Проаналізовано зміни представлення релігії в навчальній і методичній літературі для середньої освіти в 1984–1990 рр., у т. зв. період "перебудови". Виявлено характерні риси подачі
матеріалу про Церкви, духовенство та парафіян у тогочасних шкільних підручниках з історії.
Обґрунтовано, що зміст шкільних підручників та методичних посібників для вчителів цього
періоду відображає суперечливість епохи, коли проголошений принцип свободи альтернативних думок щодо віри в Бога обмежувався необхідністю й надалі дотримуватися марксистсько-ленінської ідеології. На прикладах репрезентації релігійного життя в навчальному історичному
наративі простежено поступове переосмислення статусу і сприйняття релігії в радянському
суспільстві загалом, яке вже тоді частково позбувалося атеїстичних стереотипів.
The changes of the representation of religion in textbooks and special tutorials on history for
secondary school, written during the period of "Restructuring" ("Perestroika") in 1984–1990
are examined. The period of “Restructuring” was the time of crucial changes in planning and
organizing many aspects of life, including writing school textbooks in history and attitude towards
religion in Soviet society in general. Images of religion, church, clergymen and faithful people,
which are displayed in different types of research for different purposes and audience (historical
textbooks for students in school, as well as articles for representing methology), written and
published in period mentioned above are represented. Transformations of images of religion
and church during two fazes – 1984–1988 and 1988–1990 are discovered. It is stated that the
textbooks of later faze demonstrated further and more crucial changes of images of religion,
clergymen and faithful people. At the same time it is proved that the content of school textbooks
and tutorials for teachers of this period reflected the contradictory nature of the era when the
proclaimed principle of freedom of alternative thinking regarding belief in God was limited by
necessity to continue to adhere to the Marxist-Leninist ideology. The connections between new
laws in education and changes in ideology, officially published by the Communist Party under
great inspiration of Gorbachov, the leader in the Soviet Union during the period of "Perestroika"
as well as crucial changes in representation of history and religion as a part of the history are
explained. It is discovered that transformations of images of religion in textbooks and tutorials
on history in the USSR during the period of "Restructuring" demonstrated sufficient samples of
changes in attitude towards religion in the Soviet society. Different aspects of religious life were
no longer displayed through longline pursued conception of atheism in the USSR. Examples of the
representation of religious life in the educational historical narrative traced a gradual rethinking
of the status and perception of religion in Soviet society as a whole, which at that time partially
got rid of atheistic stereotypes.
