Tight as a Drum

When faced with the results of how many kids in the Region of Jablanica want to enroll in religious education, Community Representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church for Leskovac stated that "this is a catastrophe".  "The Church teaches what is most holy, moral and honorable.  The Church will not pass judgment, but the parents will bare the responsibility for not guiding their children in the right direction."

Ph.D. Gaso Knezevic, Education Minister stated for VREME that "the results are exceptional...  Over one half of the students expressed thirst for knowledge and chose one of the newly offered subjects, while those who enrolled in both newly offered courses are students who would achieve good results and would get a good education in any educational system, regardless of how good or bad such a system might be."

No one can say that the government did not deliver on a single one of its pre-election promises.  It does not matter much that religious education does not appear anywhere in the Program for a Democratic Serbia.  The important thing is that someone promised something to someone and got something in return.  So there you have it, after students expressed their desires, that is to say after their parents expressed their desires, religious education will officially kick off in Serbia in all public schools.

DRAMATIC DEVELOPMENTS:  Considering themselves partly responsible for the democratic changes in Serbia, the Church Fathers immediately following Milosevic's downfall issued three demands to the new government, all in the hope of "righting a wrong over five decades old": instituting religious education in public schools as a compulsory subject, return of the Religious Faculty into the Belgrade University, with a return of all Church property which was taken away under Tito's nationalization.  Admittedly, the same demands were put forth to the previous government for all the support the Church gave, but with no results.  Therefore, on the first day that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia came into power, one million dinars were deposited into the Church account toward the building of the St. Sava's Shrine.  Metropolitan Amphilohije followed the newly elected president on all his trips abroad, while at home it was announced that the return of Serbian Orthodox Church priests into schools, the army, into hospitals and prisons, that is to say into all state institutions, is "a done deal."

A debate began immediately between those who believe that salvation lies only in a return to the belief of their forbears and those who believe that a civil society and a legal state is the most immediate objective.  The principle argument of the first group was "look what happened to us when we turned our backs to God", while the latter claimed that a return to religion largely inspired our recent tragedies.  According to the first group, the 1991 census proves that they are in the majority, while the second group point to more recent opinion polls which indicate the exact opposite.  The minimal demands of the first group were clear and certified: compulsory religious education for first grades of elementary and high schools this academic year, which would be extended to all grades later on.  The Ministry of Education stated that "this is o.k., but it will take time."

The parent's forum is fairly aggressive and forward, not unlike the former Patriotic Alliance, and demands in the name of all parents that the Church take a stand on saving children from various sects, from drugs and everything else, while "reactions and echoes" can be read throughout the newspapers.

The Serbian Ministry of Religion began drafting a law on religious communities, considering religious education as a duty the state has toward its citizens, claiming that its rival ministry, the Ministry of Education, must have no say in this, and merely has to carry out the technical preparations for implementing the new educational programs.  The Serbian Minister of Education publicly demanded to know what the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Religion is, in purely geographic terms.  Because of the extradition of Milosevic, the only option to circumvent the Ministry of Education, namely by declaring that the right to religious education is a basic human right which is regulated by federal law, falls through and the Federal Ministry of Religion becomes a Secretariat of Religion.  The Patriarch cools hot heads and confirms that there will be no forced solutions.

SHORTCUTS:  In July, Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic, after less than one hour spent briefing with the Patriarch, stated that he promised that the Serbian Government will pass a decree instituting religious education in public schools beginning with this academic year.  Added to this promise is a group of donators with a tangible sixty million dinars toward the building of the St. Sava's Shrine, including a slight tax on postal services toward the same purpose.  Several resignations were submitted, although they were quickly withdrawn, with a background interpretation that religious education will be "optional".  The debate was taken over by the Serbian Ministry of Religion which began waging a political campaign against political opponents.

Shortly before the academic year, the Ministry of Education stated that religious education will be optional, while Bishop Irinej Bulovic issued a statement through the Information Department of the Serbian Orthodox Church that "a systematic assault against religious education in Serbian public schools has not abated for months now," observing that "it is organized and carried out by an absolute minority in this country, while the quite majority, in the meantime is remaining - quiet."  He concluded his statement with the words "from now hence, there cannot be any silence, in the name of God.  If we keep quiet, even stones will began speaking..."

After another meeting with the Patriarch which was announced by Bishop Irinej, in which "technical issues on instituting religious education into the church were discussed", all that was achieved was a confirmation of the existing differences.  The Church insisted on respecting the deadlines mentioned in Djindjic's decree, while Gaso Knezevic, Minister of Education, expressed concern that speediness is not in anyone's interest, and can only produce the opposite effect.  Debate was waged over whether religious education should be optional, with the Church demanding that it must be a compulsory part of public education, while the deadline, stipulated by the decree, remained.

A surprising, one-month-long campaign ensued, with accusations that the Ministry of Education has been taken over by a neo-Communist minority which, supposedly, represent the source of all Serbian problems.  Electronic and printed media cashed in a hefty sum over this debate at the expense of the Serbian taxpayer, whose children were at issue and who were in the process of stating whether they want to enroll in the newly offered courses.  The spending of Serbian taxpayers money was always a favorite sport among Serbs.

FIGHTING OVER THE MEDIA:  Shortly before results came in from the students and parents, the Serbian Orthodox Church issued an announcement that it is "surprised and embittered by the infinitely incorrect and endlessly undemocratic behavior on the part of the Minister of Education and a group of his close associates and assistants, and by a number of school principles who abused their positions in directly influencing children and their parents not to enroll in religious education," which is why the "Serbian Orthodox Church wishes to submit a sharp protest against all those in the Ministry of Education who abused their official positions, and appeals to the Serbian Government to follow the word of law and to secure unhindered institution of religious education in public schools..."  The Ministry of Education responded with a statement of its own: "The Ministry of Education and Sport has been singled out as a culprit for the expected low response of students in the institution of religious education in schools... which is why it refrained from expressing any value judgments from the very beginning," adding that this is a test of democracy.

Whether guilty or innocent, only twenty percent of high school students expressed a desire to enroll in religious education, so that an average class will have a little over ten students, which means that it will only be possible to form a single class in the majority of schools.  According to this, only sixty religious educators will be on the state payroll, by contrast with the expected three hundred.  In high schools in Belgrade there wasn't a sufficient response from students to form even a single class for religious education.  Simply put, the mandatory minimum of ten students per class was not reached, which is cause for thinking.  However, nearly forty percent of parents of grade one students want to enroll their kids in religious education, one fifth want to enroll their kids in civil education, one tenth want to enroll their kids in both religious and civil education, while the rest did not chose either.  Compared to the response in high schools, it seems that parents are more ambitious than their children.  It must be noted that the Ministry of Education did not demonstrate efficiency in statistical analysis, so that we still have unofficial figures at our disposal.

Information on the number of baptized children in years 1986 and 1994 would be a valuable indicator on exactly how many Serbs are actually Orthodox Christians, if only nominally.  But despite a good reception at the Patriarch's residence, we were unable to find out this information.

When we contacted the office of Bishop Ignjatije of Branica, who is in charge of religious education in the Serbian Orthodox Church, we were told that "the Bishop has no comment regarding the 't.v. instructed' opinions of students and parents" and that "regardless of whatever is said, what will be reported is Zarko Korac's official party line and the opinion of various non-government organizations."  There was also little desire for comment in the Ministry of Religion before the official results come from the Ministry of Education, while Gaso Knezevic, Minister of Education, concluded the statement with which this article begins with the observation that "the only interest the Ministry of Education has is the education of children, and not to disseminate propaganda for any particular school subject."  The situation is as tight as a drum and no one can predict with certainty what the outcome will be.

Besides the nausea which inevitably comes from all this, it can be observed that playing at democracy is not a matter of appeasing any one political group, and that it is unseemly to carry out ones political ambitions over the backs of children, as well as that statistics should be understood seriously, and not interpreted at will.

Perhaps the Church authorities might take a closer look at their personnel who did not meet the challenges put before them, having demonstrated unseemly behavior with statements that only saw discord.  Perhaps they might size up the historical moment and understand the position that the Church should occupy in Serbia today.  Maybe, even awareness might be spread regarding who belongs to whom: whether the Church belongs to the nation, or the nation belongs to the Church.

Perhaps no lessons will be drawn from all this, as was the case thus far.  To our misfortune, it could easily happen that the only institution of national importance, like many other before it, will lose in importance.  This is cause for concern.