Religion, education, and the state in post-Communist Europe: making sense of the diversity of new church-state practices

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Bažnyčios ir valstybės praktika; Religija; Švietimas; Church-State Practices; Education; Religion.

ENThe demise of the Communist Party's monopoly over education in Europe created a new dilemma for educational leaders in post-Communist states.1 They faced a difficult question: How should a nation-state that accepts ideological pluralism handle the difficult relationship between religion and education? As is well known, Western liberal democracies do not provide consistent answers to this question.2 They all reject the Soviet approach of inculcating one comprehensive secular ideology and outlawing all alternatives. All of them, as will be discussed below, also allow various forms of confessional religious education at primary, secondary, and higher levels. Nonetheless, beyond these basic commonalities there exists a tremendous diversity of practice. [Extract, p. 89]