Orthodox Church’s role in the Bulgarian society and religious education and training of young people

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleРолята на Православната църква в българското общество и религиозното възпитание и обучение на младите хора
3. Language term Bulgarian
4. lemma author Nachev, Ivaylo
5. lemma category Education, Science and Orthodoxy
6. Publication date 20-4-2016
7. lemma work Hristov, Kliment [Author]. Orthodox Church’s role in the Bulgarian society and religious education and training of young people
8. lemma manifestations Двери на Православието (dveri.bg)
9. Keywords Religious education - Bulgarian Orthodox Church
10. Lemma body

    1. PhD Kliment Hristov presented results from a sociological survey of public attitudes and expectations towards the activities of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in relation to the youth. The topic is depicted as a very important one for the Bulgarian society given its contemporary history and the current rapid development of technologies. The author approached the subject from the position of an Orthodox Christian. The study was partly motivated by ongoing debates whether and how religion should be studied at schools. One of its main aims is discussions for introducing religious education in the school curriculum, a very heated issue in the past years, to be based on the scientifically proven material with sociological methods about the attitudes in various strata in the society. It is also described as an attempt to give clear and specific scientific basis for analysis and planning strategies. The survey is based on standardized interviews with more than 1000 people in the period March-April 2010.

        The issue with the religious education at schools is a crucial one for the Orthodox Church, following a period of “half of a century of totalitarian rule” (the 1944-1989 period) with all the state-imposed limitations to the faith and the more recent transition period (since 1989) which was marked by a number of social crises. The fierce resistance against plans for comprehensive teaching of religion at schools (not just as an optional subject – its current status) proves that the ghosts of the totalitarian past are still alive, according to the author.  

        The results of the survey show that nearly 60% of the respondents approve the introduction of the subject "Religion" in schools, which is surprising given the number of recent public attacks. The approval is high in all age, social and ethnic groups. According to the answers, the most important feature of the subject should be teaching of "moral values."  The respondents put at second place the teaching of the history of various religions and on third place the history of their own religion. The high approval for special attention to different religions should be interpreted as a prevailing understanding that this subject will be incorporated in the framework of a secular education (not so much in terms of religious tolerance). Another finding is that there is high approval for a combined system for those who would teach: both teachers and clergy of the respective religion. The study showed much higher acceptance for study of the “religion of the other” among Muslim than among Christians: while some 45% agree on teaching of Christianity in a school class with a majority of Muslim pupils there is acceptance of just 23% in the opposite situation (divergence in the various groups with the youngest citizens and those living in the capital city Sofia showing higher acceptance toward the Islam) which according to the author is due to complex reasons which deserve further study. The questions that focus on the expectations specifically of the role of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church showed that the most important tasks according to the respondents are the liturgical activities, following by preservation of the national identity and cultivating of values. Another finding is that there is a significant group that indicates an insufficient social activity of the Church.

       The study concluded that the public perceptions suggest three main spheres of activity for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church: responsibility for the education of the youth in moral values, mainly through religious rituals, carrying out of activities in the social sphere and preservation and development of the national identity.