Daily Journal:

I think that the education department should not be accused of “fraud,” since, firstly, residents of the Penza region were more frightened than others by the story of the local “recluses,” who after all called themselves Orthodox (and there were small children in the seclusion). Society there received a very strong “vaccination”, which will have an effect for a long time. And secondly, why does the patriarch refuse deeply religious parents, mothers and fathers, to choose “History of World Religions” or “Secular Ethics” for their children as neutral secular courses?! They probably believe that they themselves will teach the Orthodox culture to their children; the very way of life of their families accustoms them to this; in addition, the children go to Sunday school, where they are taught by a teacher known to their parents or even by the father or mother himself. And this type of teaching of Orthodox culture clearly suits them more than a defense education course taught by a teacher who may well turn out to be an unbeliever.