Earlier studies have concluded that the religious sphere is less open to creativity than are other areas of human activities. Also, it has been suggested that artistic freedom and creative expression are unwelcome in the domain of religious iconography. In the present study, we address this subject with regard to children's artistic expression of…

The article discusses the issues of local identity. The author proves the influence on the formation of regional identity of the territorial location of the region that organically combines Eastern Christian, Islamic, and Western Christian civilizations. The author proves the influence on the formation of regional identity of the territorial…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ideological, political and social implications of the preference for orientating the public school curriculum in Russia towards Orthodox education. In some regions of the Russian Federation, Orthodox preferences increased by 20% over 4 years, and the indices reflecting enchurchment in the Russian regions…

Various internal and external determinants influence an education system. External determinants include language, demographics, geography, technology, politics, and financial and economic trends. Religion is also one of these external determinants that can influence an education system, as well as the education systems of the. The BRICS member…

The purpose of this paper is to review the historical facts related to conversion of indigenous people of the Kazakh steppe from Islam to Christianity and the conversion of the Russian migrants from Orthodoxy to Islam in Kazakhstan in the nineteenth-early twentieth century. The study deals with the laws that were detrimental to Islam and reforms…

The objective of the study is to investigate the effects produced by confessional belonging on the conditions of the ethnic identities of the diasporas and on the character of the inter-ethnic relations in regional communities. Religious identity can reveal itself both as a factor of inter-ethnic integration and as an additional indicator of…

In geographical areas bordering those of other states, the function of educational systems, as the means for states to foster their citizens, is challenged by ambiguities and tensions connected to intercultural experiences. In this article, I illustrate some of the findings from a project that studies religious education in four border areas…

The article compares the data from a survey reflecting college students' perception of the social and political role of the Russian Orthodox Church with the results of nationwide Russian surveys for the purpose of determining the degree to which the basic conclusions coincide or differ. [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]

This article is based on the data cultivated from a teaching experiment carried out in one of the institutions in the city of Tyumen. The purpose of the experiment was to determine the necessity for education of religious and national tolerance through the study of special disciplines of the confessional and ethno-cultural content, for removing…

This is a case study of the historical development of a private Christian faith-based school of higher education in post-Soviet Russia from its conception in 1990 until 2010. This binational school was founded as Russian-American Christian University (RACU) in 1996. In 2003, business and economics as well as social work undergraduate academic…

The term "first contact" usually conjures up an image of a group of European soldiers landing on a beach in the New World, their ship anchored just offshore, while a large group of Natives approaches the soldiers. On both sides there is caution but also curiosity. Beyond the physical collision of two different peoples there is also a…

The problem of the study of religion in the system of secular education hinges on the "reproduction of religiousness" in the secular school and, more broadly, in Russian society space, via the process of mass education. It is the prospect of expanded reproduction of religious consciousness, of religious psychology and practices as a…

Asserts that certain issues that are connected in some way to religion continue to endure. Reports on a study of 227 Russian teachers regarding their views toward religion, atheism, and religion's role in society. Concludes that Russian educators should define their attitudes toward churches and use religion to help improve society. (CFR)

This book seeks to assess how, after 70 years of hostility and restriction in the former Soviet Union, religion could be made accessible to students and to young men training for the priesthood. A study of religious and theological education in Russia and the Ukraine is reported in which over 50 institutions were visited, including independent…