Гуманитарные Ведомости. Выпуск 4(8).2013

Гуманитарные ведомости ТГПУ им . Л . Н . Толстого № 4 (8), декабрь 2013 г . 111 The main problems of the denominational Religious Education, in the context of the treatment of religious minorities in Religious Education, are following: The duty to make a choice for the alternative instruction for those, who does not want to take part on Religious education. Why these people have to make a choice, if they don’t want to take part in this process in principle? Besides, there is a tendency to humiliate the secular culture, the attempt to offer it as a militant secularism . The guarantee of the parents’s right. In fact it is very difficult to realize the equality of Religious Education, in the public school, first of all technically and organizationally, but nevertheless there is the strong influence of the social- political factor. The decision of the European Court on Human Rightsd «Lautsy v. Italy» is very importnat in this context. Besides, a very important role in the treatment of religious minorities is played by the organizational aspect, namely, the solution of the following problems: The status of religious instruction. By this I mean if religious education is compulsory, non-compulsory, or elective. In other words, schools must deal with issues like the number of schoolchildren in a group, scheduling, criteria used to evaluate achievement, the form of instruction (teaching of the whole class or of some part of it), teacher training, the conditions for being able to opt out of the lessons, etc. The determination of the party responsible for religious education. This is a critically important point for religious education. Who is responsible for the implementation of religious education? The school? Religious organizations? Both? Who is responsible for the textbooks, teacher training, renting facilities, etc.? The location of the religious instruction. In the majority of European countries religious education is taught at schools. In France, there is no compulsory religious education in state schools, but in Alsace and Lorraine, it takes place outside the schools, namely, in religious organizations. In the USA with the principle of separation of church and state, the number of people who belong to a church is particularly high (about 70%). While in European countries, the number is 7-8%. Therefore it is necessary to combine models of Religious Education, in ways that answer the different cultural traditions. As Silvio Ferrari notes, if the religious communities are not able to develop an inter-denominational and inter-religious education (and they are still far from that), the only viable alternative would be a non-denominational education about a plurality of religions. A model for such instruction has been indicated in the recommendation Religion and Democracy of the 1999 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: promoting a better knowledge of different religions through the teaching of comparative history of religions, history and philosophy