THIS ESSAY proposes a discussion about religion and the State, taking into consideration certain ideals related to Modernity. Inasmuch as laicization is part of these ideals, the focus is on the relationship between religion and the school. Several texts dealing with this relationship, with judicial definitions and with governmental initiatives are analyzed, in an attempt to establish a counterpoint between the situation in France and in Brazil. From France, we examine two reports commissioned by the government - one from the Commission on Laicity (2003) and one on the "teaching of religious facts" in schools (2002). From Brazil, we peruse four interventions on the trends of the debate on religious teaching in public schools in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
