Translated material
M. Murtazin: “Russia is not an Orthodox state!”
In an interview with NG-Religions, the rector of the Moscow Islamic University, Marat Murtazin, outlined his point of view on how the teaching of religious disciplines in general education schools should look like.
In his opinion, children should be given an idea "about all the religions that are historically widespread in our country." "This position is supported by all major religious communities in Russia, except for the Orthodox Church, which has a special opinion on this issue," M. Murtazin emphasized. "Russia is not an Orthodox state! It is a democratic country in which all religions, including Islam, enjoy equal rights," he said.
The decision on the status of the subject "History of Religions" should be decided by the educational institutions themselves, the rector of the Islamic University believes. At the same time, the presence of a secular teacher will protect students from religious propaganda.
M. Murtazin does not agree with the statement that the current education system is atheistic. "Let's go to any school and make sure it's not like that!" he suggests. The rector of the Islamic University considers attempts to replace atheistic propaganda with Orthodox propaganda unlawful: "The school must remain secular, and this does not mean at all that if the school does not have the subject of the Law of God, then children will grow up without spirituality."
The introduction of "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture", according to the interlocutor of the newspaper, is fraught not only with insulting non-Christians, who may be considered "second class", but also with the fact that "some of the Muslim children from the school desk will convert to Christianity."
“It is highly incorrect to say that if in some area the majority of the population professes Orthodoxy, then only the basics of Christian culture should be taught here! The rights of the minority should be ensured everywhere, even if there is only one non-Christian in the class,” M. Murtazin insists .
At the same time, in his opinion, when preparing textbooks on the history of religions, one should take into account the opinion of representatives of only "traditional Russian religions."
In addition, the rector of the Moscow Islamic University believes that the state is responsible for the level of training of the clergy: "When a person's soul "aches", he goes to church or a mosque, and the state should not be indifferent to whether he can find a "doctor" there. ". In this regard, M. Murtazin is sure, "the state should provide, for example, tax benefits to religious associations involved in religious education," or "take on the payment of teachers who teach history, philosophy, and pedagogy to future clergymen."
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