Religious Education as a Compulsory Subject in Russian Public Schools

Abstract

Religious education in Russian schools, officially introduced in September 2012 after being approved by means of an ‘experiment’ over 3 years, remains a new and rather contradictory issue in the public perception. It is, therefore, of great importance for the study of religions in Russia. However, the empirical research on public debates done earlier (e.g. Willems J, Religiöse Bildung in Russlands Schulen: Orthodoxie, nationale Identität und die Positionalität des Faches “Grundlagen orthodoxer Kultur” (OPK). LIT, Berlin, 2006; Ovchinnikov V, O pravoslavnom obrazovanii v Rossii. In Alexej M & Filatov S (eds) Pravoslavnaya tserkov’ pri novom patriarkhe. Rossiiskaia politicheskaia entsiklopediia, Moscow, 2012, 261–310.) has to be updated. Educational strategies and the formative experiences of pupils also await an accurate religious studies analysis. Since the practice of comparison is constitutive for the study of religions, it is evident that research has to be grounded on regional data comparing experiences in religious education from supporters of different religious traditions. In this chapter, I make some preliminary remarks about the legislative process relating to religious education in Russia and describe briefly the debates on its implementation. I proceed then with a short report on a pilot draft of a bigger research project in the field of religious education and its perception in regional Russia.