DOCUMENT: SCHOLARS, ENGINEERS, PHYSICIANS, STUDENTS, GRADUATE STUDENTS SEND REQUEST TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TO BAN TEACHING OPK IN SCHOOLS
The Foundations of Orthodox Culture [Osnovy Pravoslavnoi Kultury—OPK] is an academic subject included by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation [RF] in the school curriculum instead of astronomy (4th grade of middle general education school) as a federal required component within the framework of the course Foundations of Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Peoples of Russia, originally experimentally in 19 regions of Russia, from 1 April 2010, and later in the third quarter of the 2010-2011 school year, also in Yaroslavl province and the Marii El republic, and from 1 September 2012 in all regions of Russia.
1700 scholars, engineers, physicians, and undergraduate and graduate students of Russia sent to the Russian president a request to ban the teaching of OPK in the schools.
Open letter of scholars to the president of RF
Profoundly esteemed Mr. President:
In recent months the public debate regarding the possibility of teaching in schools the course Foundations of Orthodox Culture (OPK) has become especially acute. On one hand, a number of the most prominent Russian scholars, in particular, ten academicians among whom are two Nobel laureates, have spoken out against the introduction of such a course in the schools. On the other hand, hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church have intensified their attempts to persuade the government of the necessity of the immediate introduction of the OPK course in the schools. Thus, in January at the Christmas Readings in the Kremlin, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment said: "We repeat the request of millions of people to include in the new curriculum a new educational area within the framework of which children from Orthodox families would be able to study Orthodox spiritual and moral culture, so that this subject may enter into the basic curriculum and involve the entire period of schooling from the first to the eleventh grades." The Ministry of Education and Science, which has until recently been restrained regarding the idea of teaching OPK, made concessions and approved the development by RPTs of the concept of creating a syllabus for Spiritual and Moral Culture. However, the campaign in support of OPK has not ceased, and on 14 February an appeal of 227 kandidats and doctors of sciences to the president of Russia was published. Besides statements in favor of introducing OPK, this appeal also proposed introducing into the state system of certification of academic personnel the academic degrees of kandidat and doctor of theology with the permission of the Higher Certification Commission [VAK] for creation of dissertation councils for defense of dissertations for gaining these academic degrees and the subsequent issuing of state diplomas.
The substantial number of the signatories of this letter who are kandidats and doctors of science may create the false impression that the academic community supports the introduction of the OPK course into general education schools and the equating of theology to other sciences. Because of this, we consider it necessary to state our position.
1. The teaching of religious disciplines in state schools violates article 14 of the constitution of the RF, which establishes that Russia is a secular state. Despite numerous declarations about the secular and "culturological" nature of the OPK course, actually this subject is religious and it entails the goals of catechesis of schoolchildren. This is attested both by its contents (about which we can judge, for example, from the series of textbooks by A.V. Borodina) and by official documents of the RPTs. In particular, the letter of Patriarch Alexis II of 9 December 1999 says: "If difficulties are encountered with the teaching of the foundations of Orthodox belief, then call the course 'Foundations of Orthodox Culture.'"
2. The teaching in state schools of foundations of the beliefs of the confession that traditionally predominates in a particular region inescapably leads to the diminishing of the social status of pupils who have a different religious confession or worldview. There already are now examples where children from families of representatives of religious minorities or atheists have experienced unacceptable pressure on the part of teachers and peers. The universal introduction of OPK or similar disciplines connected with other religions into the schools inescapably leads to increased interconfessional division, creating a breeding ground for extremism.
3. Existing nongovernmental religious academic institutions (Sunday schools, ecclesiastical academies, madrassas, etc.) provide for the requirements of religious education for those who need them, without violating the constitution of the RF and without creating a source for tension within society. According to sociological surveys, in contemporary Russian society only a small portion of people, who call themselves believers, regularly participate in religious life in accordance with the tenets of their confession. In such a situation, the obligatory teaching of religious disciplines in state general education schools will facilitate not ethical education but, on the contrary, a yet greater proliferation of hypocrisy, conformism, and religious relativism in society. This is evident in the experience of the teaching of the Law of God in tsarist Russia.
4. One cannot agree with suggestions for the introduction of the degrees of kandidat and doctor of theology confirmed by the Higher Certification Commission and for the creation of faculties of theology in state universities. If one understands theology as a secular academic discipline, then the specialty already exists in the VAK list of specialties, "09.00.13 Philosophy and the History of Religion, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Culture," which permits receiving the degree of kandidat and doctor of philosophy for work in religious studies. In addition, the study of various aspects of religion may be a foundation for awarding academic degrees in history, sociology, philology, artistic studies, and other subjects. If one understands by the term "theology" "bogoslovie," that is, a discipline at whose base lies the doctrine of a particular religious confession, then its introduction into the system of state certification of academic personnel will signify the recognition of a system of religious doctrines on the state level, which again violates the constitution of the RF. Appeals to the Bologna Process, given as a reason for introducing theology into the nomenclature of VAK, are also inappropriate: in contrast to Russia, in other countries that are participants of the Bologna Agreement there are no systems of state certification, and academic degrees are awarded by a specific university or other academic institution.
The "letter of the 227" accuses opponents of the creation of a state system of religious education of "obscurantism and nihilism," of clearing "the road for imposing their own religious or ideological doctrines, and of an intolerant attitude "towards the Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christianity, and Orthodox believers." They are called "militant atheists and haters of Russia." This shows not simply the level of the debate; it shows on what level and in what style the teaching of OPK in state schools and theology in state universities will be conducted, if the decision on this is adopted in the current situation. It will lead to a split in the country on confessional bases, which should not be permitted.
We call you to fulfill your duty as guarantor of the constitution and to support the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Science for preserving the secular character of state school and higher education in Russia.
3300 signatures by 1.00 p.m. on 22 February 2015
(tr. by PDS, posted 24 February 2015)
Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 22 February 2015
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