L'enseignement du fait religieux dans l'école publique?

Abstract

Over recent years, many observers oj the contemporary scene have deplored the igno rance oj the younger generations concerning religious traditions both here and elsewhere. Some consider that this igno rance presents serious ïrisks for democracy and for understanding different peoples. After giving a few zations on the diversity oj conceptions of en ship and on the implications oj this lion for citizenship education, the article s the question of the importance of the,/ of symbolic systems and. questions of meaning in the education oj future citizens,The analysis will be based on an examination recent debates on the place of religion at school after the abolition of the constitutional protection of the deno minational character of the Quebec school system, in 1997. It will also be based on the Debray Report in France. These debates open interesting questions on the conditions to be set up so that citizenship education might give more space to the exploration of symbolic systems and to the consideration of questions of meaning.. © Université de Picardie J ules Vernes.