Reason for the failure of many laws. A button to show. In October, Lima – the capital of Peru – dresses in purple, as a sign of its devotion to the Lord of Miracles. Along with the religious manifestations, nougats, vianderas, bullfights, purple dresses, and a series of popular expressions appear. Some say: myth and folklore. Others reply: religious syncretism. The thousands of people who live the tradition from within: they keep promises, they pray, they are grateful, and they ask for forgiveness with faith and devotion before the Purple Christ. The truth is that from year to year, the number of devotees increases, and the Brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles receives new members… while the sociological explanations continue.
Faced with this obvious fact, why do legislators not want to help parents – who wish to do so – so that their children study religion in schools? Why this desire to govern with their backs to reality? Many of our traditions, tested by time, have their roots in religion, therefore, decreeing their silencing by law is not only an affront to freedom of conscience, but also to our own history. Peru is a predominantly Catholic country, minimizing or ignoring such a reality is a contradiction. Religious education is not a privilege, much less a gift that the Legislator generously grants, it is a right that accompanies all parents who value and wants the transmission of their religious beliefs and convictions to their children. State and private schools constitute – among others – a means and qualified help to realize this right and complement the work of parents.
Education in values, demanded and supported by all levels of society, includes all the possible and necessary goods for the person to fully develop. Reducing them or highlighting only some is also limiting each person’s possibilities for growth. Religion is a good and, therefore, a high value that brings together the whole person. Educating in values is also promoting and favoring religious education in schools.
It is up to legislators to attend and look, without prejudices or ideological biases, at the reality of society. Teaching religion in schools does not mean that freedom of belief is affected, on the contrary, it means respecting the free choice of the parents, who will ultimately be the ones who decide the school, which is consistent with their own interests and beliefs.
