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Opening Remarks at Meeting on Teaching the Fundamentals of Religious Culture and Secular Ethics in Schools, and the Introduction of a Chaplains Institute in the Armed Forces.Part 1
July 21, 2009
Barvikha, Moscow Region

Вступительное слово на совещании по вопросам преподавания в школах основ религиозной культуры и светской этики и введения в Вооружённых Силах Российской Федерации института воинских и флотских священнослужителей.
21 июля 2009 года
Московская область, Барвиха

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good afternoon,

I have received two appeals from the leaders of Russia's leading faiths which as a matter of fact I propose to discuss today.

In one of these appeals, you raise the issue of teaching courses in schools aimed at the spiritual and moral education of the younger generation, while the second refers to the creation of an army and navy chaplains institute in the Armed Forces.

These topics are not new. It has to be said that these subjects have been around for a long time. They deserve not only our special attention but also a definitive response on the part of the government to both these issues and of course to your proposals.

No doubt, relations between the government and religious organisations in the area of education and upbringing are extremely important. They affect the most significant issues in the shaping of world views, individuals' value systems, rules of conduct in society, including the ethical content of such rules, and most importantly the formation of the identity of the Russian Federation's citizens.

We have discussed these matters in meetings with you, and at the joint session of the State Council Presidium and the Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Organisations in Tula in which you participated. We all certainly appreciate the tremendous spiritual and educational work that you are doing as leaders of our major traditional denominations.

So in general what would I like to say in response to your appeals? I have decided to support both of these initiatives. I am referring to the idea of teaching the fundamentals of religious culture and secular ethics in Russia's schools; I also think we should consider organising on an ongoing basis the work of chaplains from our traditional Russian faiths in our Armed Forces. I am ready to support both of these proposals.

Today I would like to discuss in detail the practical implementation of these proposals, but of course I would also like to point out what in any event I believe to be some key things.

First, in most of the Russian Federation's regions there is a long tradition of cooperation between local authorities and religious communities, including in the field of education. For them the teaching of the fundamentals of traditional religion is not some exotic new idea like it was in the early 1990s, but rather a full-fledged successful programme. This is simply true and it greatly facilitates our task.

In addition, on a related note, the Ministry of Defence has been cooperating for a long time with the major religious communities, and that experience must be taken into account when planning our future steps.

I will not overwhelm you with the details of what has been done in terms of extracurricular teaching by virtue of a cooperation agreement between our traditional religions and the Ministry of Defence. You know all about this.

The second crucial thing that I would like to say involves the legal background, the legal origins of this. If we look at Russia's Constitution, Article 14 stipulates that religious communities are separate from the state and equal before the law. In this sense, everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess any religion or none at all that is Article 28.