Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin: “...historians, culturologists and religious scholars, not clergy, should tell students of state and municipal schools about religions”

On May 15, the presentation of a special report by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin "Human Rights and the Modernization of Russian Education" (April) took place. We publish a fragment of the report devoted to the problems of teaching religion:

"At present, there is often a situation when teaching of "religious subjects" ("Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture", "Fundamentals of Muslim Culture" and so on) is introduced in educational institutions of some constituent entities of the Russian Federation. society, nor among representatives of Russian confessions.

Meanwhile, the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations" establish the secular nature of the state, as well as state and municipal schools. This clearly indicates the inadmissibility of compulsory teaching of "religious subjects" as a set of knowledge and ideas from the point of view of only one particular church in order to form a certain confessional orientation in the student with an inevitable and quite definite attitude to other religions and worldviews. (Following the same logic, the state considers it impossible, for example, to teach atheism in state and municipal schools.)

At the same time, it is impossible not to say that religious values ​​are an integral part of the culture, history and modern life of the world civilization as a whole and of each nation separately. Lack of understanding, and sometimes even elementary knowledge of how different religions were formed, what role they play today, does not contribute to interethnic and interfaith tolerance in any way. In principle, information about the main world religions is contained in all school textbooks in history and other humanities. Is this information sufficient? Shouldn't it be expanded, perhaps by introducing an additional subject into the school curriculum? The answers to these questions should be given by educational authorities and experts. It is only clear that historians, culturologists and religious scholars, and not clergymen, should teach students about religions in state and municipal schools. As you know, work is currently underway on compiling a special textbook for schoolchildren called "World Religions". It will have a scientific and secular character and will become the basis for schools. Thus, students will be able to obtain the necessary information about a wide variety of religions in addition to the information contained in other school textbooks.

As you know, Russian law allows the teaching of "religious subjects" in general education schools outside the framework of the compulsory school curriculum. Paragraph 4 of Article 5 of the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" establishes such a possibility in connection with the requests of parents, the consent of children, as well as in agreement with the local government and under control by educational authorities. Of course, this is a compromise. First of all, it reflects the fact that at the time of the adoption of the law, religious organizations often simply did not have the necessary premises where it was possible to conduct religious education for both adults and children. Now the situation has changed radically. Therefore, it seems that religious organizations should continue to take responsibility for the organization of confessional educational institutions (for example, "Sunday schools"). In this regard, shouldn't we think about introducing amendments to this law that would exclude the teaching of "religious subjects" within the walls of state and municipal schools?"

Sources

• Human Rights and the Modernization of Russian Education: Special Report // Official website of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. 2006. May.