Religious Education from Ayatollah Dr Beheshti's Point of View

Religious education is an outcome of the function of all cultural-educational institutions and systems such as schools, family and mass media as well as political, economic and judicial institutions that totally make up the social environment. Being committed to the religious beliefs and doctrines and inserting them into planning and policy making of mentioned agents facilitates achieving the goals of religious education.

Family is the first locus of development of a child, both physically and emotionally. A child naturally needs the best communication with his or her parents. Meanwhile the child receives the deepest and most stable education from parents. In fact a child judges any behavior by the parents as right since they are the early role models. Based on such a situation, families can develop good habits, spirit and mentality in children and teach them religious notions too. For instance a simple reason for giving up or neglecting daily prayers by children is that their parents do not care for daily prayers.

Teenagers and the youth are lovers of rightness, justice, truthfulness, honesty and fairness. So they naturally tend to expect these qualities from others and their parents above all. However, the older generation often disappoints them and prevents them from appropriate development in this regard because of the generation gap.

The second most important factor in development of personality is peers and friends. Peers can strengthen or adjust their peer's behavior.

The role of mass and audio visual media in development of personality of all members of society, specially teenagers and the youth is undeniable. They impact on students' cognition, attitude and behavior using artistic tools.

The impact of social factors is limited, however. No one is absolutely compelled in the society, yet the quality of social and economic relations influence one's choice, i.e. make choices harder or easier. Therefore all societies are not the same regarding development of their members. There are social environments that develop fairness, rightness and piety. On the contrary, there are others that undermine such values and pave the way for Satanism, sensuality and evil. That is why Islam, unlike liberalism, is not indifferent to success and decline of the society.

Of course, the most important injuries to religious education are caused by governments since they direct the thinking and acts of people through distributing their own ideals and beliefs. As Imam Ali (AS) says, behavior of people resembles their rulers' rather than their fathers'. So the impression of authorities and policy makers on the society and its members is even more than those who preach and guide.

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