[en] This contribution addresses the legal and pedagogical aspects of religious confession in Swiss public schools. More precisely, it examines how controversies over legal and pedagogical issues in Switzerland have changed over time. At the beginning of the 19th century Switzerland saw itself as a union of individual confessional states (cantons); a small number of non-denominational villages neighbored the otherwise Catholic and Evangelical-Reform territories. Consequently, confessional organization of individual cantons was based on the principle that national well-being was linked to the unity of a religious confession and public morality was dependent upon an absolute concept of truth to which the people were bound. In this scenario public schools naturally played an important role: a religiously- and morally-directed education was designed to prepare individuals to live not only as Christians and moral human beings, but also as citizens. This self-image as a confessional state, as well as the concept of public education with which it was connected, were called into serious question in the 19th century. Subsequent controversies yielded a legal understanding of the state and public institutions, amongst which were those requiring a "neutral" organization. This paper also puts forward that it is historically demonstrable that the declared neutrality of state institutions regarding the question of faith was not simply an idea imposed by a particular political group. We furthermore argue that the constitutional principle of neutrality more accurately represents a sort of stalemate rather than the result of public discussions. The few participants of the discussions which did take place relied each on his own conception of truth and thereafter came to regret their blindness. The second thesis of this paper is therefore that the de-confessionalization of Swiss public schools not only took place, but also that public education and its confessional character (i.e., its specifically religious organization and basic underlying pedagogical concepts) were themselves objects of fierce controversies which accelerated this process of state institution de-confessionalization.

[es] Este artículo trata de la dimensión jurídica de la enseñanza confesional en las escuelas públicas suizas y, más precisamente, de la evolución de la reflexión sobre la formación y de la pedagogía. A principios del siglo XIX, Suiza se presenta como una confederación de Estados confesionales (cantones). Al lado de las regiones católicas y protestantes, existe un pequeño número de comarcas paritarias. La orientación confesional de los cantones se explica por el lazo estrecho que supuestamente existe entre la prosperidad del Estado y la unidad confesional y por el carácter absoluto y vinculante de la verdad que sirve de fundamento a la moral pública. En este contexto, las escuelas públicas ocupan un lugar importante: ellas preparan al individuo no sólo en tanto que cristiano moralmente irreprochable, sino también en tanto que ciudadano. En el siglo XIX, esta perspectiva es cuestionada, lo que tiene repercusiones en la concepción de la educación pública: la perspectiva confesional cede su lugar a un dispositivo jurídico defensor de la " neutralidad " del Estado y de las instituciones públicas. Dos tesis se defienden aquí. Históricamente, la neutralidad declarada de las instituciones estatales frente a las cuestiones de creencias no es simplemente la idea de un grupo político preciso la que termina imponiéndose. De hecho, los distintos participantes que defienden su concepción propia de la verdad tienen que renunciar al carácter obligatorio de ésta frente a la barrera que constituye para ellos el principio mismo del derecho constitucional de la neutralidad. Por otro lado, el carácter confesional de las escuelas públicas, la orientación ideológica y las concepciones pedagógicas sobre las que se funda la educación pública son objeto de violentas controversias que hacen avanzar este proceso de deconfesionalización de las instituciones estatales.