Muslims in a Penza region village are fighting the teaching of Russian Orthodox theology in local public schools amid reports that Muslim children are being forced to learn Orthodox theology, according to a September 9, 2008 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. Over the summer, a principal in the village of Zasechnoe informed local residents that Orthodox theology would be taught on a mandatory basis in the public schools of the Penza district starting this year. "The Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture"--a curriculum that human rights advocates and many minority religious leaders criticize for violating the secular nature of the state guaranteed in the Russian constitution, and for its use of an antisemitic textbook--is a course now being taught in several regions of the country, though usually as an elective.

Muslim activists were able to persuade Penza regional officials that teaching theology on a mandatory basis is illegal, and the district's schools complied by making it an elective. However, some teachers allegedly coerced Muslim students to attend the classes, threatening bad grades if they didn't, while others allegedly tricked them into attending.

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