Teaching Religion in Public Schools of Georgia

Abstract

This article explores the issue of teaching religion in public schools of Georgia. The experience of teaching religion in varios states is reviewed in the first part of the article. The second part describes the research evidence on positive effects of teaching religion on academic achievements of students. The third part of the paper reviews the legislative background of issue of religion and general education system of Georgia. The fourth part describes the methodology of the research conducted by the author and presents the research results.The final part of the article is devoted to the discussions of the issue of teaching about religion in public schools of Georgia. The author will argue that teaching about the religion in public schools is important for formation of tolerant and intercultural citizens; however the Georgian context has several impeding factors for introduction of separate subject course on religion in public schools. The prevention of these risk-factors is crucial to use the positive effects of religion education.