RELIGIOUS AND CONFESSIONAL PUBLIC EDUCATION: NOTES FROM THE DIRECT UNCONSTITUTIONALITY ACTION 4.439

The aim of this article is to prove, from arguments debated in the Direct Unconstitutionality Action 4.439, that democratic secularity does not exclude religious sphere. With this background, we try to demonstrate that in order to claim the optionality, the non-confessional structure and the separation between State and Church, in favor of religious freedom itself, which includes the right not to profess any faith. Teaching could be, when ministered, “about” religions, not “of” religions. Finally, note that a critical-methodological line was adopted. In this sense, the arguments presented by the Ministers of the Supreme Court were read by the lenses of a Critical Constitutional Theory.