Moscow, March 16, 2017
Yekaterinburg, Ural State University. Photo: Wikipedia
A pilot project for teaching students the basics of spiritual safety has been launched in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region. The program, developed by the Missionary Institute of the Ekaterinbug Diocese, is aimed at combating totalitarian sects and extremist movements, reports Interfax-Religion.
The new course was approved by the regional Ministry of General and Professional Education. It is aimed at students of non-theological majors and consists of six-eight hours of lectures. Among the topics discussed are religious and political extremism, “the spiritual-moral ideal of Russia’s traditional religions,” and sects and sectarianism.
Teachers from the Missionary Institute have already presented the course to third-year students of the Ural State Economic University as part of the mandatory “Fundamentals of Life Safety” course.
The program has been developed in such a way that it can be delivered to people of various religions or even atheists. It can also be used for training teachers of cultural and religious studies, and the basics of religious and secular ethics.
