International IÄdır Symposium (IGDIRSEMP 2017, IÄdır, Turkey). 367. Thoughts on Cultural Diversity and Compulsory Religious Education: the Case of IÄdır ...
Thoughts on Cultural Diversity and Compulsory Religious Education: the Case of Iğdır Province Fatih Özkan1, İlyas Altuner1 1
Gümüşhane University, Faculty of Theology, Gümüşhane, Turkey 1
Iğdır University, Faculty of Theology, Iğdır, Turkey
Abstract Two main points are gained when religious education is given in a pluralistic society because students and teachers are two basic elements of religious education as much as education. First, religious education given to students should create a cultural wealth in the student. Secondly, teachers who will provide religious education need to be equipped with specific information. Given the importance of these two issues, therefore, it is possible to answer these two questions correctly: The first, “how do the teachers of religious education go through the training process and what kinds of basic information are they equipped with?” Second, “what is the necessity of compulsory religious education practice?” The most strong and legitimate ground behind the obligation of religious education: The importance of religious and moral education in the development of personality is obvious. If Turkey does not want to face with problems that difficult to solve on religious education in the future, it should produce new theories on the basis of cultural diversity and implement pilot applications. Turkey already has a accumulation of experience that can not be denied about religious education and a historical heritage inherited from the past. Igdir, on the ground that a province where cultural diversity is dominant, can be a study center in terms of religious education. It is necessary to be understood at least two basic principles for the continuation of cultural diversity in Igdir: The first is that the parties with different cultural backgrounds accept each other's existence. Second, the presentation of cultural manifestations as a way of life and belief. Those should not be in the style of repressing the life and belief of the other or turning it back to its own life and belief. As in the case of Igdir, compulsory religious education in communities where cultural diversity prevails can mediate the promotion of intercultural communication. Religious education in multicultural communities can contribute to analysis of processes about understanding, explaining and living religon, as well as the development of methods to get gain depth to religious texts, religious phenomena and events. Keywords: Multiculturalism, Cultural Diversity, Compulsory Religious Education, Intercultural Communication, Cultural Diversity in Iğdır, Religious Education in Iğdır.
II. International Iğdır Symposium (IGDIRSEMP 2017, Iğdır, Turkey)
367
