https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/6655 2026-10-30T20:25:33Z https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/26213 Title: O ensino religioso e a pluralidade religiosa : fundamentos, desafios e possibilidades no contexto educacional contemporâneo Authors: Alves, Margarida Maria Sibaldo Ribeiro Abstract: Faced with the barriers found in teaching Religious Education in public schools– which range from the lack of specific teacher training to episodes of religious intolerance– and considering religious plurality as a pedagogical resource capable of enhancing teaching and learning processes, this study utilized bibliographical research, seeking support in legal and normative documents concerning the theme, as well as in the theories of renowned social and Religious Studies scholars, with the objective of understanding how religious plurality can ground the practice of Religious Education in public schools, contributing to a secular, critical education committed to human rights. The research was based on the theory of two scholars: John Hick’s Pluralistic Hypothesis and Cláudio de Oliveira Ribeiro’s Pluralistic Principle. Hick proposes that great religious traditions constitute culturally conditioned paths in relation to the same Real, favoring a plural understanding of the religious experience, while Ribeiro presents a critical reading of plurality based on the Latin American reality, valuing diversity, combating exclusion, and promoting dialogue and social justice. Throughout the investigation, it became evident that the two theories are connected and can ground a pluralistic practice of Religious Education, capable of valuing religious traditions, religious movements, and philosophies of life. The research also demonstrated the need for specific training in Religion Studies to equip teachers for a critical and reflective practice that considers, as foundations of their pedagogical action, among other aspects, the student's sociocultural and religious context, as well as their commitment to the student's holistic development. This study evidenced, therefore, that religious plurality does not constitute a barrier to the implementation of a democratic, secular, and critical Religious Education, but rather presents the potential to ground a conscious, dialogical teaching practice committed to human development. 2026-08-27T00:00:00Z https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/26052 Title: Religião, educação e laicidade: a atuação adventista através do Projeto Adote um Leitor Authors: Vieira, Vitelmo da Silva Abstract: This study analyzed the actions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church through the Adote um Leitor Project, implemented at José Antônio dos Santos Municipal School, in the city of Lagarto, state of Sergipe (Brazil), during the 2021–2022 period, analyzing its educational and social outcomes and its implications for the principle of secularity. The general objective was to examine how the Church’s involvement through this project engages with, impacts, or potentially tensions the principle of secularity within the public school context. Methodologically, this is a qualitative study of an interpretative-comprehensive nature, grounded in a hermeneutical approach as articulated by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. The corpus consisted of preexisting materials related to the project, including institutional documents, printed pedagogical materials, audiovisual records, and testimonies from mothers of participating children, school representatives, and sponsors. The theoretical framework draws on the concept of secularization as developed by Peter Berger, as well as on discussions of secularity based on the contributions of Marília Domingos and Sérgio Junqueira and Marcos Vinícius Reis. The findings indicated that the Adote um Leitor Project was well received by the school community and positively perceived by society as an educational support initiative, promoting significant improvements in reading development, socialization, and the expansion of personal expectations and future aspirations among the children benefited, without evidence of explicit proselytism. However, the study also revealed that the presence of a religious denomination within a public school may contribute to the naturalization of this institutional presence and generate tensions with the principle of state secularity, thereby requiring ongoing and careful vigilance. 2026-01-29T00:00:00Z https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/25636 Title: Religião, política e controvérsias: o caso do Círio de Nazaré nas eleições de 2022 Authors: Santos, Gustavo Matos Abstract: This dissertation examines the relationship between religion and politics in contemporary Brazil through an analysis of the controversies sparked by then-President Jair Bolsonaro's participation in the Círio de Nazaré festival in Belém do Pará in October 2022, at the height of the election campaign. The episode is understood as a nexus of controversy in which historical, theological, political, economic, and identity-related threads intersect. The overall objective is to critically examine the use of this religious festival in the 2022 electoral context. To this end, three specific objectives are articulated: to reflect theoretically on the concepts of historical and cultural process, controversy, and religious and public spaces; to understand the historical and cultural process of the Círio from its emergence in the eighteenth century to its political use in 2022; and to analyze the political-religious controversies that emerged during the festival in 2022. The theoretical framework draws on the notions of historical and cultural process developed by Marshall Sahlins and John B. Thompson, the approaches to controversy proposed by Bruno Latour, Pierre Bourdieu, Francis Chateauraynaud, and Paula Montero, and the debate on religious and public spaces based on Jürgen Habermas and the Brazilian authors Patrícia Birman, Emerson Giumbelli, Paula Montero, and Ari Pedro Oro. Methodologically, this study is grounded in the qualitative paradigm, adopts an instrumental case study design, and is based on document analysis of news reports, official statements, social media posts, and audiovisual records. The central hypothesis is that the Círio functions as a dense symbolic form whose analysis makes it possible to observe broader transformations in the relationship between religion and the public sphere in Brazil, where state secularism does not imply absolute separation, but rather a complex interplay of arrangements and everyday negotiations. It is concluded that the 2022 Círio episode constituted a limit event in which the boundaries between religion and politics proved porous and contested, revealing internal fissures within Catholicism, competition among religious groups, and the agency of the faithful as collective actors capable of reacting to attempts to impose a political framing on their ritual. 2026-07-02T00:00:00Z https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/25446 Title: Njila, o senhor dos caminhos: Exu no Candomblé Angola em Aracaju Sergipe Authors: Trindade, Gilterlan Celestino Abstract: This dissertation investigates the manifestations and meanings of the cult of Exu in Candomblé Angola in Sergipe, based on the case study of the Nzo Águas da Penha terreiro, located in the Santa Maria neighborhood, in the city of Aracaju. Originally conceived as a comparative study between Candomblé and Umbanda, the work was reoriented due to field conditions, focusing empirically on Candomblé Angola and using Umbanda as a theoretical comparative reference. The research problem guiding the investigation is: how is the cult of Exu manifested and signified in Candomblé Angola in Aracaju-Sergipe, and how does this manifestation dialogue or create tensions with the representations of Exu in Umbanda as described in the specialized bibliography? The central hypothesis argues that, in Candomblé Angola, Exu is not primarily understood as an entity but as a relational cosmological principle called Njila or Pambu Njila, which operates as a condition of possibility for movement, communication, and existence itself, while its manifestation as catiço represents a layer of mediation closer to the human realm. The research is theoretically grounded in the anthropology of religion, engaging with the studies of Roger Bastide, Reginaldo Prandi, Vagner Gonçalves da Silva, Stefania Capone, and Marcio Goldman. The methodology is qualitative and ethnographic, based on participant observation carried out over approximately two years at the researched terreiro and on semi-structured interviews with three subjects, all faithful members of the Candomblé Angola terreiro Nzo Águas da Penha: the religious leader Mam’etu Monaciledomim (Jaciara Chagas); the priest Kumlenbelê (Robert), Tat'etu de Nkisi; and the daughter of the house Kafilandeji (Sara), Mam'etu de Nkisi. The analysis of the empirical material is organized into three chapters, corresponding to the three specific objectives: the cosmovision of Candomblé Angola and the structural place of Njila; the religious trajectories and different modes of relationship with the mediating entities; and the dialogues and tensions between the cult of Exu in Candomblé Angola and in Umbanda. The results indicate that the Candomblé Angola of Nzo Águas da Penha preserves a relational ontology in which Exu, as a principle of movement, is not reduced to binary moral categories of good and evil, unlike the process of moralization observed in Umbanda. The research also highlights the centrality of female ancestry and the reemergence of the feminine principle of Exu through the Pombagiras, especially Maria Padilha, who leads the mediating entities in the house. It concludes that Candomblé Angola in Sergipe, far from being extinct or forgotten, persists in a guarded manner, remaining alive through networks of oral transmission, ritual practices, and daily resistance to religious racism. 2026-04-30T00:00:00Z