Evaluating calendars of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in terms of non-formal religion education (2008 and 2018 calendars)

The Presidency of Religious Affairs published a block calendar in its current form for the first time in 1967, covering only the province of Ankara. A new wall calendar covering the whole country could have been completed in 1972. Considering the first calendar, it is seen that they were prepared only to show prayer times. Since 1974, the backside of the calendar pages has been used as well and various issues related to verses, hadiths and Islamic religion have been included there. Since then, the current format in the block calendars of the presidency of religious affairs has been almost the same, but has been developed and has come until today. It is important to what extent calendars meet the needs of society in the context of non-formal religious education. Considering this significance, 2008 and 2018 calendars of the Presidency were examined in this study. It was aimed at determining what changes occurred in areas such as the use of verses and hadiths, important days and weeks, historical figures, subject distribution of the calendars regarding the changes and transformations in the country in this decade. As a result of this study prepared with document analysis and content analysis methods, it was revealed that the front and backside of both calendars included the information enlightening the Muslim Turkish community in terms of non-formal religious education. The front pages of both calendars involved local and universal days and weeks. This finding supports the Presidency's idea of inclusive and encompassing religion. In both calendars, important events related to history, religion and nature were presented. The variety of topics indicated in the calendars is quite high. These are topics related to many subjects of the religion of Islam such as belief, worship, morality, social and social life, family and economic life. Considering the topics discussed in the calendars, we can say that it is aimed at creating a socially sensitive, good Muslim and a good citizen profile in the calendars. In both calendars, the lives and works of the people who left a mark in the society were mentioned. Calendars are a tool in the task of religion to guide society and the individual, to give mentality and to provide social unity and solidarity. The Presidency of Religious Affairs uses this tool quite efficiently. The Presidency tries to fulfil the task of enlightening the society about the religion through calendars. Keywords: Presidency of Religious Affairs, Religious Official, Non-formal Religion Education, Religious Block Calendar