Bolivia Wants to End Religious Education in Schools, Declare State Secular

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) – The government of President Evo Morales wants to end religious education in public schools and strike Roman Catholicism as the country's official religion, a proposal apt to meet great resistance.

An education reform law being prepared by Morales' administration would replace Catholic education in public schools with the teaching of Indian languages, Education Minister Felix Patzi told The Associated Press.

"Instead of religion, they'll do languages," Patzi said. "Religion is a question of faith, and faith can't be taught, much less in an obligatory manner."

The leftist government, in its efforts to rid Bolivia of the vestiges of a colonial past that discriminated against the Indian majority, is also pushing a constitutional reform that would remove Catholicism as the country's official religion.

"It's important to open a public debate in the constituent assembly on the necessity for a secular state," Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said after meeting Wednesday with the country's Catholic leader, Cardinal Julio Terrazas.

Bolivia is holding elections July 2 for a constituent assembly that will convene the following month to rewrite this poor Andean nation's constitution.

Catholicism has been the country's official religion since Bolivia's founding in 1825.