Belgium: The official representatives of the five main recognised religious traditions in Belgium have signed a joint letter, addressed to political leaders, requesting that the religious education course be maintained in the compulsory official teaching schedule. They rely on precise figures compiled by the schools: “between 80 and 90 per cent of parents of students in official education do not request this exemption [from religious education] and explicitly enrol their child in a religious or moral education course. “This shows the importance of this hour devoted to religious education in schools. This class must make it possible to “accompany students in their search for meaning by opening them to the religious dimension in which it allows everyone to learn to position themselves personally”. We know that this issue is crucial in view of current challenges.
In their arguments, the representatives of recognized religions insist on the place of these “places of questioning, research and discovery” that is religious education. The petitioners still raise the constitutional argument. Article 24 of the Constitution was supplemented by an explanatory note from the Government to the Senate (in 1988). According to the reading of the representatives of religious denominations in Belgium, “deciding to make the religion/moral class optional, or to remove it from the timetable, would mean that it would no longer concern ALL pupils subject to compulsory schooling, and this decision would therefore be in contradiction with the Constitution.” The letter is signed by Cardinal De Kesel and Mgr Harpigny for the Catholic faith, as well as by Pastor S. Fuite and Dr. G. Lorein for the Protestant and Evangelical faith, by Metropolitan Athenagoras for the Orthodox faith, by Philippe Markiewicz and Chief Rabbi A. Guigui for the Jewish faith and by Salah Echallaoui for the Muslim Executive in Belgium. The full text of the letter, as well as the accompanying tables of figures (in French), are available here: https://tinyurl.com/saofexr.
