Protection of the principle of laicity in the brazilian legal ordinance

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the principle of secularity present in the current legal system with an emphasis on the need to protect secularity as it is an instrument capable of promoting the equal treatment determined by art. 5, caput, of the Federal Constitution and also a means of pacifying existing conflicts between the religious sphere and the State. The relevance of the approached theme consists in the fact that secularity is an issue that involves the realization of fundamental rights, such as freedom of belief and conscience. Furthermore, with regard to this issue, the discussions need to be further developed, as there is still no satisfactory social response to the controversies between religions and the State. The study is developed, initially, seeking to contextualize the origin of secularism and its legal delimitation; later, it emphasizes freedom of belief and conscience as a fundamental right and the limitations concerning this right and, finally, it analyzes the vertical effectiveness of freedom of belief, still dealing with its conflicts with the secular state and the possible ways to resolve them . From this perspective, the method used will be deductive and dialectical; associated with qualitative research, considering that it will start from an analysis of how secularism emerged, passing through its legal context and finally demonstrating its practical implications. Therefore, such research is pertinent, as it is extremely important to seek effective solutions to the social conflicts of a plural society in which secularization is present