Bilimname

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of religious perceptions of young people studying in high schools on their attitudes towards religious education. The institution of religion, which is as old as humanity and continues to exist even though its influence changes from time to time, has significant effects on people and society. Approaches to religion and how religion is perceived have gained importance in order to detect the differences in human and social life under the influence of changes and developments. The perception of religion is affected by time, the development of society and changes, creating a different structure specific to each period. In order to know young people and guide them towards the future, it is necessary to determine their religious perceptions and attitudes towards religious education, to determine their effects on each other and to organize their education accordingly.
Learning and teaching religions are considered as important by societies as living them. Therefore, every society has tried to teach their religion from past to present, depending on their own culture and traditions. Today, although there are still some debates about religious education given under the roof of schools, it continues to exist. Religions have the function of influencing and directing people's lives, strengthening relationships between co-religionists, and also have the power to influence attitudes and attitudes towards believers of different religions. In today's globalizing world, people from different religions can live happily together through religious education that centers on respect and tolerance for differences. Religious education studies have important responsibilities in preventing problems in these issues or, if there are, in eliminating them. Religious education studies aim to teach people religious knowledge as well as to develop a positive perspective towards religion and to internalize moral values and reflect them in their behavior. Therefore, at this point, investigating the effects of young people's religious perceptions on religious education and presenting them in the light of data will pave the way for providing them with a more accurate and appropriate religious education.
No study has been found in the literature that simultaneously examines high school students' perceptions of religion and their attitudes towards religious education and determines the relationship between them. However, it appears that there are studies that examine these two dimensions separately. When looking at studies on religious perception, it is generally seen that they are aimed at university youth and there are studies measuring the religiosity of young people in the context of Islam in particular; The studies conducted on religious education differ from this study in that they are generally studies conducted on the RCEK lesson and its teachers.
The conceptual framework of this research, which examines the impact of high school students' religious perceptions on their attitudes towards religious education, was created by document analysis method. Descriptive survey model was preferred for the field research of the research. To determine young people's perceptions of religion, "Traditional and Cultural Religion Perception Scale for High School Students" and "Modern Religion Perception Scale"; "Attitude Scale Towards Religious Education at School" was used to measure their attitudes towards religious education.
The scales were applied to a sample group of 489 students studying at the 9th, 10th and 11th grade levels of high schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the center and districts of Sakarya. The sample was tried to be created using stratified and maximum diversity sampling. In order to create a sample that would represent the universe at the highest level, attention was paid to selecting students from as many different school types, different grade levels and schools in different regions as possible.