www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Russian patriarch says Orthodoxy should be taught at school

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060830/53332110.html

MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - On the eve of a new academic year, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Wednesday again voiced the need to teach the basics of Orthodox culture in public schools.

On Wednesday it was reported the subject would be mandatory for schools in Russia's Belgorod, Kaluga, Bryansk and Smolensk regions, and optional for another 11 regions, despite protests from secular officials.

"I believe the basics of Orthodox culture is a culturological subject, and all young people studying at school should know the history of their culture," Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia told journalists at the State History Museum following the opening of an exhibition dedicated to Russian patriarchs.

Alexy II said all cultured people should know their state's history and the basics of its culture.

"If people practicing other religions live in our country, they should study their culture, of course, but they should also know the culture of the country they live in," the patriarch said.

Orthodox leaders have long pressed for a course on the history of Christianity, whether optional or mandatory, to be included in school curriculums. Leaders of other faiths practiced in Russia, however, said a course on the history of all religions should be introduced.

Advocates of a secular society have protested the introduction of such a course in schools at all, saying that even if students were interested and it was introduced, it would have to be taught by secular professors and be optional rather than mandatory.

According to polls, a majority of Russians practice Orthodox Christianity, although the church is separate from the state.

Alexandr

The article below provides an example of this in practice:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/25/002.html

Some catechism will be a very good thing for this generation. In this generation, there will be a new springtime for Russian Orthodoxy.

I work for a Russian owned company and I have noticed that the generation that came of age at the fall of the communist regime may identify themselves as 'Orthodox', but by and large they know absolutely nothing and they practice very little. They don't seem very comfortable with religion.

I asked one 23 year old Russian young man who is studying in University here if his friends in Russia have church weddings. He said they don't.

I have also noticed that the young Russians I know who live, work, or are studying here now also generally do not go to Church on Holy Week or Pascha.

Alice

But, in Russia, things will only get better. They don't have the equivalent of an ACLU winning court cases which evict the Bible from the classroom. It is quite the opposite. On the highest levels in society, there is a friendliness toward religion. I only wish we could defeat the secularists here like the Russians are doing over there.

Father Deacon,

We'd need a president with more dictatorial power like in Russia to get religion taught in schools. We'd also need an overwhelming majority of one religion, but as it was in the old days that would be Protestantism. Remember in the 1800s, Protestantism was taught in schools, that's why we started our Catholic School programs.

Might I add I support what is being done in Russia. I wish Spain, Austria, Poland, France, Italy, Belgium, and Bavaria would do the same with Catholicism.

For years, the Brits have had an approach which I think could work here. You count heads in any given village. If there are 50 Anglicans and 50 Catholics in the village, you hire an Anglican religious instructor for the Anglicans, and a Catholic religious instructor for the Catholics, both to teach in the public school system, with a public school salary. They have a similar approach (with some differences, I am sure) in Germany and Canada. The current interpretation, in the U.S., of the "separation of church & state" legal doctrine is of recent vintage. At the foundation of the Republic, several of the first States had official religions. Massachusetts was a Congregationalist State. The "establishment of religion" clause in the U.S. Constitution was put there to prevent the establishment of a national religion, only because each state had a different dominant Protestant denomination, and it was a matter of preserving social peace.

In Christ,
Dn. Robert

Yeah - Imagine if you lived in some burb of New Jersey or Michigan were the Muslims are the majority. Then one day the teacher comes to class and tells you that you will be learning about Mohamed - the prophet and God. Oh ! that would be welcome news ! or maybe one day you are transfered down to North Carolina or somewhere like that and they start teaching you about the Bible in school - the Tammy Faye version ! oij vey ! or maybe they decided on the Jim Baker version ! oij vey oij vey ! ! boy would you be crying ACLU ! ACLU ! ACLU where are you ???

I.F.

That's why I would advise following the method employed by the Brits. Catholic religion teachers for Catholics, etc.

Dn. Robert