Evaluation of educational output of religious communities (heyaat) (The case of Mashhad city)

Religious communities as a center for informal religious education have a long history in Iran. This study is an attempt to compare the religious community members and non−members and the influences it might have on the persons. To do so, a four−part questionnaire which addressed the religious identity, national identity, moral−social values, and personal beliefs, respectively, was developed. The samples include the young attendants aged 17−29 from the city of Mashhad categorized in two groups, namely community members and nonmembers. The sampling procedure is random. The results revealed that the members are significantly higher than nonmembers in the four items; moreover, the scores of the members in three parts− religious identity, national identity, and personal beliefs− were higher than the average continuum and in social values the trend was negative. As a whole, it is inferred that educational output of the religious communities in two parameters−national identity and personal beliefs− is satisfactory, in religious identity is not as expected and in social values it is unsatisfactory.