RUSSIA
RELIGION NEWS
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The police squad that arrived at the Victory city park caught them in the ruins of the brick wall of the church of St. Tatiana that was under construction. By that time about 400 blocks, ten cubic meters, had been smashed. Since Marziia Shakirova, 65, and Alfiia Zinnurova, 61, had already participated in such acts, they were considered the chief participants. For some reason, Nionila Fazlyeva, who is the ideological inspiration for the act of vandalism (she is the chairman of the Council of Veterans), was not arrested when she arrived at the site.
The mystery in all this has not been dispelled. At least there is some doubt about how three weak, old folk in such a short time, without use of any destruction devices, could destroy such a brick wall with their bare hands. Perhaps, of course, the builders had done shoddy work and had scrimped on the cement. But there is a suspicion that mischievous youth from the district department of the Tatar Public Center (TOTs) had done the work here before the old women.
It is a fact that in recent years TOTs in Naberezhnye Chelny has been following a clearly extremist policy, protecting wahhabites, and conducting public demonstrations in violation of the law. It was under its patronage that a hunger strike was held in the excavation for the foundation of the future church (the arrested women took part in it) and its president, Rafis Kashapov, has been bombarding higher offices in Russia with letters demanding the transfer of the construction of the church of St. Tatiana to another spot. Incidentally, three years ago a fire broke out in a temporary wooden chapel; the fire was declared to be accidental.
Rafis Kashapov denied any, even moral, responsibility for the church "terrorism." So that just leaves the old women to take the rap. Meanwhile the elderly activists have been accused under the extremely serious and relatively rarely used articles of the criminal code of "Vandalism" (214) and "Incitement of national and religious hostility (282, part 1), against the background of which the third article "Intentional damage to others' property" seems quite modest, although the damage is estimated to be 25,000 rubles.
One can only hope that the court will still investigate whether the old women themselves destroyed the brick foundation or someone helped them ardently.
P.S. While this article was being prepared for press, attorneys for the old women brigands managed to get a change in the preventive measures for them: the accused were released. They were posing problems. Immediately after their arrest they declared a hunger strike, and with the beginning of the fast of the holy month of Ramadan the maintenance of devout Muslims in prison became quite problematical. During that period they eat only during night time hours and people are not fed at night in detention. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 November 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Yesterday in Chechnia the well-known religious leader Said Pasha Salikov was buried. He had been murdered the day before along with his son in the village of Starye Atagi. The slaughter of the clergyman, who preached traditional Islam and belonged to the Kuraish clan respected by Muslims (its members are considered descendants of the prophet Muhammad), in all likelihood was intended to complicate the situation in the republic.
The murder was conducted according to a scenario already typical for Chechnia. At midnight at the gate of the Salikhov home on Shkolnaia street in the center of Starye Atagi there appeared unknown persons who asked for the priest's son to come out. Several minutes later the father, Said Pasha Salikhov, followed his son out into the yard because he had decided to investigate why the night visitors had come. But instead of explanations, automatic gunfire rang out. Both Salikhovas died from their wounds even before local physicians could get there.
As a KD reporter was told by the deputy commander of Chechen UVD, Khizir Tepsaev, the tragedy became known in Grozny only yesterday morning. Even if the report of the murder had arrived right away, it would not have mattered since at midnight the police could hardly get to the place of the incident. Even special forces do not risk travel in the republic during the night.
Yesterday attempts by investigators to track the criminals proved unsuccessful. The murders did not leave behind any tracks other than dozens of shells from the Kalashnikovs 7.62. In the opinion of the investigators, the killers who shot the Salikhov father and son could have hid in Starye Atagi. "The village is huge and various kinds of people live there, including many who sympathize with the so-called wahhabites."
According to the republican UVD deputy commander, investigators have developed several versions of the murder. Most likely, in Mr. Tepsaev's opinion, is the "wahhabite" account. The Salikhovs belonged to the Kuraish clan that is extremely esteemed by adherents of traditional Islam. Their ancestors, who are considered descendants of the prophet Muhammad, resettled to Chechnia from Mecca at the beginning of the twentieth century in order to preach Islam. Kureishites are highly respected not only by believers but also by the entire population of Chechnia. Even in soviet times the most complex intra-Chechen conflicts were settled with their help.
The murder of the honored priest was sharply condemned by the head of Chechnia, Akhmat Kadyrov. "I am greatly upset. It is difficult for me to find words to express my feelings in connection with the murder of Salikhov. He was a person who was unique, very decent, and respected by the whole republic. His death is a great loss for the republic. It is this kind of person that the Chechen people need at a time when we are trying to get out of a most complex situation," he stated. At the same time Mr. Kadyrov promised that he would do everything he could to see that law enforcement agencies find and bring to account those guilty of the death of the "religious" leader.
Yesterday the burials for the Salikhov father and son were held. Believers came to Starye Atagi from all districts of the republic. Well known "religious" leaders who came to the funeral noted that such murders are committed by those who want to frighten adherents of traditional Islam and destabilize the situation. According to the chairman of the ecclesiastical board of Muslims of Chechnia, in the past three years more that 30 "religious" leaders have been killed in the republic. They all were opponents of the so-called wahhabites. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 November 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The latest initiative of the Ministry of Education to introduce "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" into the schools has cut the country to the quick.
Our question: Do schools need religion classes?
Gennady Ziuganov, leader of Communist Party of the Russian Federation: "This proposal by the Russian Orthodox church and many cultural organizations is quite substantive. Orthodox culture lies at the base of the development of our country. There is no danger for other confessions in this."
Dmitry Aiatskov, governor of Saratov province: "Unfortunately, today many government bureaucrats cannot identify the year of the Baptism of Rus. After all, the health of a nation is not only its physical development but also its spiritual and moral development. In this matter, an enormous role belongs to the church. The church must never be severed or separated from the state, or society from spiritual life."
Alexander Shishlov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science: "The foundations of Orthodox culture, just like other religious cultures, can be included in the curriculum for general studies or art. But one should not talk about the compulsory training of children under the guise of a new course. This violates both the law on education and the constitution."
Father Mikhail Dudko, Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate: "I support the introduction of the foundations of Orthodoxy into the schools. I consider that it is impossible to understand Russia without knowledge of Orthodox culture. It is no accident that foreigners who come to our country become acquainted with church architecture and Orthodox icon painting at the start. In some republics, let's say in Tatarstan, it would be possible to introduce the foundations of Muslim culture."
Irina Polipkina, director of children's home #1, Saratov: "I think that a subject like the foundations of Orthodoxy is needed, but it should not be studied in too great a depth but taught to children like a game. One time a film on church topics was shown in our institution and the children found it very interesting and liked it very much."
Borukh Gorin, Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia: "We oppose the obligatory study of the foundations of Orthodoxy. In the first place, pupils are deprived of the right of choice; in the second, I personally am not convinced that they will get anything out of it. Before the revolution, the Law of God was taught in the schools, but the population did not become more religious because of it. Third, this will require great financial expense; after all, right now there are few competent teachers in any confession."
Alexander Gavrilov, Moscow Department of Education: "We are firmly convinced that the state school should be separated from the church. There are no religious disciplines in Moscow educational institutions and none are planned. There are private schools that belong to various confessions. If parents have the desire that their children receive religious training along with their education, they can send them there."
Fandas Safiullin, Duma deputy: "Like always, a good beginning in our country has been carried to the absurd. Religion should be studied in ecclesiastical institutions. If this is imposed upon ordinary schools this will violate three articles of our constitution."
Galina Ershova, director of School #589, Moscow: "I support teaching Orthodoxy as culture. This would be my ideal dream as a director. However, the personnel question still has not been worked out. I have even appealed to the church, but the church is in no position to help with this. They come to the school, but they view the children as candidates for monastic orders. That approach does not suit me. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 November 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Yesterday in the "St. Daniel's" hotel complex of the Moscow patriarchate a workshop on "Orthodoxy and Economic Ethics" was held. The primary goal of the conference, according to Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was to start debates on the issue of ethics in economics. "Orthodox ethics is a religious formulation of those ethical principle that are ontologically intrinsic to human nature and which God has placed within the person. The task of the conference is to arouse people's conscience and call them to ethical attitudes in the sphere of economics," he declared. "The church in conducting its pastoral activity cannot ignore such an important sphere of public life as economics."
According to Metropolitan Kiril, economics is an area with increased religious risk. "Sacred scripture says that it is impossible to serve God and Mammon, that is, wealth, at the same time," the metropolitan explained his thinking especially for a KD reporter. "Economics is just that sphere where wealth is created. And by virtue of their professional activity people who work in this sphere are serving Mammon."
Speaking about property, Metropolitan Kirill explained that it is God who is the owner of all creation. A person who possesses things of material value is only using what belongs to God. And that use will be moral, according to the master, when it provides sustenance not only for the life of one's self and one's loved ones but also "sustenance for all those who are in need of those fruits that property yields."
The leader of the "People's Will" party, Sergei Baburin, did not agree with this postulate. In an interview with a KD reporter he said that the concept of property should not be viewed through religious dogmas. "I do not think that the Lord was against privatization, as we just heard here," Mr. Baburin said. Mr. Baburin was in complete agreement with the bishop on everything else. The vice-speaker of the Federation Council, Valery Goregliad, assessed the important of the topic under discussion: "Often in practice in business we live not by the law but by our wits." The head of the parliament's upper chamber's Committee on Agricultural Production," Ivan Starikov, agreed: "Very many wealthy people have shown up who spend a mass of money on constructing churches but in relations with their partners they forget about faith." To be sure, Senator Starikov doubts that one should take into account exclusively Orthodox relations with business partners: "The government, of course, should work with the Russian Orthodox church, in the first place. But our state is secular, and all confessions are equal within it." (tr. by PDS, posted 20 November 2002)
Russia
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The chancellor of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan Sergei of Solnechnogorsk, criticized what he considers to be the atheistic approach by a number of Russian government workers to the composition of the school curriculum. Last week the deputy head of the apparat of the government of Russia, Alexei Volin, stated that in the conditions of a multiconfessional and multinational state like Russia, teaching the foundations of Orthodox culture in the schools is dangerous: "As a secular state, Russia should not allow the teaching of any religious doctrine in the schools. In my opinion, this document reeks of medievalism and obscurantism."
"Rejection of this Orthodox subject is based on the old religious predilection of some governmental bureaucrats, which is called 'atheism,'" Master Sergei said. "In our society everything is mixed up with atheism, as in the past, including academic work in higher educational institutions. So if in our country there is separation of church and state, then it is necessary that atheism also be separated from it." The patriarchal chancellor also recalled that what is being talking about is teaching Orthodox culture, not Orthodox theology or the Law of God. "To eliminate the foundations of Orthodox culture from the curriculum of our schools would be a political mistake," the metropolitan said. "The foundations of Orthodox culture must be known by every cultured person."
Masster Sergei noted that "in places were there are concentrations of representatives of other religions, it would be possible to study the foundations of Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, and other cultures. This would mutually enrich our peoples and would aid in uniting our society." (tr. by PDS, posted 20 November 2002)
WILL THE BIBLE BECOME A SCHOOL TEXTBOOK?
by Andrei Moiseenko, Tatiana Pavlova
Komsomolskaia pravda, 19 November 2002
Russian Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov sent to local departments of education the general contents of the new academic subject "Orthodox Culture." It is proposed that school children will study it all eleven years of their schooling.
The point of the Ministry of Education's new initiative is to give definition to "the teaching of subjects and classes in Orthodox cultural studies." The bureaucrats' logic is as follows: in many schools, lyceums, and gymnasia they already are teaching subjects like "Fundamentals of Orthodoxy," "Orthodox Ethics," and "Orthodox Art.'
The curricula are diverse and the teachers also have varieties of training; some places a priest goes to the school to teach the children and some places the class is taught by a teacher of scientific atheism. It would be necessary to help those who wish to set up the course properly. All the same, the course is voluntary.
But an attachment to the letter titled "Sample contents of the academic subject 'Orthodox Culture'" is an entirely different matter: "Academic classes in Orthodox culture are contained in the curriculum of general education schools at all educational levels. . . ." That is, one can understand that the school districts have received "recommendations" that are quite strong, very much like direct orders.
For elementary school it is suggested that one class per week be conducted under the "Orthodox Culture" rubric. It could be a separate subject or included in the study of national history, Russian language, or reading. For middle school, grades 5 through 9, it is suggested to have one or two classes weekly. The same amount of time is suggested for grades ten and eleven.
The Ministry of Education advises schools to conduct "Orthodox Culture" in secondary school at the expense of classes devoted to "general studies," "philology," and "art." In the opinion of the authors of the document, schools should devote to this subject at least 340 hours during the course of eleven years of schooling. The ideal would be for children to study "Orthodox Culture" at least 544 hours. This is more than is devoted to physics, chemistry, or music.
SAMPLE: "The graduate of the ninth grade should be able to explain
(expound the essence of) the concepts of
--the Abrahamic religious complex
--caesaropapism, clericalism, proselytism, ecumenism
--neopaganism in the Christian world
--distinctives of the apocalyptic notions of destructive religious
sects."
SCHEDULE: The ministry suggests dividing the subject of "Orthodox Culture"
into several major topics:
--Orthodox Christian picture of the world
--History of the Orthodox religion and culture
--Orthodox culture and religions of the world
--Literary culture of Orthodox (Orthodox literature)
--Orthodox way of life
--Moral culture of Orthodoxy
--Artistic culture of Orthodoxy
--Orthodoxy, the traditional religion of the Russian people
STATISTICS: It is unknown how many believers there are in Russia.
According to data from the supreme mufti of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin,
the number of devout Russians varies between 13 and 49 million persons.
This is approximately 10 to 35 percent of the population of the country.
The Russian Orthodox church calculates that 80 percent of Russian citizens
are within the bosom of mother church. That turns out to be approximately
120 million people. In all, 144 million people live in Russia. That means
that one of these confessions is exaggerating its potential. But there
are no more precise figures. Such records are not kept by the State Committee
on Statistics. There also are atheists, devotees of Buddha, Catholics,
and protestants. How many of them nobody knows precisely. It would not
be a bad idea to investigate this from the start. It should also be determined
whether Russian parents want their children to study "Orthodoxy" only.
In Russia Orthodoxy will be studied voluntarily.
* * * * *
Yesterday Russian Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov explained
that obligatory study of Orthodoxy is not planned. "Foundations of Orthodox
Culture" will not be included in the federal curriculum of general secondary
education. This subject can be taught only upon decision of district authorities
or the school administration and at the expense of classes in their academic
schedule. In so doing, "Orthodox Culture" may be taught as a voluntary
subject or as an elective on the basis of the expressed desire of the pupils
and their parents.
Besides, from now on no textbook dealing with religious matters can be introduced into the schools without having undergone expert analysis by the Ministry of Education. As the minister explains, "this will permit controlling all literature that is introduced into the schools and used in the academic process in order to maintain academic quality." However the minister admitted that the present methodological letter was not composed quite correctly and thus it can be interpreted ambiguously. The ministry plans to prepare a new, more precise and clear version of the letter.
OPINION OF A SPECIALIST: Theology already is being taught in institutions of higher education.
Dean of the history faculty of MGU, Professor Sergei Karpov: "According to my information, in our country there already are ten state institutions of higher learning where students are being taught a specialty in "theology" and where the students deal with a whole complex of topics connected with the history and contemporary activity of the Orthodox church. Back in 2000 the Ministry of Education produced the state standards for this major. I think that this innovation does not contradict the secular character of education since it is intended for the purposeful development of scholarship freed from the limitations of atheist ideas.
"If they want to train theologians in some institution of higher education and they have the appropriate texts and teachers, why not? At MGU I still have not seen the need for introducing such a discipline. Although I do not rule out that in the future a theological faculty will appear. And I think that the study of Orthodox culture in the school should be absolutely voluntary. In one school the teachers and parents might make the decision for it and in another, against. But unfortunately we are used to thinking in global terms: 'if the study of Orthodoxy is to be introduced, then it should be done everywhere right away.' It is time to put an end to such 'bad' practice."
And in Tatarstan they study Islam. According to preliminary results of the recent census, the second largest nationality in Russia after Russians is Tatars, who are six millions. Two million of them live in Tatarstan and four million in other regions of Russia. The majority of Tatars are adherents of the Muslim faith. Should Tatar children also study "Orthodox Culture"? At the Tatar republic Ministry of Education's press service we were assured that if the new course is introduced, then it will only be voluntarily. Parents and their children together will decide whether to attend these classes or not. Incidentally, in some schools of the republic the study of Islamic culture has already been started this year. (tr. by PDS, posted 20 November 2002)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Ambiguous assessments have been evoked by the Orthodox-patriotic initiative of the Russian Ministry of Education that circulated throughout the country on 13 November a text of an "Orthodox Culture" curriculum for schools. By 15 November Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov, on an official trip to Novosibirsk, had to give a clarification. The minister said that the subject can be introduced only "within the framework of a regional or school component determined by the school itself." He stressed that the Orthodox Culture course will not be obligatory in any event.
Meanwhile the brainchild of the ministry bureaucrats and course developers is a far cry from the usual semiobligatory, optional curricula. The course is designed for eleven years and seems to be virtually a higher education curriculum. The pupils are supposed to attend classes at least once a week.
The supreme mufti of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia and European Countries, Talgat Tajuddin, reacted positively to the suggestion to introduce the new subject. He noted that the foundations of Islam are already being taught to school children in Tatarstan on an experimental basis. Also optionally.
However even within the apparat of the government of the Russian federation the new educational program is being evaluated more than skeptically. Deputy head Alexei Volin noted in one interview that this document reeks of medievalism and obscurantism. Commenting on the situation, the chairman of the Commission for Education of the Moscow City Duma, Evgeny Bunimovich, who has been recognized as a distinguished teacher of Russia, noted that in the Russian constitution the school, just like the state, is separated from the church. For example, the teaching of theology cannot be done by a clergyman. It should be a secular person. In accordance with existing legislation the subject can be introduced into a history course, for example.
If all the newly worked out curriculum is introduced into the schedule, school children will not be able to cope with the load. It is clear from Mr. Filippov's letter that the choice whether to teach children theology or not has been given to the directors of the schools or to RONO [district department of public education]. In other words, the ministerial workers have done their job and the right of resolving a question that is so complex in our multinational and multiconfessional state will belong to other bureaucrats of lower rank. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 November 2002)
RUSSIAN OFFICIAL CRITICIZES PROPOSED ORTHODOX STUDIES IN SCHOOLS
BBC Monitoring International Reports, 15 November 2002
Aleksey Volin, deputy head of the Russian governmental administration, has criticized the Education Ministry's plan to include optional classes on Orthodox culture in the curriculum of Russian schools.
It is dangerous to introduce classes in Orthodox religion in a multi-confessional and multiethnic country like Russia, he said. "As a secular state, the Russian Federation should not allow any religious teaching in a state school. I think this document reeks of the Middle Ages and obscurantism," Volin said in an interview with (Gazeta.ru) that was published today.
The programme developed by the Education Ministry is meant for eleven years (1-2 hours a week) and is aimed at giving children knowledge equal to theology courses taught at universities. The corresponding letter from Education Minister Vladimir Filippov was sent out to the regions this week.
Volin believes that a course of religious studies should include the foundations of all religious philosophies and the history of atheism...
"Religion is a very personal thing. And if the state begins to think it possible to interfere in people's personal life and tell them what to believe and what to think, that's the first sign of totalitarianism," Volin said. [Source: Interfax news agency (Copyright 2002 BBC Monitoring/BBC, posted 18 November 2002)]
RUSSIAN SCHOOLS CEASE TO BE SECULAR. CHURCH AND GOVERNMENT WORKERS FORCE
CHILDREN TO STUDY ORTHODOX THEOLOGY
by Oleg Nedumov
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 18 November 2002
The topic of the introduction of the foundations of Orthodox culture into the school curriculum has taken on a new development. Last week it was learned that the Ministry of Education had circulated throughout the country a sample curriculum of the contents of an academic subject titled "Orthodox Culture."
After a review of this curriculum it becomes clear that school children will in fact be taught the Law of God, not "Orthodox culture" at all. Besides, the basic points of the contents of the curriculum virtually coincide with courses that are taught in Orthodox ecclesiastical seminaries. For example, the section "Orthodox Christian Picture of the World" represents a classical course in dogmatic theology, including the Orthodox doctrine of God and the church, the creation of the world and humankind, and angels and fallen spirits. The course "History of Orthodox Religion and Culture" has clearly been adopted from the textbooks of the Law of God and begins with the fall into sin of the original ancestors. The section "Orthodox Literature" includes a detailed examination of the Old and New testaments, the lives of the saints, and various theological texts as well. The section "Moral Culture of Orthodoxy" obviously has been taken from courses in moral theology. The point of the topic titled "Orthodoxy, the Traditional Religion of the Russian People" is meant to be a course in the history of the Russian Orthodox church.
Thus, under the guise of a secular religious studies discipline, children will receive a purely confessional theological education. According to the document, in eleven years of study pupils should acquire knowledge at the level of a theology course included in the new standards of the Ministry of Education. This also has evoked considerable dispute.
The plan for lobbying for the study of Orthodoxy in the secular school was worked out by the Moscow patriarchate a long time ago. Here is how Patriarch Alexis II described it in a letter in 1999 sent to local bishops: "If difficulties are encountered in the teaching of the foundations of Orthodox doctrine, call the course 'Foundations of Orthodox Culture.'" This, in the patriarch's opinion, will not evoke complaints from teachers and directors of secular educational institutions "founded on atheistic bases."
According to law, the teaching of religious subjects within the schools is possible only outside the framework of the required curriculum. RPTs already has considerable experience in optional teaching of the Law of God, and now it has gotten the inclusion of the fundamentals of its doctrine in the basic school curriculum.
Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov declared that his department does not at all intend to make "Orthodox culture" a subject that is obligatory for all schools. "At the first stage, this subject may be introduced only within the framework of a regional component or within the framework of a school component, determined by the school itself," he stated in an interview with Interfax. The minister is confident that in such an event the "Orthodox Culture" courses will not be required.
However, as NG has already written, both regional and school components are a part of the basic, that is, required, school curriculum. So that any case of failure to show up at an "Orthodox Culture" class will be considered an absence. Supporters of this subject give assurances that there is no violation of the law here inasmuch as "Orthodox Culture" is a purely secular discipline. However, if one judges by the curriculum that was distributed by the Minsitry of Education, this topic cannot be considered secular even by a great stretch. Besides, general introduction of "Orthodox Culture" will shake up interreligious and interconfessional relations in Russia that are complicated even without it. After all, the Ministry of Education has worked out a course of study for Orthodox culture only, having forgotten at the same time about the other traditional religions. Representatives of the latter have already cautiously expressed their dissatisfaction. The chairman of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin, stated in an interview with Interfax that it is necessary to introduce into the required curriculum of secondary schools a general course that would permit acquainting the children with the foundations of all traditional religions of Russia. In his turn, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, is concerned that "under current conditions other religious organizations of Russia, in particular Islamic ones, are not in a position to teach their basics to school children since during the soviet period they suffered even more than the Orthodox church, and their system of education was completed destroyed and now they are at the developmental stage." According to Gainutdin, even in such large cities as Moscow and Petersburg, the imams could not provide for all of the secondary schools.
In attempting to force Russian pupils to study the foundations of Orthodox doctrine, the leadership of RPTs apparently has forgotten that such a crude imposition of faith can lead to a directly opposite result. The prerevolutionary gymnasia in which the Law of God was a required subject, and classes began with prayer, actually bred a generation of people who were indifferent to religion and aggressive with respect to the church.
Instead of burdening children with complex theological subjects it would be much better, as many experts have suggested, to introduce into the school a course of religious studies which would give a general presentation of the basics of Russian religious confessions. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 November 2002)
"ORTHODOX CULTURE" WILL NOT BE OBLIGATORY IN RUSSIAN SCHOOLS
by Anna Kachurovskaia
Kommersant-Daily, 15 November 2002
Yesterday several news media distributed information that the Ministry of Education had sent out a letter to schools, which supposedly suggested the introduction of a course in "Orthodox Culture." The first deputy minister of education, Viktor Bolotov, told KD correspondent Anna Kachurovskaia what actually was proposed for school children. According to Mr. Bolotov, one of the important aspects of school education is the national self-identification of citizens. And the ministry should offer an opportunity for optional study of the culture of one or another confession. Moreover, according to the first deputy minister, this is a general document which can be viewed as a pattern of recommendations for the contents of subjects in the history of religions of all confessions. Naturally, even in optional study, the performance of religious rituals is forbidden. The school subject contains only a cultural and historical context. The position of the ministry remains unchanged: "Just as the school was secular, it remains secular."
The letter that was sent to the schools, signed by Minister of Education Vladimir Filippov, stated inter alia: "It is proposed for academic courses taught within the framework of a district (or ethnic district) component." This actually gives the possibility to the districts on their own to make "Orthodox Culture" obligatory. In the near future a clarifying document will be issued to promote the strictly voluntary introduction of religious subjects. Then it is expected a letter will be sent with similar recommendations on Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Catholicism.
On the wave of the discussion over the introduction of the "Orthodox
Culture" subject, yet another hubbub has arisen. Today the Ostankino district
court will review a complaint from the all-Russian movement "For Human
Rights" against the refusal of the Ostankino district prosecutor to open
a criminal case "regarding the distribution of the textbook by A. Borodina,
'Foundations of Orthodox Cutlure,' for the sixth grade." As an analyst
for the "For Human Rights" movement, Evgeny Ikhlov, stated, this textbook,
which carries the stamp "recommended," incites interethnic hostility, in
the opinion of rights' defenders, since according to Mr. Ikhlov, the textbook
"promotes the idea of guilt of the Jewish people for the execution of Jesus
as a moral quality characteristic not of individuals but of the ethnic
group." (tr. by PDS, posted 18 November 2002)
SCHOOLS TO TEACH ORTHODOX CULTURE
by Andrei Zolotov Jr. Staff Writer
Moscow Times, 18 November 2002
With the apparent blessing of the Kremlin, the Education Ministry has defied resistance even from within its own ranks and taken a major step toward introducing an Orthodox Christian component into the public school system.
Education Minister Vladimir Filippov last week released a 30-page description of an optional course called "Orthodox Culture," which can be taught in public schools as a part of the basic curriculum if regional education officials or a school's principal decides to do so.
Filippov said he was submitting the course, developed by Orthodox educators, only for "consideration." But one of the authors said it gives a green light to those who have balked at introducing such a course and attempts to provide a framework for the wide variety of courses already taught in about 60 of Russia's 89 constituent regions.
"It means the ministry does not mind if such courses are introduced," said Hierodeacon Kiprian Yashchenko, dean of the pedagogical department at St. Tikhon Orthodox Theological Institute and one of the authors of the course. "You know our bureaucrats -- they use their offices according to their worldview. Most of them are atheists and they say it is impossible because the school is separate from the church. Yes, we are separate from the state, but we can cooperate, can't we?"
Yashchenko, who has a doctorate in pedagogical science, said he led the group of educators who compiled the program from what is already being tested in the Noginsk district of the Moscow region, Smolensk, Kursk, Belgorod and other regions of Russia. Although the intention is to immerse children in the Orthodox worldview, the course is taught by regular teachers and does not include any church ritual. "Priests may be consultants," he said.
The 30-page document is a vast catalogue of themes, including Biblical subjects, Orthodox tradition, asceticism, liturgy, literature and art. By the end of the course, a student could be asked to write a paper on one of 64 subjects, such as "Faith and Science," "Moscow as the Third Rome" or "Orthodox Understanding of Freedom."
The ministry says the course, which it recommends teaching once a week in primary school and twice a week in secondary school, is to be part of the main curriculum but with attendance to be voluntary.
"Russia is a multinational country, and even within one subject of the federation there are places where there are practically no Orthodox," Interfax quoted Filippov as saying in Novosibirsk. On the other hand, he said, Orthodox culture has existed in Russia for more than a thousand years and there is an "objective need" to learn it in school.
The program does not spell out how the decision to teach the course is to be made, whether a certain percentage of parents, for instance, has to request the course. And if the course is taught, there is as yet no provision for children who choose not to attend.
Religious education in public schools is a highly sensitive and controversial subject anywhere in the world and especially in Russia, where interpretations of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state vary greatly, and a system of church-state relations is being painfully developed after decades of Soviet atheism.
The program appears to have bypassed the Education Ministry apparatus, which Orthodox Church officials have described as among the most reluctant to cooperate with the church.
"We have not produced, ordered, reviewed or issued any such program! We have a [secular] religion studies program, but no 'Orthodox Culture!'" Tamara Tyulyaeva, an official with the Educational Ministry's department of general education, said angrily in a telephone interview Thursday. "There were such attempts, but we have a simple answer: We are a secular school system and will never introduce any confessional program -- neither Moslem, nor Jewish, nor our dear Orthodox. Otherwise we'll get such a mess!"
Opponents of religious education in public schools -- who at various stages included State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov, Deputy Speaker Irina Khakamada and the Yabloko party -- say it will divide people and sow xenophobia.
"This document smacks of the Middle Ages and obscurantism," government spokesman Alexei Volin was quoted in Friday's Gazeta as saying. "If the Education Ministry considers it necessary to introduce studies in religion, the course should include the basics of all religious world views and the history of atheism in addition."
The Orthodox Church has argued that secular religion classes do not offer students a choice of worldview, because religion is taught from a nonreligious perspective. An Orthodox class, however, would add a moral dimension otherwise missing in the post-Soviet school system and would help reverse the proliferation of crime, drug-addiction and alcoholism, the church said.
"The moral disorientation of many young people, their loss of a meaning in life, becomes the soil for various vices and threatens Russia's future," Patriarch Alexy II wrote in an address to a state-church conference on education in October. "That is why all of us -- religious leaders, [state] authorities and society -- have to realize that school should give not only a sum of knowledge, but also an upbringing."
The conference, which took place Oct. 10-11, appears to have played a pivotal role in the Education Ministry's paper, which is dated Oct. 22. In addition to Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist leaders, the conference was attended by presidential envoys Georgy Poltavchenko and Sergei Kiriyenko, State Duma members and Educational Ministry officials.
Izvestia quoted Poltavchenko -- the presidential envoy to the Central Federal District who is a practicing Orthodox Christian -- as saying at the conference that it is time for an "Orthodox Culture" course across Russia. Kiriyenko, from the Volga Federal District, also named education as one of the fields where the state should cooperate with "traditional" religions. With most post-Soviet school programs still permeated with atheism, a religious course would offer students an alternative, he said.
A former employee of the Moscow Patriarchate's department of education and catechism, who did not want to be named, said the decision was likely made on the sidelines of that conference. He also said the government's program to help Muslim education in Russia, aimed at preventing Russian Muslims from traveling to the Arab world's often radical schools, played a role in the Moscow Patriarchate's lobbying efforts.
That perhaps explains why official Muslim leaders did not protest the Education Ministry's decision. "We are not against our Orthodox brothers finding out as much as possible about their culture," said Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia. He stressed, however, that the voluntary aspect is crucial and complained that Russia's Muslims and other religious groups are unable to reach all schools because they "suffered even more than the Orthodox Church during the Soviet period," Interfax reported.
Nafigulla Ashirov, the Mufti of Siberia who is seen as a more radical Muslim leader, strongly opposed the Orthodoxy course. "Russia is living through one of the most complicated moments in its history, and raising this issue when the Chechnya wound is bleeding in the south of Russia, when skinheads are walking the streets of Moscow, is a direct violation of the Constitution," Ashirov said in a telephone interview Friday.
Human rights activists are among the fiercest opponents of the program. The For Human Rights group led by Lev Ponomaryov complained to the Prosecutor General's Office earlier this year about a textbook titled "The Basics of Orthodox Culture" by Alla Borodina, but the complaint was thrown out.
"The textbook's authors help the growth of xenophobia and nationalism in our society," Interfax quoted Ponomaryov as saying. "This textbook, which is already used in state schools, imposes the views of one confession on schoolchildren and thus violates the principle of a secular state."
Yashchenko said the second edition of Borodina's textbook will be corrected to take into account human rights activists' complaints.
"We in the Church are first and foremost against violating the will of children and their parents," he said by telephone Friday. "If it turns into the Divine Law [the doctrinal course taught in tsarist Russia], if we don't take into account that most children are not church-goers, if it does not create a field for thinking, then we will definitely kill the cause. Then it will turn out like before the Revolution, when everybody went to the Divine Law, knew the prayers and holidays, but lived differently."
The Education Ministry's program can be found at www.ed.gov.ru/sch-edu/prkult/let.html (posted 18 November 2002)
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