Relación Estado-Iglesia y educación en México: vínculos problemáticos entre Estado educador, laicismo y querella escolar

Abstract

In Mexico, the relationship between the State and the Catholic Church has been an ever changing and complex one. In this article, we posit that beyond the realm of religious politics, these changes have influenced education politics giving that the State took over public education in the nineteenth century, relieving the Church from such duties, in addition to the fact that it established secularity as one of its ruling and foundational principles, which incited a dispute over the control of education. In this process, we distinguish three tendencies that mark the State discourse: radicalism, a spirit of conciliation, and the establishment of alliances between clergy and government. In addition, we identify three tendencies in the Catholic Church proceedings that go from trying to recuperate control over public education and the printing of text books, to a notorious interest in private education for the elites, to the controversies surrounding sex education.