Religion in a world-view neutral school. Challenges on the example of Poland

ABSTRACT Under Communism, the Catholic Church in Poland played the role of guarantor of preserving the national traditions and defender of freedom. Such was one of reasons for removing religion from the state school curriculum by the government of Poland in 1961. The political transformation of 1989 changed the concept of the Polish state. Religion as a subject of school education was restored to state (public) schools in 1990 immediately after the political watershed. It was given a confessional and optional character. Although Poland is a pluralistic country (over 180 denominations) the dominant cultural and political role is played by the Roman Catholic Church. In this article we address the problems that appear in the context of religious instruction taught in world-view neutral public schools of Poland. We are not so much interested in detailed issues related to the teaching of religion sensu stricto, but in the presence of religion as such in state schools. We consider the pedagogical problem formulated in this way in the context of the legal principle of the world-view neutrality of the state in a democratic, pluralistic and at the same time hyper-religious society.