The degree to which values of preventing extremism are included in the Christian and Yazidi religious education curricula for the preparatory stage in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the extent to which religious extremism can be prevented through official governmental religious education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by analyzing the Christian and Yezidi religious curricula taught at the secondary level in the region. The study examines the values contained in these curricula related to preventing extremism and promoting tolerance—values that encourage students to accept other religions and avoid adopting extremist positions or ideas. The main objective is to identify the values included in the curricula and determine their overall orientation: whether they tend toward preventing extremism and promoting tolerance, as indicated by a high frequency of such values, or whether their orientation is negative due to the absence of values and topics that promote tolerance and counter extremism.

The study employs content analysis to identify the ideas, values, expressions, and terms mentioned in the curricula regarding preventing extremism and enhancing tolerance. The study concludes that the orientation of the tenth-grade Christian Education textbook is positive, as it includes values of religious coexistence and tolerance—especially tolerance and dialogue—and values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace, particularly the value of peace, which appears frequently, as well as youth empowerment. It also contains values of justice, equality, and human rights. The orientation of the eleventh-grade Christian Education textbook in preventing extremism is also positive, as it introduces values of religious coexistence and tolerance, including dialogue and tolerance, and values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace, with peace being mentioned extensively. The orientation of the twelfth-grade Christian Education textbook is likewise positive in preventing extremism, as it includes most of the values that counter extremism. These include values of religious coexistence and tolerance, such as freedom of belief and religion, dialogue, and tolerance, as well as values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace, with the value of peace frequently emphasized. In contrast, the orientation of the tenth-grade Yezidi Education textbook is negative, as it does not include any values of religious coexistence and tolerance, nor values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace. Similarly, the orientation of the eleventh-grade Yezidi Education textbook in preventing extremism is negative, as it contains no values of religious coexistence and tolerance, no values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace, and no values of justice, equality, or human rights. Additionally, values related to communication, dialogue, and acceptance of others are not mentioned. The orientation of the twelfth-grade Yezidi Education textbook in preventing extremism is also negative, as it contains no values of religious coexistence and tolerance, no values rejecting violence and extremism and promoting peace, and no values of justice, equality, human rights, communication, dialogue, or acceptance of others—except for a limited focus on shared principles. The study recommends developing school curricula so that they include a wider range of topics, including religious extremism and methods of preventing it. Religious curricula should not merely introduce a given religion and describe its rituals, holidays, and occasions; rather, they should also provide information about other religions and include themes related to peace, tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and preventing extremism and religious intolerance.