Гуманитарные Ведомости. Выпуск 4(8).2013

Гуманитарные ведомости ТГПУ им . Л . Н . Толстого № 4 (8), декабрь 2013 г . 110 As Silvio Ferrari in his European Summary says, there are 3 main models of Religious Education. I think we can apply this structure to the rest of the world. In short, I would like to note the mail treatment of religious minorities in the framework of every model. First, there are some countries where no teaching of religion is offered (Japan, China, USA, Canada, Urugway, Argentina, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, South Korea, New Zeland) A good example is France: references to religion are part of the teaching of other school subjects like history, geography, language, arts, philosophy, and are given by the teachers of these disciplines. As Tahir Mahmood points out in his Summary on Asia, in both secular countries, Nepal and India the state- aided schools and high level institutions are free to impart and organize re of all sorts without compulsorily imposing it on unwilling pupils. A second pattern is provided by the countries that offer a “non-denominational teaching about religion. (UK, Estonia, Norway, Turky). The non-confessional model is based on the transference of knowledge to schoolchildren about different religions, including the study of non- religious points of view, in order to help them determine their own worldview. Even there where great care and good faith is evident in attempting to structure a neutral course, it is important to understand, that different parents and children may nonetheless experience the course as a challenge to their conscientious belief and, when that is the case , reasonable opt-out opportunities should be provided. The situation with religious education in Norway, written by Ingvill Torson Plesner, is especially illustrative. The decisions of ECHR (“Folgero et al v. Norway”) on Norway’s Christian Knowledge and Religious Ethical Education (CKREE), and Zengin v. Turky (both in 2007) are very important in this context. Finally, there are countries with a denominational teaching of religion, that is the teaching of a specific religion. Germany, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil. Romania Bulgaria, Finland. The confessional model is based on the organization of religious instruction for students from a particular religious background. The main accent in this education is placed on describing one specific religious tradition. The main responsibility for the curriculum, textbooks, and teacher training is carried by the religious organization. At the same time schoolchildren and their parents have the right to be exempt from religious lessons or to choose an alternative subject, for example, ethics or philosophy. None of these three models is able, alone, to meet the challenge posed by the growing religious plurality. Recently the tendency to strengthen an ecumenical and pluralistic approach has been gaining momentum, namely, a tendency to move in the direction of the non-confessional model.