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Russian pupils in four regions will have mandatory courses on the basics of Orthodox Christianity. |
MOSCOW — Russia has made the teaching of the Orthodox Christian religion mandatory at schools in four Russian regions for the first time in the history of the former communist and atheist country.
"This year, a textbook on the history of world religions is available for the first time. It pays a lot of attention to Russian Orthodox Christianity," said Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko, reported the BBC News Online on Thursday, August 31.
Russian pupils in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk regions will be taught the basics of Orthodox Christianity.
Fursenko said that schoolchildren must learn "the history of religion and religious culture".
The teaching of the Orthodox religion will also be optional in eleven other regions across the country's 86.
There are 86 regions and republics in the Russian Federation.
The introduction of the Orthodox religion in curricula comes after lawmakers in the 15 regions backed the move.
Supporters of the move argue that it will help protect spiritual values in Russia, but critics say it violates the constitution of the secular state.
The teaching of religion was strictly outlawed in the Soviet Union and atheism was a then state policy.
Orthodox Christianity is Russia's main religion.
President Vladimir Putin frequently meets church leaders and appears at church ceremonies although he does not publicly support its approach.
History
The move, however, has drawn immediate rebukes as violating the Russian Constitution.
The central educational watchdog body, Rosobraznadzor, said the Church was separate from the state under the country's state constitution.
The teaching of the basics of Orthodox Christianity, therefore, should only be taught as an optional subject, it added.
Russian education officials said that the Orthodox lessons will be taught from a secular and cultural point of view, and not be religious instruction.
One of the regions named to allow the courses told the BBC that the lessons would concentrate on history rather than questions of faith.
Russian Muslim leaders responded to the move by saying that they would ask for introducing lessons on the Islamic faith in schools.
Russia has a Muslim population of 20 million people concentrated in north of the Caucasus and in the central parts of the country. |
