Wokół problematyki demokratyczności katechezy szkolnej. W odpowiedzi Andrzejowi Potockiemu

In the presented article we undertake a polemic against the text of Andrzej Potocki Katecheza w szkole lekcją dialogu (Religious education at school – a lesson of dialogue). Taking advantage of the quarterly Teraźniejszość – Człowiek – Edukacja we start a discussion about the assumed and real functions of religious education in the context of the democracy of the school culture and in general in the context of democratic transformations which we are experiencing, the more so as we cannot agree with some interpretation of our text.Our polemic has two main directions: 1. A school lesson of religious education – similarly to what A. Potocki thinks – is a privileged place of a dialogue, particularly in the area of institutionalised education, but – according to us – for other reasons than our polemicist thinks. What we mean is that a lesson of religious education has much less prestige than – being extreme – the subjects that are covered with obligatory external examinations. 2. We locate ourselves in the area of pedagogical culture studies (i.e. in the area of cultural sciences) and philosophy of education (i.e. in the area of philosophy) and A. Potocki adds theological arguments to his reasoning. It is here where the basic and general difference between ours and A. Potocki’s argument is – we methodologically put ourselves in astonishment and the theoreticians of religious education do not cover the reasons that flow from the revelation.