ATTITUDES OF THE POLITICAL ELITE ABOUT INTRODUCING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN RM

Abstract

According to religious representatives, religious education can only help improve the moral situation in Macedonian society. It can fill the moral vacuum that has opened up in the so-called transitional period due to the rejection of socialist moral values and the slow establishment of civic ones. Thus it can alleviate the moral panic that has spread among the population. This thesis received support from representatives of the political elite, and all this resulted in a "political agreement" between the relig ious representatives and the representatives of the state. The question about religious education is no longer whether it will be introduced, but in what form, for whom, and when. Starting from the multi-dimensional nature of this problem, we have carried out a study based on a qualitative methodological approach. We conducted 50 interviews with representatives of relevant Macedonian and Albanian political parties in the Republic of Macedonia. Uncontrolled religious education, especially in mosques, can lead to unspeakable consequences for the state. What we have in mind is forms of fundamentalism and the possibility that teachers might be members of foreign, anti-state organizations.