By VK
Starting with the next academic year, Russian pupils of the fourth grade will study a new course – “Foundations of religious culture and secular ethics”. One can choose from six modules of the course: “Foundations of Orthodox culture”, “Foundations of Muslim culture”, “Foundations of Buddhist culture”, “Foundations of Judaic culture”, “Foundations of the world’s religions” and “Foundations of secular ethics”. These subjects will be taught by primary school teachers – probably, because it would cost less this way. The teachers are now attending courses in order to obtain the qualifications necessary to teach these subjects. The majority of Moscow teachers would prefer the “Foundations of secular ethics” module, but parents are constantly reminded that they are free to choose any of the six courses they prefer. However, many Moscow schools have classes where Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish pupils study together, and it is almost impossible to find a compromise course in this situation.
In any case, after the parents of one class decide which course they want their children to attend, each of them will have to sign corresponding documents – to make the enterprise look more solid, probably. However, the issue of a 10-year-old child’s ability to comprehend any of the suggested subjects wasn’t even discussed. There will be no final grades for this course either. So what is the idea behind the new course? Leaders of religious communities of Russia tried to answer this question.
Farid Asadullin, the Chairman of the Scientific and Social Committee of Russia’s Mufti Council
Our community has an ambiguous attitude towards this idea. Yes, some Russians support this new subject, but which module should dominate in each particular region? That’s the question. For example, in Chechnya 99% will study Islam, while in Ivanovo District 99% will study Orthodox culture. And in the conditions of active migration it won’t help a bit: a person from Chechnya will come to Moscow after graduating from school, and he will still find this environment hostile and inhospitable, as the course didn’t give him any knowledge of other cultures, any skills of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional interaction. So I think it would be wise to teach children the foundations of all our traditional religions: Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism.
As for the issue of the attitude of our society towards religious people… There are really a lot of them, we’ve already mentioned that people go back to their roots, to their religious traditions, and they shouldn’t be facing any barriers on this road. The confessional schools of each community – madrasahs, Jewish and Sunday schools – should be given maximum opportunities within the framework of their respective religious communities. It is true that we should pay more attention to young people. The same thing that Andrei has said about Muslim youth goes for other young people as well. It is urgent that all confessions find a common language here. Knowledge of Russian history allows us to find answers to some very complicated questions. Russian Emperors had found – by trial and error – a certain formula that allowed all confessions to co-exist. Of course, there were cases of intolerance and racism, but still. And today we are living in an epoch when each religious tradition has vast opportunities for self-realization in the framework of our democratic society.
Roman Bagdasarov, member of the Inter-Confessional Council of Russia
As for the educational programs, we have recently held a round-table discussion in Perm. We came to the conclusion that if we let the religious education of young people be handled solely by the religious communities, we’ll get a negative result as far as the state and civil society is concerned. The communities don’t possess large amounts of money to sponsor the educational programs, so it is unclear what knowledge and what ideas they will give to the young people (I’m not talking about little kids) who are most suggestible and soon will have the chance to put these ideas into practice. The process will be uncontrollable. And without state control over religious education we’ll have big trouble on our hands. So this introduction of religious cultures' foundations – not only of Orthodox or Islamic culture – and the foundations of secular ethics into all state schools will help us resolve many of the existing problems and those which are yet to come. For example, that ugly action in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral – its participants merely don’t understand what a Temple is, what our Faith is, and how they should behave in a Church or a Mosque or a Synagogue. The introduction of religious education programs into state schools isn’t an imposture of dogmas, it is an explanation of due behavior. If you don’t like the religious sound of it, let’s call it ‘secular ethics' foundations’. One needs to know how to behave oneself in public places - the same should go for places of religious worship. The reality shows that this question is a real problem for Russian society. Of course, all our religious communities have great experience in teaching such subjects – and it should be used in the current program. But no! They impose ‘secular ethics’, they don’t let us or the Buddhists or Muslims teach their subjects. They say that 99% have chosen ‘secular ethics’, but it's not true. A lot of people would like to study Orthodox culture, but some teachers and some committees don’t give them this opportunity. And it’s a problem. As a result, we get what we got in the Christ the Savior Cathedral. It could have happened in any other religious place, a mosque or a synagogue. But there are positive examples of inter-confessional dialogue: when the Cincture of the Theotokos was brought to Moscow, a Muslim delegation addressed me and asked me to organize access to the relic for them so they could honor it.
Adolf Shayevich, the Chief Rabbi of Russia
Of course each member of the Jewish community used to know our traditions and history. It would be great if all the young Orthodox people were brought up in the traditions of the Orthodox faith, Muslims – in the Islamic tradition and so on. This is normal. But we should also take into account that our country is a multi-national one. We all have to live and work together. Unfortunately, many aspects of the problem are being missed today. We are in a great hurry. For example, I am still impressed by the common scene I used to observe back in the USSR, when I was not a religious figure and I travelled a lot: Orthodox people didn’t experience any shame while using Churches as storage facilities. I grew up in the Jewish Autonomous District, in Birobijan. And I was very surprise when I came to Moscow and found out that there was a synagogue there – I was brought up with Soviet ideas, so it was quite a shock for me. Today young people who become interested in their traditional religions are not facing the obstacles their parents used to face 30 years ago. And now they can return to their religions and bring their parents with them, and it’s great. The same goes for the Jewish community, some of the older members have no connection to our religious tradition, but it can all be restored if only you have time and patience. A school kid should be taught to respect members of other confessions and ethnic groups, and we need good teachers for that. It is an important problem – who will teach the kids this tolerance? It is all new to the people who’ll teach the subjects. So this issue should be treated with a great deal of attention. All these problems are very complex, and it is the future of our state we’re talking, as our children are our future, and we should bring them up as good citizens.
