"Foundations of Orthodox Culture" in Russia

In April 2010 a new school subject group called "Foundations of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics" (FRCSE) was introduced as an experiment in selected regions of Russia. It consists of six subjects, or "modules." One module is "Foundations of Orthodox Culture" (FOC). This article examines FOC within the context of religious education in Europe to assess how much it has traits of a confessional or a nonconfessional course and shows that the differentiation of confessional and nonconfessional religious education courses cannot cover the complexity of how religion is taught in Russia.