Abstract:

There are two kinds of religious education in Turkey: Formal and informal religious education. While formal religious education is given by religion teachers at state schools, informal religious education is offered mostly by religion men and women at various places and times. Informal religious education is given for the purpose of enlightening people about religion. This is the duty of the Presidency of Religious Affairs. While women make up of half of the total population of the county, mostly men are benefited from these religious services, and women religious education is neglected. The aim of this research is to evaluate the states of women in the context of informal religious education. This study was carried out on a total 600 women living in Samsun by the way of method of random as a sample and administered a questionnaire consisted of 30 questions in 2009. It was generally found that the religious perceptions of women were very high, they took their religious knowledge from their families, their religious information level was high, they were very curious about religious knowledge, and they trusted very much on the men of religion. At the end of the study, some useful suggestions were made for the better religious services towards religious education of women.

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